THE Penang State Sports Council (PSSC) will be hiring more local and foreign coaches for various sports associations as well as organise regular Open athletics competitions to prepare athletes for the 2020 Sukma in Johor.
State Sports and Youth Committee chairman Soon Lip Chee said PSSC is taking these steps to further develop the athletes and help the “weak” associations after conducting a post-mortem on their performance in the 2018 Sukma in Perak.
“We don’t want to see some associations start preparing their athletes six months before Sukma. We should start now,” Soon told a press conference in Komtar today. Also present was PSSC director Frederick Tan.
“We want to engage coaches to support some of these associations. We will also set up a task force to organise regular Open athletic competitions to search for new talents and groom them.”
Penang won 32 gold, 30 silver and 30 bronze medals to finish seventh out of 15 contingents in the Perak Sukma that was held in September.
Soon said PSSC, with the support of the state government, would be looking for coaches for athletics, badminton, basketball, cycling, karate, lawn bowls, shooting, swimming and wushu. One coach who has not been producing “good results” would be replaced.
He said those interested to be coaches in other sports could also submit their resumes to PSSC at [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]. Former state or national Penang athletes are encouraged to apply.
“The problem with some associations is that they have yet to realise their own weaknesses. They have to take full responsibility by working with the Penang State Sports Council. Only then can we grow and improve. If not, two or four years from now, we will still remain the same,” Soon added.
He said they would also arrange for state swimmers to be trained at the Relau Sports Complex that is being managed by the Penang Island City Council (MBPP).
On athletics, Soon said they want to help create a bigger pool of talents by organising Open competitions and hiring coaches to train them.
“We had 45 gold medals at stake in the recent Sukma, but we managed to get only one silver and one bronze. If we can get five golds in the next Sukma, it’s good enough. I know it’s not easy to achieve this in another two years,” he said.
Tan said PSSC would want to help any sports association solve their problems as they set a target to improve themselves.
“We will see whether they achieve their targets from the various competitions they plan to take part. We don’t want to waste time,” said Tan.
“We will have a series of meetings (with the sports associations) in these two months before we get down to start the training programmes in January next year.,
“For next year, we want to organise courses and seminars for officials and coaches to upgrade themselves. On top of that, we will invite ISN (National Sports Institute) to conduct testing and fitness tests.”
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Chan Kok Kuan