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Oh, let’s not
get into that. I have a good guess on how that night
went......hmm, so, how does the academy operate? |
Our "Sergeant" With His Best Troop |
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Allan
: |
Haha. Ok, basically, the |
| academy is run by a board......they
administer, and the major decisions will be made by them as well.
And then, you have the coaching division, which is headed by me,
and all of the other coaches working in tandem......we plan and
implement the coaching programmes for
the whole academy, from the elite right down to the grass root
players. |
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Who are these
coaches? |
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Allan
: |
A lot of our coaches are ex-players......they’re all squash players at
one time, either state or national level. |
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But we also have a couple of
them who are just serious in helping us out with coaching kids, which
is slightly different from older players. We just ask them if they’re
interested......and if they are, we make them as one of our coaches. |
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I've seen one of
the junior’s parent helping out with transport during local events in
Penang, and even in KL. How involved are they in the academy? |
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Allan
: |
Parents
are very involved in this game. We need a lot of parental support and
thaaank goodness.....parents trust us enough, and they really do not
interfere too much with our training sessions,
programmes,
and the way we run it......so far. |
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That’s good. So,
what’s the main goal of the academy? |
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Allan
: |
Er......we have two different goals here. One set by the Squash Racket
Association of Malaysia ( SRAM ), |
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who is part of the board, and
the other by the coaching panel, the coaches ourselves. SRAM’s aim is
for us to provide a feeder base for the elite national squad, where at
fifteen years old, after their form three exams, they would actually
be transferred to Bukit Jalil for the elite Under 17 team. That’s
SRAM’s target in the long term. But for us coaches, what we aim to do
is establish another centre......where a point I would say, a national
training centre, like.... |
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Like another
Bukit Jalil Sports School? |
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Allan
: |
Not
really. Another SRAM training division rather, where we can take care
of not only junior elite athletes, but also professionals......full
professionals |
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Sounds like a
good idea. |
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Allan
: |
Yes, but a setback so far, where we can foresee is financial. That
means if any player decides to go |
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professional, or decides to stay back in Penang, the funding for trips
would be very limited......very limited |
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By when do you
intend for this to happen? |
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Allan
: |
We have
not actually set a time limit for
ourselves. |
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Hey, isn’t that
important for goal settings? |
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Allan
: |
Although
it’s important, we have to look at the players that we have as
well......their commitment. The core of the elite players are
averaging fifteen years old, so, there’s a lot of considerations that
we have to take into our account......whether they’re gonna continue
with their studies, or whether they want to give this a try. Like the
fact that some of them might want to continue with their studies, you
know, study part time, and play part time......we have to consider
that as well. But ideally, we would like to achieve it in over the
next five years. So, we’re not gonna set any pressure at the moment
because eventually, we will get there. We know that. When we find one
or two guys, or girls, who wants to play on a full time basis, that’ll
be the start. |
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But
besides these considerations, any other factor that’s holding you up
in achieving this? |
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Allan
: |
Like every other sport in the country, the limiting factor here is
money. Unless we can get a very good |
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financial backer, or a consistent amount of money coming in every
month, then we are able to do whatever |
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we want. But now, what we’re
trying to do is get the best deal out of what we are able to afford
from. |
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Who’s supporting
SAP financially now? |
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Allan
: |
We’ve
got MULPHA, Head, Majlis Sukan Pulau Pinang and assistance from the
National Sports Council. We’re still looking for
co-sponsors |
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