Hii steps down as president of Mava
SIBU: Dr Gregory Hii Sui Cheng has officially stepped down as the president of Malaysia Volleyball Association (Mava) at the association’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Kuala Lumpur last weekend.
Dato Benny Hoe Tze Fook and Dato Chai Kim Sen were unanimously elected to take over the president and deputy president posts.
The five elected vice-presidents are Temenggong Datuk Vincent Lau Lee Ming, Hanif Basree Abdul Rahman, Choy Teik San, Hean Boon Yeow and Dato Alipudin Puyon.
In his parting remarks, Hii encouraged all those involved in the volleyball fraternity to continue to work as a team for the good of the sport.
“I hope the new team especially the president and the vice presidents are handson and be involved. And of course, be generous with your encouragement and be slow with destructive criticism.”
Hii admitted that he felt relieved after stepping down from the post as he could now concentrate more on his involvement in business chambers including as president of Sibu Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI), vice president of Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ACCCIS) and as council member of Sarawak Business Federation (SBF).
During his two-year term as Mava president from 2016 to 2017, Hii said he had spent lots of time building relationships with National Sports Council (NSC) officials and the Olympic Council members.
“I think Mava has gained new respect from them and I hope the new Mava team will continue to do so.”
Looking back, Hii said he is glad to have accomplished some sort of achievements for himself as well as for Mava.
“Within the first month after I took over, I managed to get the new Mava office running at a rental of RM20 per month. It now has full time staff.
“We also started training our SEA volleyball teams (men and women ) in October 2016 immediately at great cost because of payment of allowance to players, coaches and a full time coach for men’s teams.”
“We are lucky NSC has financially supported us, supplemented by donations from supporters, advisors, former players, sponsors and committee members.
“Our technical committee under Mava secretary has done a wonderful job in organising the SEA Volleyball championship as well as Sukma (Malaysia Games).
“But despite our commitment and planning, we did not manage to win any SEA medal although our men’s team have improved substantially. That is one great regret I will never forget.”
Hii said Mava also introduced FIVB Beach Volleyball Championship in 2016, the first was played in Langkawi with the help of event manager.
“As for the traditional national age-group championships, we have successfully organised them, although the number of participating teams are not good,” he said.
Hii said it appeared that many state bodies were bordering hibernation which was a very worrying trend and he encouraged them to make a new start to really take up their responsibilities of promoting volleyball effectively.
“Occupying leaderships position and not doing anything should not be our culture.”
And of course, be generous with your encouragement and be slow with destructive criticism. — Dr Gregory Hii Sui Cheng