Celebrating All You Are with Coby B
An all-rounded extra-curricular life is one of the cornerstones here at ISKL and we couldn’t be more proud of our Grade 11 Student, Coby B. who was selected to play professionally for the USA Ruby Team in the U18 Boys High School Sevens for the World Sevens in New Zealand last December! Coby is also leading the ISKL Rugby as captain for the IASAS Rugby tournament this week in Singapore. The ISKL rugby team led by Coby Baker as the captain will be going for their 3rd consecutive gold medal in boys rugby. Coby has also wowed audiences with his incredible performance as Randall, the lead role in last semester’s high school musical extravaganza “Bring It On”, showing his fine prowess not only for sports but also the theatrical stage.
Panther People sat down with Coby to find out more…
It was a last-minute thing that happened last summer in 2019. We have a house in Austin, Texas (USA) and there is a rugby club about 40 minutes from there. I showed up to two trainings and they told me that they have this upcoming tournament and if I wanted to join. I flew out to Salt Lake City, Utah over the summer where the tournament was being held and played a couple of games. We ended up doing really well in the tournament and I think there must have been some scouts there as I got an email from the USA Head coach from USA Rugby Team, saying that I had been selected for this tournament. It was so unexpected! Only 14 players in the team nationwide were selected for the team this year!
All the coaches that I have had throughout the ten years I have been here at ISKL – Mr Allum, Mr Willis, Mr Wright and Mr Pate. My sweet mother too, she has been very supportive and influential. The number one person I would say would be my father as he has been very involved in all of this. He recorded all my games and captured all the footage. He has also attended an unnecessary amount of games but he enjoys it, so through this we have built our relationship through sport. It is so nice to have a supportive figure like him around.
I would say train in the off season and join a local club. By joining a local club, you can travel to Singapore and Malaysia and play against local teams in local competitions. That has helped me set myself apart from other people and I could enjoy the rugby experience the entire year instead of just seasonally. For local clubs, I would recommend either the KL Tigers or KL Saracens.
I am just trying to do as much I can, and ISKL offers many opportunities to do so. I did the High School Musical, “Bring it On” which was so unexpected. It was an enjoyable experience and am glad that I did that. I try and play sports every season and get involved in clubs. I also played soccer season one, baseball season three and rugby season two.
I am also looking for a direct service club that deals with people around Kuala Lumpur to try and round out my CAS (Creativity, Activities, Service) experience. I am involved in the gardening club after school.
I think it means to focus on individual growth which can, later on, be adapted into a community, etc. Just being yourself and not hiding that from anyone.
Next week Panthers of ISKL will catch up with a student from ISKL’s Elementary School, Haider M., a passionate environmentalist.
