SHA to lift Sabah hockey standards to greater heights
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Hockey Association (SHA) president Dato Sri Anil Jeet Singh has vowed to lift Sabah hockey standards to greater heights.
Taking inspiration from Sabah’s highly successful outing at the Malaysia Games (Sukma) 2018 in Perak, he said the association must build on the success or else the hard work put in previously would go down the drain.
“We don’t want to be tagged as a one-tournament wonder,” he said after leading SHA to pay a courtesy call to the Sabah Education Department director Mistirine Radin here on Monday.
“If anything it (Sukma success) should be a motivation for us to seriously develop hockey in the State.
“Development programme must start from the grassroots level especially in schools... it is very important to start nurturing these talents from a young age.
“The young talents must receive the right guidance and taught the right techniques. We will also be organising tournaments for Under-10, 12, 16 and so on.
“We believe once we have a strong foundation, it will be easier for us to sustain the standard of the game here.
“Of course all these cannot be achieved overnight...we must be patient and do things one step at a time,” he added.
In view of that, Anil said they sought support and assistance from the State Education Department in their efforts to carry out the development programme.
“It is very important that we (SHA) cooperate with the schools since it will involve the teachers and students,” he said.
Meanwhile, Anil hoped the Department would follow up on the long-awaited synthetic hockey pitch at SMK Abdul Rahim, Kudat.
“We reliably learnt that everything has been approved under the previous government and even representatives from the Education Ministry and the Malaysia Hockey Confederation have visited the site way back in 2015.
“Having a synthetic pitch in the northen part of the State would help greatly in our efforts to lift hockey standards ...hopefully the Education Department will help us on this matter,” he said.
At the same function, Anil also proposed for Sabah to have hockey school like what their Peninsular Malaysia counterparts have, and this he said would certainly benefit the Sabah hockey.
“We have the facility available for such purpose. I was made to understand that SMK Weston Beaufort has a synthetic pitch... why not us start from there.
“It is not something that cannot be done...I think it is a logical proposal,” he said.
Also present during the courtesy call were SHA deputy president Datin Hajah Nuinda Hj Alias, vice presidents Basari Sarkun and Joko Purwanto Jimin and secretary Avtar Singh Bal.