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Monday, July 22, 2013

Is Sukma still relevant?

While former top officials say the games are still needed to nurture young talent, the sports development programmes, however, needs an overhaul.
PETALING JAYA: Is Sukan Malaysia (Sukma Games) still relevant seeing that the standard of sports has remained stagnant for decades? When FMT posed this question, several former top sports officials agreed that the games were still needed unearth and nurture potential young talent.
However, all of them conceded that much work is needed to bring the country back to the international spotlight.
“Sukma should be continued as it a good platform to unearth new talents but its format needs to be reviewed,” said former Malaysia Amateur Athletics Union (MAAU) official A Vaithilingam.
Currently Vaithi as he popularly known, said there was no proper follow up system in place to nurture the talents pooled from Sukma, leaving many of them in a lurch.
“What next after Sukma? The National Sports Council does develop some of the talents unearthed from the games but it is not good enough as they tend to concentrate on cream. What about the other promising athletes?” he asked
More important than a follow up system, Vaithi said there was a need to need improve sports associations in school and state levels. “Our sports bodies, from the school to state level needs a thorough reform,” he said.
He said that many sports associations, at school, state and national levels, were not up to the mark, partly because of a lack of volunteerism to help spot and nurture fresh young talent.
“Who are the trainers in the sports bodies? Do we really have good coaches? No one knows as there is no proper monitoring system.
“In the old days, we had good coaches who volunteered to train our athletes but they are rare these days,” said Vaithi.
He added that parents are disinterested to send their children for sports training in schools as their focus is placed on academic performance.
“And what are the school level sports associations doing to arrest the decline? No one knows,” said Vaithi.
Former Squash Rackets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) director Wong Ah Jit also defended the Sukma games, saying it is a good reference point to spot potential new athletes to be groomed.
“But we need to have a proper benchmark. If we are targeting to develop talents for the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), then the whole nation must use that yardstick,” said Wong.
He said that currently, many sports associations do not have a proper benchmark to train their athletes.
“Personally, I will rather train my talents for SEA Games. Once we are at that level, then I will consider moving up the barometer,” said Wong.
Race-based entry into sports
Wong added that it was also pertinent for sports bodies to start training talents from a young age to give them ample time to be groomed for the international arena.
“For that, we need to have a comprehensive blueprint on training talents and it must be followed to the letter,” he said.
Wong added that some state sports associations change their training scheme on a whim without giving it a proper thought.
“If we are planning to develop talents under 18 years of age for a particular sport, then every sports associations must follow that benchmark
“And we must have guidelines on what is the right age to develop these talents. No point training them just about two years before they reach the age limit,” he said.
Wong added that state level sports associations should also start pooling funds to develop talents instead of giving excuses on their financial constraints.
“Even with little funds, you can still start something provided you have a clear strategy. Start small and invest in the right programme. Pick the athletes from the right age group and work with them.
“Once you have the talents, the funds will come,” said Wong.
Former Asian Football Confederation (AFC) secretary-general Peter Vellapan was more vocal in his assessment of the Malaysian sports industry.
“When we build a house, you must lay the foundation first such as the checking the soil and setting up the pillars. But in Malaysia, we are building homes by putting up the roof first,” said Vellapan.
He also said that race based entry into sports is another factor killing talent that would take Malaysia to greater heights.
“In my time, we had a good mix of all races in sports but it now seems to be dominated by one ethnic group. In short, you are cutting out about 40% of the population from sports,” said Vellapan.
On training programmes, Vellapan said it was best if Malaysia could follow the model of developed nations, where they start training young talents from the age of six.
“And we need to have more district and state level competitions to unearth new talents. Once we find them, then we proceed to train them for the next level,” he said.
Vellapan added that even for Sukma, not all potential athletes are groomed to the next level due to the non-existence of systematic competition approach.
“We need more competitions among our athletes to develop their strengths and fix their weaknesses,” he said.

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