PE teacher loves Malaysia’s multi-racial society

If Scott McDonough ever leaves Malaysia to return to his homeland Australia, the one thing he will miss sorely as a sports lover is alternative medicine. “Injuries are common for a person with a sports background. Alternative medicine is the most effective thing for me as it addresses the cause of the injury rather than just treat the symptoms like Western medicine,” the 40-year-old physical education and health teacher at Mont Kiara International School said. These practices that date back thousands of years are implemented by some of the masters here who McDonough visits.

Exercise buff: McDonough teaching kickboxing at the gymnasium in Mont Kiara International School.

“I know of a Chinese sifu (master) in Balakong who works at aligning the spine by tapping it. Another master I go to is a six-footer named Wong who does acupuncture and deep-tissue massages,” he said. McDonough said that prior to living here, he did not even know where Malaysia was on the map.

“It started with meeting my wife-to-be while in Melbourne, as she was preparing to come to Malaysia to work. After that, while on holiday here in 2001, I decided to look around the schools for a position,” he recalled. Though offered a teaching position, he did not immediately take it up as he was playing semi-professional football in Australia at that time.

Beautiful moments : McDonough having some fun with his four-year-old son Jordan at the playground in their home in Bangsar.

“In the end, the opportunity to take sporting teams to other countries was something I could not pass up. I believed it would broaden my horizons and would get me out of my comfort zone, doing different things,” he said. McDonough plays two roles in school, one to teach regular class physical education with a curriculum that covers track and field, swimming, athletics, volleyball, touch football and a variety of sports as well as coaching after-school sports that involve training the students for competitions against other international schools locally and in the region.

“I get a lot of personal satisfaction from watching the children develop as I teach them sports. I believe my role is becoming increasingly important too, what with children these days always stuck to the computer all day long,” he said, adding that in his younger days he played Australian football and tennis as well as track and field events. Currently, he is going for an instructor’s course for kick-boxing, something he plans to introduce at the school.

McDonough said that Asia has taught him to be more open and living in Malaysia was preferable to other more developed places as it was less rigid here and a lot of locals speak English. “I went to America in 2007 where my wife had Jordan. “We stayed there for 10 months but missed Malaysia and came back. I missed the best friends I have made here and the various celebrations and food,” he said. In fact, he has gotten so used to spicy food that going back to Australia, he finds the food a bit bland.

McDonough says that career-wise, a move to the big international schools in Bangkok or Singapore would be good but he has his four-year-old son to think of. “I get homesick once a year so I usually take off for a month to go back. I may consider going back to Australia to live but depending on many things, I might also return here but for Jordan’s sake, I want to be more settled,” he said, adding that his 42-year-old American wife Valerie Lynn works as a business consultant.

He said that the one thing his son would probably take away permanently from living in Kuala Lumpur was the ability to be more tolerant. “In the car, Jordan will be singing Chinese songs he learnt in daycare where he is also taught some Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin. “Here he gets to mix around with kids of many different races and nationalities which I believe will contribute to him being more well-rounded in the future,” he said.

-thestar online.