Midwest Games 2008

Midwest Games is an event organized by MSD annually to allow Malaysian students from the region to participate in various sports competitions. The venue changes each year, and this year it took place in Carbondale, Illinois. Throughout my four years in the States, I have never participated in Midwest Games before, but I wasn't going to miss this one. It was my last chance to participate as an undergraduate (technically speaking).

I signed up for volleyball and badminton mixed doubles. Practice we did (lol) before the game, especially for volleyball. The Michigan gang went there in 3 cars, and I was one of the drivers. It took us 8 hours to reach our destination. Carbondale wasn't a big place, but it had everything in my opinion. For the night (and the following ones), we stayed at Motel 6.

Student Recreation Center of Southern Illinois University Carbondale

The results did not turn out well for us; we managed to win only one game in the volleyball (not counting the walkover), and we (Pei Ying and I) lost in our first mixed doubles game. Pei Ying did win 2nd place in women's double though. Despite the losses, I did have a great time there just playing sports. And I should not fail to mention that something happened while we played volleyball; let's just say that thanks to Wei Chieh (:P), I had to reset my "focus".

I seemed to be distracted by something when everybody's focusing...

The volleyball team (with our "babysitter" - RJ)

Group photo with Wichita key player - StarryNight

On the night before we departed, there was a tornado warning. The city siren went off for a few minutes, and when we turned on the television, the local channels kept repeating warnings about the impending storm. The tone they projected was grave and we were advised to head to underground shelters to take cover. As it was our first time, we took heed seriously, and was even considering hiding into the bathroom if things got really bad and debris started shooting everywhere. Well, it appeared all our worries were unnecessary; the storm when it finally reached was pretty anti-climatic. I have definitely seen far worse ones in Malaysia.

Ominous clouds

So after another 8 hours of drive (we managed to stop by in Indianapolis for lunch), we got back to AA safely. All in all, this was yet another fun trip during my post-grad pre-work period.