Football's Lessons in Role Play

In spurring his pupils at Yu Neng Primary School to pursue their potential, Mr Rauf is himself an inspirational role model. Having learned the moves of legends such as Fandi Ahmad, Malek Awab and Eric Cantona, he rose to play club-level football while he was still a student at Bartley Secondary School. As the team captain, he learned that "team victory is more important than individual glory."

Mr Rauf now teaches PE and mathematics, and draws upon his experience to guide his pupils. "To be a team player, a player needs to clearly understand his role," he says. "For example, the role of a centre midfielder is to create chances, assist in attacking and score when the opportunity arises." Pupils who understand their own roles make for better team players, not only with their football teammates but also with their classmates and schoolmates.

Rigorous coaching sessions also taught Mr Rauf how to take the heat on and off the pitch. "The biggest challenge that I've had to manage as a footballer was facing criticism and handling it from a very young age," he recounts. "I learnt to harness my emotions in facing the criticism and channelled them towards motivating myself to perform better" - a lesson he continues to share with his pupils.

Yu Neng Primary School pupils learn not just about soccer but also life skills from Mr Rauf.

More than a Good Sport

Besides football, Mr Rauf was a keen sepak takraw player, a game that he credits with helping develop his ball control skills. A parallel passion in video editing and computer animation led to his appointment as the coordinator for The Tab v3.0 training and certification sessions in computer animation. Hosted by Yu Neng Primary School, the event offered opportunities for teachers to share and learn with peers from several other countries as well as technology providers.

Mr Rauf ultimately hopes to inspire his pupils to "step out of their comfort zone and face challenges in order to succeed in life." He exemplified this himself recently when he took part in the Adidas-New Paper Soccer Star Challenge. Participants had to showcase their football skills as well as a second talent, which for Mr Rauf was public speaking. During the competition, he was also featured in The New Paper about his calling to be a teacher and desire to prove that footballers are not just good in sport but can contribute in other areas such as business and education.

A Continual Learning Journey

"Footballing is my passion," declares Mr Rauf. "but my calling is to inspire the younger ones." Through the teaching profession, he seeks to fulfil this goal. "The young should follow their passion and set goals in life in line with that passion," he says. "Problems should be seen as opportunities to learn and grow."

Nevertheless, Mr Rauf recognises the difficulty of imparting values that will persist through life's hurdles. "My greatest fear is that my pupils will not have to the opportunity to follow up on the values I have instilled in them," he says. Having done his part, he hopes that as they forge their individual paths, his students will remember him for teaching them that "life is a continual learning journey and understand that they must face obstacles and challenges in order to achieve success."