By Tony Mariadass
Former middle distance queen
Josephine Mary Singarayar after having groomed her two children to become
athletes, she is now embarking on talent identification to create a bigger pool
of athletes from her home state, Perak.
The 47-year old Josephine who is married
to former national middle distance runner Samson Vallabuoy, both who hogged the
limelight in the 80s, has coached her two daughters Jocelyn 18 and Sheeren 16
to become state and national athletes respectively.
Josephine, was
selected and nominated by Malaysian Athletic Federation and the Olympic Committee
of Malaysia to undergo a two months coaching course at the Delaware University
in collaboration of the US National Olympic Committee under the International Coaches Enhancement Certificate Programme last
year.
She attended the course where 35 participants
from different countries around the world attended, where she had opportunity to mingle and share
opinions, gain new ideas and techniques besides being guided and trained by top
international trainers as well as university lecturers with latest knowledge on
athletics development.
The intended outcome is for ICECP
participants to return to their countries and to serve as coaches within their
respective sports as well as become foundation builders for future coaches and
athletes while spreading the Olympic Spirit.
ICECP comprises the following four
modules which includes the two weeks at the University of Delaware. The second
which enables the coach to develop their coaching skills during an
apprenticeship in their respective sport. The third module will be held at the
USOC’s Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs while the final module will
take place at the International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne
“In order to complete this course
every participant is required to conduct a project in their respective
countries and have to submit and present in person to the panel. The proposal that I made is to identify the
challenges being faced in grass root development and to make suggestions and proposals
to overcome through a short term and long term program for primary schools in
Perak in particular and Malaysia generally,” said Josephine who is currently in
the panel of national coaches and was also the chaperon for
the Singapore Sea Games athletics contingent last year.
“In order
to initiate this proposal I had also conducted a study through a pilot project
with two secondary school children aged 13 in Perak and conducted a talent identification
activity focused on athletics. In the
process I had also attempted to educate and train a pool of volunteer Physical
Education teachers on the techniques of carrying out talent identification on
their students while conducting PE lessons in schools,” added Josephine who has been the Perak State coach since 2011 and was the
national coach for the 15th IAAF World Junior championship in Oregon, USA in
2014.
“On the data and information
collected, I have compiled a working paper which outlines the underlying
problems on TID in this country and the necessary affirmative action that needs
to be addressed by the respective authorities so as to formulate a standard
policy change in order to revamp the current physical education program in
schools.
“It is my personal opinion, if
these suggestions are given attention, there is a high possibility that young
and talented athletes could mushroom, who in turn will be possible back up material
for the nation.
“It is also my mission to increase
the pool of young talented youths/athletes and thus adopt a long term training
program from grassroots to specific for these athletes where we can see some
impressive results along the way as they progress. In addition to this, I am also trying to
establish links between sports and local athletic clubs.”
Josephine, has represented the nation
in six Sea Games (1983 – 1993), three Asian Track and Field (ATF) championships
(1987-1991) and two Asian Games 1986-1990) still holds the 800m national record
set at the Seoul Asian Games in 1986 where she won the bronze medal in a time
of 2:07.44. She has also competed in the world championship in 1984 in Rome, Commonwealth
Games in Auckland in 1990 and six Sea Games (1983-1993).
Josephine said being an active athlete for almost 15 years had given her wide knowledge
and experience to understand on the development in athletics.
“I started my athletic carrier
when I was 13 years old and gained interest in sports through my dedicated PE
teachers who motivated and supported me all the way. But alarmingly these days
the scenario has completely reversed, as we hardly see children or youths very
keen, thrilled or excited to take part in sports. This in a way has resulted
into problems like obesity, drug menace, gang fights and other bad elements.
“The passion and love for sports
had kept me going even after retirement.
“Having glued the term ‘athletic
is the mother of all sports’ in my mind, I kept my passion ongoing and thus
initiated this talent identification programme to support and identify young
and talented athletes in Perak.
“Being born as a Perakian, I felt
now was the time for me to contribute towards
developing athletics in Perak, as Perak used to be a power house in
athletics during the 70s and 80s, when notable ‘giants’ were produced. It is my
strong belief essentially to produce a world class athlete, it has to erupt
from ‘grassroots’ with a systematic and well planned long term footing.”
No comments:
Post a Comment