WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM

Malaysians have done well individually and as a team at youth level, be it at Asian or World level for decades now.

However, the early success does not see the early performance mature and continue to stamp their authority when they move to the senior level.

It has been notes in many sports like foot; ball, badminton, athletics, hockey and squash to a certain extend to name a few.

Just name a few, Malaysia’s junior hockey team have finished fourth in the Junior World Cup in 1979, 1982 and 1983, Asian junior champions in 2012badminton has produced world junior champions in boys’ singles and boys doubles, rule at Asian youth level, squash rule at Asia youth level and so does athletics, rugby too and now football is doing well at Under-15 and Under-18 Asian.

But have this or will these performances at the junior level has been translated to continue to rule at the senior level or will be happen in the future.

Timesport spoke to several former international, coaches, technical experts and academicians to get their views and there were range of reasons given for Malaysian youth champions failing to excel at the senior level.

And many of the reasons hold water and if addressed probably the fate of Malaysia’s performance at the senior level can be better in the near future.

Datuk N. Sri Shanmuganathan (Former national hockey player and captain from 1970-1976):

Juniors players are quickly promoted to the senior teams after their success with junior teams. More often than not these players are not ready for the higher challengers at the senior level and fizzle out or fail to make an impact.

Many junior players are also lost when only a few get promoted to the senior and the rest just fade away to obscurity or end up playing at State of club level only.

A longer period of dedicated programme is required to keep junior teams or players who do well in Asian or World junior tournaments to be moulded to see their full potential realised.

Also team officials and even players are just happy to do well at Sukma and Sea Games and without higher goals, the players are also just contended being champions at age group and Sea Games level.

Datuk M. Karathu (former national football player (60s and 70s), coached national junior Under-21, Sri Lanka and Perak and several States.

Young boys do not get match exposure for them to gain experience and mature. Except for Kedah and the East Coast teams who use their local players as far as possible, the other teams rely on top players recruited from other states thus depriving the opportunity for their own young talent.

Most States are not interested in development but immediate results. When we have politicians and foreign coaches handling teams, all they are interested is instant results thus not wanting to use young local talent.

And the five foreign players’ quota per team further deprives young local talent of getting into the team or playing time.

Every state also should have their own academy with quality coaches and expertise to nurture the talent surface. Many talent wither away because of lack of guidance, proper training and competition exposure.

There are many football academies mushrooming but they are not monitored for their quality in training and managing the academies. Most of these academies are just money-making ventures and not serious about proper development on a long term basis with proper planning and goals.

Also the knowledge of many local coaches and ex-internationals are not tapped to their fullest to develop young talent.

Joerg Teichmann from Germany trained at DHfK Leipzig and worked with MSN/ISN as sports therapist and athletics coach for 22 years and currently runs a physiotherapy clinic -  Rehamed Therapy

For Malaysian youth talent to improve and be in par with the rest of the world, they have to uproot themselves from the comfort of home in Malaysia and go overseas for long term attachments.

They have to stop pampering themselves with the comfort of home environment and start making sacrifices and be prepared to work hard and against all adversities.

Lee Chong Wei is probably the only one who has reached world standard staying at home. That is simply because he had the desire to be top and the discipline and was prepared to make a lot of sacrifices. A majority of our youth players do not have the discipline or the desire.

Just look at Nicol David, Azizulhasni Awang, Nauraj Singh and Josiah Ng. All are or were overseas based and trained, and look at their progress and achievements.

We need our young footballers to be sent to top clubs overseas be in Europe or even Japan, China and Korea for attachments if we are to reach higher standards and match the rest of world class teams.

Datuk James Selvaraj (Former national badminton player in the 70s, coach and former Badminton of Malaysia high performance director)

It is the fear factor which does not see our junior champions and talent rise to the occasion and make the mark when they graduate to become seniors.

It is not a question of too early or lack of ability to perform when they move up to the senior ranks, but basically they freeze and do not believe in themselves.

They are easily intimated by the presence of seniors.

The fear factor has to be overcome by the young players themselves. They have to be mental strong and believe in themselves.

Two-time world junior champion, Goh Jin Wei is a fine example who adapted well in the senior ranks and did well, but sadly she is suffering from a mysterious stomach ailment and may miss the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — due to health reasons.

More junior players should emulate Goh and start performing at the senior level.

They can’t blame the coaches because the coaches will definitely be stepping up at the senior level and they cannot be treating the junior players coming through differently.

Major Subramaniam Singaraveloo or better known as Mej (Rtd) S. Maniam (returned to Malaysia to take up the Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia’s (SRAM) director of coaching post three years ago after imparting his expertise in India for 14 years. Former Malaysian national squash champion, national coach, Director of Coaching is certainly the most decorated Asian squash personality having been inducted to the Asian Squash Federation in 2009.

