BAM make bold moves to propel game to greater heights
News, Top News 9:02 AM
KUALA LUMPUR: A new coaching and training structure; a new
man to chart the fortunes of the sport; and redefined goals and roles
for coaches and players – these are the changes that will, hopefully,
propel Malaysian badminton towards greater heights.
Having failed to make much headway in the last decade, the Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) coaching and training committee, headed by new chairman Ng Chin Chai, announced several drastic changes to their structure yesterday.
Despite their huge funds and excellent facilities, Malaysia have never won a world title or an Olympic gold.
In fact, the lack of depth in the men’s singles and both the women’s singles and doubles is also alarming.
Chin Chai said that the
appointment of a high performance director, coupled with the switch in
the roles of several coaches and the move to divide the teams into elite
and back-up squads with specific targets, should do the sport a world
of good.
“We hope that everything will fall into place with the changes to the coaching and training structure. We will name the high performance director after our council meeting on Aug 20,” said Chin Chai.
The high performance director will oversee the six co-ordinators – Rashid Sidek (elite singles), Rexy Mainaky (elite doubles), Hendrawan (back-up singles), Tan Kim Her (back-up doubles), Wong Tat Meng (women’s singles) and Pang Cheh Chang (women’s doubles).
“The coaches will be monitored closely. They have been instructed to draw up their plans for next year by October,” said Chin Chai.
“The elite squad coaches have been set a target of grooming their players to win honours at major tournaments, like the Olympics, Thomas Cup and Asian Games.
“The back-up squads are our future players – especially after the London Olympics in 2012. The coaches have two years to help these players achieve a breakthrough.”
Chin Chai said they would also axe deadwoods in the teams.
“We will drop two from the men’s singles elite squad and one from the elite doubles. We will also hold open trials to recruit new faces for the back-up squad,” he said.
“We have 42 men and 24 women shuttlers. We have a small group of elite players and a big back-up base. This will ensure that talented players will continue to come through the ranks.”
Yesterday, the committee also decided to adopt a few of the proposals made by the task force appointed to conduct a post-mortem after Malaysia’s failure to win the Thomas Cup Finals in May. (Malaysia lost 0-3 to China in the semi-finals.)
Other decisions ·removing the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) programme from the coaching and training committee and placing it under the purview of the development committee;
·ensuring all coaches work in partnership with the National Sports Institute (NSI), especially before major Games, to strategise game plans for the players;
·making special arrangements for the Ng sisters – Hui Lin and Hui Ern – to train part-time with the team;
·having players work closely with NSI psychologists to help them handle pressure;
·getting the Sportswriters Association of Malaysia (SAM) to educate the players on how to conduct themselves with the media;
·conducting centralised training in isolation prior to major Games; and
·appointing a camp commandant
to instil discipline among the players at the national training centre.
Having failed to make much headway in the last decade, the Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) coaching and training committee, headed by new chairman Ng Chin Chai, announced several drastic changes to their structure yesterday.
Despite their huge funds and excellent facilities, Malaysia have never won a world title or an Olympic gold.
In fact, the lack of depth in the men’s singles and both the women’s singles and doubles is also alarming.
“We hope that everything will fall into place with the changes to the coaching and training structure. We will name the high performance director after our council meeting on Aug 20,” said Chin Chai.
The high performance director will oversee the six co-ordinators – Rashid Sidek (elite singles), Rexy Mainaky (elite doubles), Hendrawan (back-up singles), Tan Kim Her (back-up doubles), Wong Tat Meng (women’s singles) and Pang Cheh Chang (women’s doubles).
“The coaches will be monitored closely. They have been instructed to draw up their plans for next year by October,” said Chin Chai.
“The elite squad coaches have been set a target of grooming their players to win honours at major tournaments, like the Olympics, Thomas Cup and Asian Games.
“The back-up squads are our future players – especially after the London Olympics in 2012. The coaches have two years to help these players achieve a breakthrough.”
Chin Chai said they would also axe deadwoods in the teams.
“We will drop two from the men’s singles elite squad and one from the elite doubles. We will also hold open trials to recruit new faces for the back-up squad,” he said.
“We have 42 men and 24 women shuttlers. We have a small group of elite players and a big back-up base. This will ensure that talented players will continue to come through the ranks.”
Yesterday, the committee also decided to adopt a few of the proposals made by the task force appointed to conduct a post-mortem after Malaysia’s failure to win the Thomas Cup Finals in May. (Malaysia lost 0-3 to China in the semi-finals.)
Other decisions ·removing the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) programme from the coaching and training committee and placing it under the purview of the development committee;
·ensuring all coaches work in partnership with the National Sports Institute (NSI), especially before major Games, to strategise game plans for the players;
·making special arrangements for the Ng sisters – Hui Lin and Hui Ern – to train part-time with the team;
·having players work closely with NSI psychologists to help them handle pressure;
·getting the Sportswriters Association of Malaysia (SAM) to educate the players on how to conduct themselves with the media;
·conducting centralised training in isolation prior to major Games; and
Posted by Lucas Liau
on 9:02 AM.
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