Foreign coaches incur huge expenses – senior ministry official
KOTA KINABALU: Relying on foreign coaches involves incurring huge expenses and is not very profitable in the long run.
Permanent secretary to the Sabah Youth and Sports Ministry Datuk Awang Damit Anak said it would be better to invest in a development plan to produce local coaches of world class standard.
Awang said this when officiating at the closing of the National Science Courses Level 1 and Level 3 of the National Coaching Certificate Scheme at the Kota Kinabalu Sports Complex here, yesterday.
It was the fourth time the course was organised and Sabah is the sole state that conducts the courses concurrently.
The Level 1 Sports Science Course attracted 105 participants, while a total of 30 attended the Level 3 Sports Science Course.
The course trains, equips and enhances the knowledge of coaches to further develop the latest coaching patterns and methods to help improve the performance and achievement of national sports.
“I would like to emphasise here that every knowledge gained from this course is one of the efforts we are making to produce more local coaches who are willing to make changes.
“The change is the application of the knowledge gained from this course into the daily training that can produce more successful international athletes,” he said.
He said qualified and experienced trainers were required in conducting training from various programs at all levels, especially at the school level.
In this regard, he hoped participants would continue to attend courses, conferences, seminars, workshops and symposiums as learning never ends.
Awang Damit also welcomed a number of former athletes such as 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games gold medallist Aricco Jumitih who attended the Level 1 Science Course.
“This shows that the former national athletes who have been honoring the country's name now have the opportunity to serve as professional trainers through the participation in such courses.
“I believe Aricco's participation in such a course can be a motivation for former athletes to raise their knowledge to a higher level and strengthen their career after being athletes. Experience of former national athletes is very valuable and it needs to be utilised through professional learning,” Awang Damit said.