Patience (SEPTEMBER 17 - 23) and passion

Bowling coach Steven points out key ingredients for training para athletes

COACHING an athlete with disability isn’t as complicated – or difficult – as many think.

Just ask national para bowling head coach Steven Teng (pic) who has served the team since the Kuala Lumpur Asean Para Games in 2009.

“It’s almost similar to how you handle an able-bodied athlete – the same coaching method. You just need a little tweak here and there, depending on their classification (type of disability),” said the 53-year-old Steven.

“The most challenging part is perhaps guiding the B1 (completely blind) category.

“All you need in coaching para sports is to have a lot of patience and passion because para athletes take a longer time to absorb what you are trying to teach them.

“But once they are good at it, you’ll find they are really no different than their able-bodied counterparts.”

Steven has been instrumental in turning Malaysia into a force to be reckoned with in Asia.

The para bowling team returned with a haul of two golds, two silvers and three bronzes (2-2-3) from the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Para Games and 0-3-2 in Incheon in 2014.

At the 2015 Asean Para Games in Singapore, Malaysia achieved their best-ever tally of 8-7-4 – bettering their six-gold feats in the previous Kuala Lumpur (2009) and Indonesia (2011) editions.

Steven also reckons that his charges are ready to achieve a double-figure haul for the first time – 13 golds – at the KL Asean Para Games.

“I have faith in my team. Most of them are experienced players and have been with us since the 2009 Games. I’m confident they will deliver more than 13 golds.

“Our ultimate target is next year’s Asian Para Games and that’s what we are gearing for,” said Steven, who also served the Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress (MTBC) between 2011 and 2015.

He assisted national head coach Holloway Cheah in the MTBC Special Squad, which produced the likes of current internationals Rafiq Ismail and Timmy Tan.

After the Special Squad was disbanded in 2012, Steven was roped in to be part of the national youth coaching set-up.

Even when he was with MTBC, Steven never abandoned his para team. He would usually take leave to prepare the para bowlers and lead them to the international tournaments.