Charting a steady course to global sports glory
FURTHER to “Sports veterans offer to nurture champions” (Letters, Oct 27) we would like to share more salient points of our holistic plan in making Malaysia a world and Olympic champion.
The objective is for our nation via sports to be a healthy nation and nurture champions. The focus is on a plan for all children from age five.
Now, how do we go about this holistically? Who is the stakeholder and who are the component parties? What are their roles and responsibilities? How do you implement them? How do you have checks and balances?
The stakeholder is the government with the following component parties:
Sports, education and health ministries; Child and sports psychologists; Qualified sports science coaches, teachers and talent scouts; Kindergartens, schools and parents; Sports associations, clubs, bodies and groups involved in sports.
For roles and responsibilities: Sports Ministry
To draw up a plan for sports to be a national agenda.
To ensure that there is a clear career path for sportsmen, coaches, talent scouts with attractive salaries, incentives and remuneration packages. The current RM80,000 for an Olympic gold medal to be reviewed. RM1 million should be considered.
To have a plan from spotting talent to developing, grooming and nurturing every child.
To place qualified child and sports psychologists, sports science related personnel and talent scouts in each state.
Their role will be to work with kindergartens, schools, MSSM, education departments, sports associations, groups and bodies and implement plans and monitor the progress.
National sports associations under the Sports Ministry’s purview to submit yearly activity calendars and development programmes and activities, profile of their office bearers (their achievements for being in the associations, their track record over the years, their coaches, their qualifications) their AGM records, their audited accounts.
Education Ministry
To draw up a scoring system to enable sportsmen in their primary and secondary school to go to college and have a career based on their level of representation.
Parents to be made aware of this career path for sportsmen and women by giving wide publicity, via media, parent-teacher associations, national sports bodies, etc.
Stringent guidelines need to be drawn up so as not to abuse the system.
A health and sports report book (HSRB) and a soft copy of it to be introduced for every child.
All kindergartens must be registered online and the format to be drawn up
To draw up a curriculum for all first year children in kindergartens which emphasises on national unity, integration, family and moral values.
Teachers in kindergartens to be vigilant and observant of the child’s behavioural patterns and use child psychology to nip weaknesses and gradually help them outgrow it.
To draw up fun-filled activities to spot their talent, skills and each child’s performance to be recorded in the HSRB.
All kindergarten operators must learn how to spot talent and must be made aware that the government is serious about spotting, developing, nurturing that talent as there is a rewarding career path.
The HSRB of every child must be assessed and parents must submit the book to schools that the child enrols in.
All state MSSM education departments to work with child and sports psychologists, sports science coaches/teachers on their yearly activities and state sports associations to have a common guideline to unearth talent, groom, develop and nurture.
Physical education teachers must be qualified in sports science. PE lessons need to be taken more seriously. PE teachers to focus on the HSRB.
PTAs and parents must provide funds for children to stay back in school from 2pm to 5pm under teachers’ supervision to complete their homework and revision before taking part in sports. The completed homework must be signed by parents.
Fund to be used as allowance for teachers and also for PTA expenses.
Health Ministry
To identify suitable child psychologists, dieticians, nutritionists.
To draw up the details in the HSRB for teachers in kindergartens and schools to update online and in the book.
To review online details of every child’s health and prescribe remedial measures.
Schools to have two groups of under nine and under 12 hockey teams, for example.
Friendlies, inter-group competitions to be held and then state under nine and under 12 teams to be formed.
Individual focus training must be conducted.
National Sports Associations
To work with and monitor state associations on their yearly activity calendars;
To ensure that focus is on development programmes and ensure that they are carried out;
To ensure that coaches and talent scouts are qualified in sports science;
To ensure that there is a comprehensive reporting and follow-up system; and
To ensure that talents are professionally nurtured.
In summary, the government has to make sports a national agenda with the relevant ministries playing their roles and responsibilities.
Every parent and child is aware of the national agenda and the career paths clearly spelt out where the objective is to become a sporting nation of world and Olympic champions and a healthy nation with this holistic plan which may need fine tuning.
Let’s join hands for this health and sports national service.