V
IF only more districts like Port Dickson put in concerted efforts in
soccer development, there would be budding talents in the country in time
to come.
Port Dickson, although known as a seaside resort, has also produced a
fair share of players for the State of Negri Sembilan.
Among the notable players from Port Dickson who have donned the Deers
jersey are defender Kamarulzaman Adam (1983-'96), midfielder Mutalib Adam
(1981-'85) and strikers C. Baskaran (1984-'88) and Adnan Din (1982-'90).
There were several others who played for one or two seasons, including
defenders Shamsudin Yusop, Abdul Rahim Buyung and Abu Bakar Ahmad,
midfielders Kasim Samsul, Shukur Adam and M. Suresh and striker Rosli
Ibrahim.
And there are now two budding talents from Port Dickson in Suffian Abdul
Rahman and Mohd Razly Abu Bakar playing in the Negri Sembilan Reserve
League team.
But Port Dickson District Officer Hasan Nawawi Abd Rahman, who was
elected Port Dickson FA president last October, has bigger things in mind.
He wants to see players come out of Port Dickson not by chance, but by
design.
And he is talking about a long-term plan, which may bear fruit when he
may no longer be the D.O. of Port Dickson.
The first thing when Hasan was approached to become the PDFA president
was to state his conditions of getting people who know and love the game
working for him.
He insisted that people like Adnan, Baskaran and Abu Bakar be in the
committee.
"I wanted action-oriented people in the setup who were willing to work,"
said Hasan, who was the former Assistant District Officer of Manjung in
Perak.
"And I was not so concerned about having a glamorous league although it
was part and parcel of the organisational aspect of the association.
"I was more interested in developing talent for the future.
"It was then that I appointed Adnan, who is a teacher at the SMK Dato
Abdul Samad to be in charge of the youth development programme."
Hasan rounded up about 30 Form One students, who were all 13 years of
age, in the district to attend his school.
The programme was launched in February and the players trained under
Adnan, with Baskaran and Abu Bakar assisting.
A hurdle Hasan faced when he took over the association was that they
were in the red and did not have ready cash for the youth development
programme.
To overcome this, he organised fund-raising dinners, which brought in
much-needed cash for the PDFA's kitty.
Hasan - a man who is always on the move
PORT Dickson District Officer Hasan Nawawi Abd Rahman (left) is an action-
oriented man and it is not difficult to understand his hyperactive nature
because his motto is simply: "Put more spice in your life".
He is not the normal bureaucratic officer who sits in the office all day
but is one who is always on the move.
And his sporting background probably accounts for his gung-ho spirit.
The 46-year-old father of four children does jungle hiking, mountain
climbing and cycling.
He has climbed Mount Kinabalu three times and Gunung Tahan once.
If one thinks that is a feat, he has a bigger ambition in the offing -
he wants to cycle around the world with his younger brother within a year.
Plans to achieve that feat are already in motion.
Hasan plans to pick the right occasion to take off on his tour and has
targeted to leave in January 2001, which may probably coincide with the
Tour De Langkawi.
In preparation for the Tour, he has already cycled in India for 20 days
in 1994 and in February this year, he covered over 1,700km in 12 days from
Hanoi to Saigon.
Come October, he intends to cycle to Tajikistan, formerly part of the
Soviet republic, to check on the weather conditions as he will be passing
through this region during the world tour.
(END)
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