Nicol David: Squash Clinic in Astaka PJ

Posted by azuan on Jul 22, 2007 in :: All Posts :: | 0 comments

Hey..

I saw this small lil news clip on The Star yesterday so i guess it’s worth to check it out since i was in PJ area. The clinic starts at 10am and i was there a good 90 minutes late. Nevermind, i wasn;t looking for squash tips ( i don;t even play) but i was on a mission to give a nice comperehensive event report to Nicol DAvid fans online.

The moment i got there i realized that i can either be in one of the following group:

a) Squash kids who were there for the free tips from World Number 1
b) Parents of the kids
c) Media
d) People from Price and MBPJ (organizer)
e) Auntie selling food and can drinks (overpriced btw!)

So i wasn’t really blend in with the crowd. Luckily i was familiar with the area during my competitive junior tennis years so decided to just hang out at the tennis court. Went in to see the Squash clinic but it was too boring for me…

Finally around 12 the clinic ends and it was time that i waited for…the Autograph session. There was a freaking long queue with kids and their parents wanting Nicol to sign on every single thing that they have. You name it…racquet, racquet cover, posters, goggles, t-shirt…..

I waited for like 20 mintues until there was no line when the media people from Bernama, Utusan, The Star, NSTP were ready for an interview. So there i was being in a Media group as the sole representative from online media. I can;t just image me introducing myself..”Hi i’m from NicolDavidOnline.com”) I sat through the whole interview session and basically it was mainly on youth development and Malaysian Open.

All and all Nicol David is a friendly person. She handles the crowd very well. Cracking up jokes here and there and always willing to smile for cameras and sign thousands of things ( there was this one freaking long list)! She handled the questions from media perfectly by giving positive answers without being too corky or over-confidence.

One remark that i have to make is how the organizer did not take the initiative to invite NicolDavidOnline.com for the event as they invited every single press member. I was talking to one parents who actually visited NicolDavidOnline.com before and they helped their kids browsed through the website in getting info on Nicol for their school projects. I felt good when i heard that.

For anyone who wonders why i went to this thing, well I was around the area and yes i’ve been maintaining the Nicol David Fan Site (www.nicoldavidonline.com) for 9 straight years. Here are the pics that i took…. note that i use the crappiest camera amongst all the media people that mainly use huge DSLRs.