At junior level, it is level playing field because the players or athletes are school going and spend almost the same number of hours at training and studies and with talent, we are able to match or become champions.

However, after school it is no more level playing field as in Malaysia many want to concentrate on their studies, especially when parents do not see a future in sports. But those who take the plunge to become professionals have done well. However, the numbers may be small.

Thus it is during the cross roads period that we lose many of our top players.

And players or athletes who stay on but divide sports with their work or studies will definitely be at a disadvantage against professional players because professional players train between six to eight hours a day, but those who divide their time between work or studies, will only be able to give one-third of their time to sports and training.

Sheikh Kamaruddin Sheikh Ahmad (Associate Professor with Physical Education Department Universiti Putra Malaysia)

Many young talents at junior championships are lost because there is not enough monitoring of the players or athletes. Both the respective national and state bodies must monitor these players, bring them in for weekly, monthly and quarter yearly training and programmes.

It is the same at the schools’ level including at the Sports Schools, Sukma and the Inter University, where after competition, there is no monitoring of the talented or top players.

It is only when the next Games or competition is around the corner, the teams will start looking for players and even start pinching players from other states.

There needs to be more work down on a year around basis at the grassroots to university level for us to keep progressing and stay in par with other nations.

In other nations, trainings and programmes are continuous and with lots of competition exposure.

State Sports Executive Council members should also assist in developing sports on a continuous and long term basis and not just be interested in organising one off programmes.

Datuk Yap Nyim Keong (former FA of Malaysia assistant secretary and FIFA Technical Consultant specialising in development and women’s football)

The gap between players after school and before they find a club or State to play for is detrimental to development of football in Malaysia.

Generally, we do well at schools’ level age group because there is proper training programmes, sports science available, sports schools, academies and organised competitions.

It was for this reason way back in 2004 when Negri Sembilan organised the Sukma, I suggested that the Games should be for Under-19 (Sukma is for Under-21).

There are few players who at a young age make the cut to the national team between the ages of 15 and 17 the late Chow Chee Keong, Roshidi Shaari and Zainal Abidin Hassan or Fandi Ahmad across the causeway. They are a rare and talented breed.

But credit to the present batch of Under-15 and Under-18 players. Through the National Football Development Programme (NFDP) they are a better breed of players. Like it or not, Lim Teong Kim has instilled some systematic play with the players knowing the demands of the game and working at it.

I saw the Under-16 boys defeat the Kelantan President’s Cup Under-20 team soundly and that does not happen under normal circumstances.

The team played with a definite style and intensity.

But I worry what will happen to the players when they return to play for the States. Will these players get adequate and proper training to continue to improve? Will find a place in their State or club team? Will they get enough playing time?

At the same time, it is good to note that with all teams having to have licence to play in the M-League, the emphasis on development is better and that many teams are adopting schools as their grassroots programme is good for the future.

Development programmes will see results. Remember the late Datuk Ahmad Basri Akil’s long term development programme with Kedah and how it bore fruit for them in the end.

FA of Malaysia also has good relations with Qatar and Japan and we should use it for exchange programme to expose our youngsters to high level of training and competition.

Development and competition go hand in hand. Development will not happen by just training. Competition breeds development.

Just look at Thailand and Vietnam who have risen to great heights and their key to improvement is development at a wide scale with the best facilities and coaches with the latest knowledge.

Let us not jump to joy with this early success at the youth level, but nurture these players with proper and professional guidance carefully because this age group is most vulnerable to temptations and distraction.

Datuk Ahmad Shafie (Leipzip trained coach, coached Tigers team in the 80s, Kedah team and technical and development officer with KFA)

Malaysian youth players are still far behind European players. Physique is not the issue. It is that the European and even Asian players in Korea, Japan and China mature faster, grow faster and are more exposed to better training

Training facilities like grounds is lacking in Malaysia. Clubs and communities do not play like a key role in grassroots development because training ground are scarce unlike in Europe or even Asia where it is in great numbers and easily assessable.

Here in Malaysia youth level training most of the time is confined to weekends and not daily because of unavailability of training grounds.

Even a majority of our top clubs and States do not have proper training facilities.

But the pathway for youth development in Malaysia is good because we have Sports Schools, the Mokhtar Dahari Academy and State development programmes, however the end product is still lacking and we need to address this.

When I was in Leipzig, even he remote areas which were villages had many training grounds which the community were actively involved.

I hope with FA of Malaysia now having a department for grassroots development things will improve.