KUCHING: Just one week of training was all SMK Balai Ringin needed to make an impressive debut in school rugby, with the newly formed girls’ team finishing third at the NRDP-SRU Under-18 Rugby Sevens Championship.
The podium finish marked an encouraging start for the Serian school’s rugby programme, which was only recently established.
Coach William Malang Meling said the result was especially rewarding considering most of the players had little to no rugby experience before the tournament.
“They started from zero, like really zero. They were like blank sheets of paper.
“It became my job to paint that blank canvas and introduce them to rugby,” he told Sarawak Tribune.
The team, made up largely of athletes recruited from the school’s track and field squad, spent just a week learning the basics before taking to the field.
William said although a few players had previously been exposed to rugby at school level, they had never trained or competed together as a team.
He credited the players’ determination and willingness to learn for the team’s remarkable debut.
“People may say hard work sounds like a cliché, but for these girls, it was extraordinary. They showed genuine passion and were willing to put in the effort”, he added.
William said previous attempts to introduce rugby at the school had not materialised until he was posted to SMK Balai Ringin, where he and fellow teacher Firnacaflin took the initiative to build the team from scratch.
“This has all been funded using our own money. We didn’t ask the school because we wanted to give these students an opportunity,” he said.
Despite the encouraging result, William acknowledged that sustaining the programme and competing consistently at a higher level would require greater support.
“This is as far as we can manage on our own. If we want to take the team further, we will need support,” he said.
The school is now planning to hold monthly rugby workshops with the assistance of experienced rugby players from SMK Tarat to further sharpen the team’s technical abilities.
For William, the third-place finish marks not the end of the journey, but the first brushstroke in building a rugby culture at SMK Balai Ringin.
