What's happened to reason? (The Malay Mail)

IT is about time the national sports associations, local coaches and even
the National Sports Council (NSC) took a hard look at themselves before
faulting foreign coaches in the country.
 Once too often we have heard of foreign coaches leaving in a huff, being
sacked with petty reasons because someone does not like their face or
professional work.
 Or because these coaches do not want to play "yes man" to the powers
that be.
 This has been going on for years but with the Commonwealth Games less
than a year away, it is troubling to see more and more foreign coaches
being given the boot.
 Sackings are part and parcel of sports, but it must be done for valid
reasons and with tact.
 Taking stock after a period of time and assessing progress is
accountability.
 But again, everything should be above board and professionally done.
 Recently, the NSC sacked three athletics coaches - Daniel St Hilaire,
Uwe Freimuth and Oleg Dmitrounsenko - after the Jakarta Sea Games, while
the Squash Rackets Association of Malaysia will not renew the contract of
their national elite coach, Jamie Hickox.
 The irony in all the sackings is that the athletes under the charge of
these coaches only had good words for them and their training systems.
 A few even went on record to say their improvement was due to the
foreign coaches.
 But obviously the views of these athletes were of little or no value, as
the administrators felt they knew better and stuck with their decisions to
get rid of the coaches.
 Whether the removal of these coaches were because of jealousy,
manipulations or because they were simply too professional to the liking
of the authorities, are questions that need to be answered honestly.
 It is no secret that most local coaches look at foreign coaches with
envy and do everything possible to make their life miserable by not
cooperating.
 Instead of trying to learn from the foreign coaches who are naturally
better exposed internationally, they work against them.
 After all, the foreign coaches are not going to be here forever. It is
the local coaches who will eventually be taking over. But these local
coaches cannot wait for their time.
 They rather go for overseas courses, which are more holiday trips, than
work as understudy in their own country.
 While the authorities are impatient for results, the local coaches run
down their foreign counterparts.
 Then we also have people who hold power in sports associations
interfering in every aspect and expect the foreign coaches to kow-tow to
them.
 When some of the foreign coaches do not agree with these officials, they
just fall into the black book and it is a matter of time before an excuse
is found to get rid of them.
 Then, we also have athletes who undermine foreign coaches just because
they are not prepared to work hard.
 The boxers are a case in point.
 Some of them found Cuban coach, Nivaldo Pacheco, too tough and staged a
walkout and wanted him out before they returned in preparation for the
Jakarta Sea Games.
 But at least the national boxing association did not give in to the
demands of the boxers who were instead asked to check in or ship out.
 Not many associations would have done what the the boxing association
did and they should be applauded for standing firm and supporting the
coach.
 Now let us look some examples where foreign coaches have been given full
backing to do their work with ample time to make a difference.
 Sid Allen, who has been in Malaysia the last seven years, gets a free
hand in coaching the national bowlers.
 The association's administrators and coaches fully support Allen and
they work as a unit instead of against him.
 Thus, it is no surprise that bowling has brought us international
recognition.
 Sarawak's soccer coach Alan Vest has also been allowed to do his job
professionally.
 He has been around for six seasons and look at what he has achieved over
the years with limited resources.
 Sarawak are this season's League champions.
 Of course, there have been cases where incompetent coaches were engaged
and it is only right they be dismissed.
 But then, whose fault is that they landed on our shores in the first
place?
 The problem with many associations is they hire foreign coaches just for
the sake of hiring them.
 And where true professionals are hired, the associations should not be
telling them what to do at every turn.
 Still, it must not be forgotten that there are some dedicated local
coaches who are denied recognition.
 These are the people who do their best without any interest in personal
glory.
 They are also the ones uninterested in the politics of the associations
or getting into the good books of the powers that be.
 It seems that sports administrators are easily pleased with average
results like being tops at the Sea Games.
 At the rate we are going, the the public is in for a big letdown in the
Commonwealth Games.
 Let us not fool ourselves even for a second that we can do it without
foreign expertise, at least for now.
 Winning in backyard meets is no victory at all.
 Perhaps sports like bowling, squash and badminton may have a pull effect
in raising the professionalism and standards of the other sports.
 But that will only happen when there are open minds and reasonable
people handling the sporting affairs of the country.
                              (END)