Wushu coaches play key role in developing exponents
KUCHING: Coaches of the Wushu Federation of Sarawak ( WFS) are urged to constantly upgrade themselves by attending courses and seminars organised by the state wushu association, Sarawak Sports Corporation ( SSC) and Sarawak State Sports Council ( MSNS).
In making this call, WFS deputy president James Ting Ing Seek said it is vital that coaches play their role by identifying new talents in schools and training centres in the move to produce more high calibre athletes for the state’s back-up and elite squads.
“For WFS, wushu is a highperformance sport and one of the main contributors of gold medals for the Sarawak contingent at Sukma and other national championships.
“Since wushu was contested as a Sukan Malaysia (Sukma) event in 2000, Sarawak have always been the overall champions or finished among the top three teams and we are regarded as the wushu powerhouse in the country.
“To maintain our status as the powerhouse, the coaches shoulder the big responsibility to work hard and produce more high quality athletes,” Ting said at the opening of the WFS Coaches Training Course at a local hotel on Thursday.
Ting, who is WFS head coach and chairman of development and technical committee, also encouraged the coaches to focus on making wushu coaching a career by maintaining or even improve gradually the high standards and performance that WFS has attained over the years.
He also stressed on the need to have more coaches to teach school children at grassroots level.
“There are more than 3,000 schools in the state and our penetration into schools is only 10 per cent, so there is still plenty of development to do for the coaches,” he pointed out.
“Melaka have caught up with us on wushu development and standard. As such, we cannot afford to wait any longer. We must produce more coaches to enter schools to identify new talents and groom them for future competitions,” he noted.
According to Ting, WFS would continue to conduct more coaching and judging courses and seminars to produce more coaches and technical officials.
Twenty-seven coaches from all over Sarawak are taking part in the course from Jan 18 to 21 which is organised by WFS with the support from SSC/MSNS.
The course, a ‘train the trainer’ programme conducted by MSNS wushu head coach Yoong Thong Foong and assisted by state coach Lau Hui Wei, is aimed at updating the participants on the latest techniques, procedures and wushu development, as well as training and certifying all new and existing coaches under WFS.
The majority of the participants comprise of coaches from the Wushu Centres of Excellence and Wushu Centres of Development, former and current Sukma athletes.
During the course, they will also learn the standardised routines and standardised training programmes where they will impart their knowledge to the students when they return to their respective divisions.
Also present were MSNS wushu coordinator Thomas Chia and WFS secretary Lucas Lim Tee Kiat.