SportSPORTCHECK: Path cleared for local coaches

New Straits Times » By K.M. Boopathy Feb 23:

THE lack of paper qualification will no longer be a hindrance to local coaches who wish to earn a degree in sports science or sports management once the Malaysian Sports Science Academy is up and running.

In fact, the prime goal of the Malaysian Sports Science Academy (MSSA) is to see all local coaches obtain degrees in their related fields without too much emphasis on academic qualifications.The MSSA, to be launched by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tomorrow, is the nation's first tertiary education institute which will specialise in providing certificate, diploma, degree and masters courses in various fields of sports.Its founder and chairman Tan Sri Elyas Omar said that the MSSA's major goal is to provide career-based education for coaches, national sports association officials and athletes without being too worried about paper qualification."The idea of forming the MSSA was mooted about 20 years ago when I was the Kuala Lumpur mayor. We invited the United States Sports Academy (USSA) to conduct short sports management courses and this was when the suggestion to have our own sports science academy came about," said Elyas in KL yesterday."The MSSA will be the first of its kind and our ultimate goal is to see local coaches possess degrees one day."The fact that not all the coaches or players are highly educated and too much emphasis placed on academic excellence will never give them a chance to upgrade their knowledge in management of other sports related fields."The MSSA will look at their sports expertise and look for ways to make them better coaches or administrators by focusing more on practical work."Elyas also said that MSSA will begin by offering short certificate courses with the assistance of the world famous USSA immediately after tomorrow's launch. The targeted group are officials and administrators from the national sports association and officers from the Public Services Department.This will be followed by a diploma course - part-time and full-time - later this year where interested coaches can apply for the various courses on offer which will include coaching, sports science, sports management, journalism and many others.The MSSA's faculty will be based for the time being at Taylor's College which will also provide the professors and lecturers to run the various courses.USSA's chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dr Thomas Rosandich said that they will assist the MSSA in training local lecturers, providing the technology to offer on-line courses and also make the academy a centre to develop qualified coaches."USSA warmly welcomes the creation of the MSSA and are confident that this academy will turn out to be a partner par excellence in promoting sports," said Dr Rosandich."We will assist in whichever way possible and with the establishment of the MSSA, I believe KL can become the Mecca of sports in the region."Dr Rosandich also confirmed that a specific course of the Dartfish technology, a famous training method using frame-by-frame video analysis in training, would also be introduce to the Malaysian sporting scene.The MSSA will also focus on turning school teachers into coaches rather than just being physical education teachers."Schools are where talents are nurtured and we need to turn the teachers into coaches. There are about 16,000 schools in the country," said Elyas."The MSSA will offer courses where teachers will be trained to become coaches and not just focus on physical education alone."A seminar on ways to improve the standard of sports in Malaysia will also be held in conjunction with the MSSA's launch tomorrow.