Tuesday, December 1, 2009

MHF Committees in "Slumberland" - Part 2: "Clueless" Development Committee.

The state of Malaysian hockey is what it is today because of the failure to undertake good development programmes by the previous hockey regimes. In the past there was more talk and getting to the ground was a huge hurdle for MHF to surmount. In the last administration one of the current Vice Presidents was for a short while the Chairman of the Development Committee but was tactfully removed as his thinking was not in consonant with the parties that made the difference in MHF then. Therefore if there was any "development", it was the "politicking" and this permeated to all levels in MHF thereby destroying the possibility of concrete development projects materialising. This therefore interrupted the flow of talents in the supply chain.

Malaysian hockey had been quite lucky because NSC came as a saviour with their programmes like "Sukan Teras", "Tunas Cemerlang" and the Sport Schools. If we look at the young generation of players especially in the Project 2013, you can see why i state NSC had been and will continue to be the saviour of Malaysian hockey. Whether it was intended or otherwise, the facts of the matter speaks for itself.

Now lets come to the fundamental issue of what do we mean by the term "Development"? Is it to popularise the game at grassroot such that we have sufficient numbers that permit a good reservoir of players, where quality talents can be extracted to become the first part of the series in the "supply chain" to furnish the States and the high performance national teams.?

If that is so, therefore it is not creating the national team that is the immediate priority but rather the pool of players from the grassroots. However, "grass" can only grow if there are "roots", at least that was what i remembered from my Science lessons. The question then is: Where is the "roots"? Of course they must be planted. It then begs the next question: By whom? This i presume becomes the Vision, strategy and action plan of the Development Committee.

If the preceding paragraph has its basis, then can the current Development Committee after 1 year of mulling over the development issues, be prepared to state that they have got the "modus operandi" under going for "root" planting for grassroot hockey? I ask this question because we can debate "till the cows come home", but the fact remains that the "roots" have not been planted on the ground and the only "planting" if any that has been done, is at the Development Committee itself.

Obviously there is an argument that the Development Committee had submitted 3 plans. The first in early 2009 but it seem to be riding on TNB's Project 2013 programme, which TNB had presented to the previous administration. The 2nd plan was submitted in mid 2009 but seem to be involved with high performance teams rather than planting the "roots". Again the 2nd plan like the 1st had an inherent flaw because the Development programmes were not discussed with the Affiliates, which would have infringed the MHF constitution.

With the coming of the MHF General Manager, apparently the matter became an "eye opener" to the Chairman of the Development Committee. The Development Committee then indulged into discussion with the Affiliates and this was 10 months after the new administration came into office. Even at that stage they came up with a "grandeur" idea i e the 3rd plan, costing a few million ringgits, which from the onset seem to be a non starter.

What surprises me is that the Development Committee is made up of a "high powered" team and i wonder how they miss the obvious matter of "planting the roots". The other problem may also be that the Committee may not have had the guidance by MHF as to know what exactly to tackle. It probably explains why they have the notion of intervention involving the high performance teams.


Some may argue that all these seem to provide the right excuses. Yet, the point being why did the Development Committee not seek guidance at an early stage itself rather than 2nd guessing what is expected of them. Indeed now "planting the roots" may not arise if the Ministry of Education (MOE) Hockey Development programmes gets into full swing. The schools become the "nurseries" i e the "planting fields". This effectively would save the Development Committee the resources of getting down to the ground as the teachers become the "agents of change".

Such being the case the Development Committee may have to re-engineer its direction and position itself to "aid and abet" the MOE development programmes. The areas they could look at is:


  1. Assisting in the creation of more teachers as coaches for development.

  2. Creating a system of quality control with MOE to ensure the system adopted nationwide is of the highest quality,consistent in nature and fits into a national game plan.

  3. Creating a "half way" Academy in each State to spot talents in the MOE programme and further enhance the skills of the selected students through periodic gatherings.

  4. This "half way" Academy can be part of the supply chain of players to the States and high performance teams.

  5. These "half way" Academies should be encouraged to have inter state tournaments to create a competitive nature.

These are some ideas floated, while the high powered team of the Development Committee may have better plans. The point being the Committee cannot sit around and wait for things to "drop from the sky". The MOE initiative is already underway and the MHF Development Committee should work with the MOE to take the programme to another stage rather than "hatching" another plan which may take another year in the making, if past experience is anything to go by.

In this way the Development Committee would be assisting to lay the foundation of a nationwide programme for schools with the MOE and working with the Affiliates. This tripartite relationship if undertaken properly would become a benchmark and a legacy to sports. More importantly, it could be the "infrastructure" to ensure an uninterrupted supply chain for future quality talents in Malaysian hockey. I am sure that would be the dream of this high powered Development Committee and why not?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

They must run a programme like the Sukan teras for development of hockey. The MOE which is running the presnt program looks like a failure. They don't know what they are doing. You need proper personals to guide them. MSN and MHF should revive the Sukan Teras program just for hockey or hockey will in a brinking of disaster.

Hockey fan

Anonymous said...

Off course. Because sukan teras got allowance or simply said 'money'. If not, don't think so all the 'clever people' will show their interest on Sukan Teras. Who did train our past great hero and legend of hockey if not a so called 'lousy teacher'?

Anonymous said...

teacher are our assets to prepare our youngster in the grassroots level but they must be proper system and monitoring on the center setup under SPTS. for sure the current setup is good but lacking up to date knowledge and expertise. hockey games are played differently compare those day and everyday other country change their system and tactical according the need. Teacher cum coaches who not been expose with this will teaching our future star the old technique and system...

Anonymous said...

most of all the old and legendary teachers already past their time and no more develop the grass root..simply said, not teaching anymore..
but, the new badge of teachers will take their place time after time. the new badge will bring the latest knowledge or technology in hockey. its a tradition! that's no reason to simply said they are lack of expertise as some of them also ex-national player, ex-national junior player and ex-state player. most of them also is the product of our National Sports School with a bachelors degree in sport science! they got the right to obtain and attend national coaching programme and should be given more space with others to carry on the legendary teachers tradition.
the problem here, when it involve money, all parties become ''blur'' and ''selfish''. then teachers will only department that will get the negative impact. what a pity!
nowadays, its not for the spirit and sake of hockey anymore.
hockey should come 1st, then money will follow as a bonus..

Anonymous said...

Why SPTS will be a failure? They don't produce teachers like they used to produce .The history of hockey achievement in our 1(satu) Malaysia those days are littered with name of teachers like our late Dato'Ho , Yogeswaran, Sivapathamsundram,Brian Foennader,Pritam Singh,Durai raj(60,70)Malik Kiew, Teng Cheng Leong VincentFernandez,Vivekanandan,Tejar Singh(80's)and to name few others. These were the dying breeds whom worked just for the passion of hockey. Right now there are sports schools and hockey schools in all states whereby all the coaches do just for "cari makan ".These teachers some did not excel in sports, they played their roles as coaches,administrators,and above all gave their heart and soul for excellence.If they were to produce a sports history book of yesteryears, a good portion of it would be teachers. Now teaching is source of income. Teachers training colleges and universities have lecturers with higher degrees but they cannot teach and they cannot become role models because they are there for the income.Sports sooner or latter will be a natural death. Teachers of those days were cultivating and culmination of years of experience to achieve. Now , its like fast food service for teachers. MOE now have only a period of physical Education in some schools. Where are we heading.
Retired Teacher

Gandhi, said...

I can understand the "Retired Teacher's" comment of 9th.December.

Please advice us what should be done?

Thank you.