The Malacca youth games to kick off

Sep 11, 2015

By Percy D’Cruz
The Melaka Catholic Youth Games 2015 will make its debut at the Krubong Hang Jebat Stadium Sports Complex September 18-20 with 12 teams, including two from Johor Bahru.

According to St Theresa’s parish youth group organising committee co-ordinator, Dominic Ng, the sports and games involved in the three-day meet include badminton, table tennis, basketball, athletics, bowling and futsal where some 400 participants will be involved in both team and individual events.

Themed Joining hands With Others (1 Cor 3:9-11), St Theresa’s parish priest, Fr Peter Ng, is confident the inaugural youth games will be a forerunner of such activities in the years ahead, and will not be just a ‘one-off’ thing. “Judging from the efforts put in by the youth group organising team, and the response, the future looks promising for the games to be an ongoing annual affair.”

Sports and games among local parishes, as well as in-house organisations and societies in the state have been somewhat irregular. In the late 1990s, the Pulau Gadong CDD Formation House initiated a basketball tournament where an encouraging 12 teams took part in the first series. In the subsequent years, participation saw fewer and fewer teams in action, with interest also waning. The tournament was eventually called off after four years.

Currently, keeping sports, particularly football, alive and kicking is the parish of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception at the Portuguese Settlement, with the Portuguese Youth Football Club (PYFC) established in 2002 taking the lead.

Presently, the PYFC boasts a 45-strong training squad comprising community players between 15 and 45 years old in regular training at the settlement field. The club is no pushover on the domestic football front, taking part in competitions oganised by the Malacca Football Association. The PYFC qualified for the quarter-finals of the state junior division league in the 2007 and 2008 seasons.