KUCHING: Forty-five coaches successfully completed a Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) Level One coaching course recently.
The course was jointly conducted by BAM, Kuching Badminton Association (KBA), Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) and Swinburne University of Technology, Sarawak Campus.
Speaking to participants at the closing ceremony, Usop Kilat, the representative from the Ministry of Urban and Social Development, said that the state welcomed initiatives such as this towards better coaching and player development in Sarawak.
“It is our aim to produce local talents that will be of national standards and to achieve this we must have quality coaches,” he said.
Echoing that sentiment was Sarawak Badminton Association (SBA) secretary Hadi Abdul Kadir Hassan who said SBA are keen to provide the necessary training for better coaches here in Sarawak.
“Not only are we planning to have further coaching courses, we are also keen to provide umpiring courses for badminton technical officials,” he said.
“We would like to build upon the hard work that various bodies are putting in to the development of our sport in the state,” added Hadi.
SSC chief executive officer Dr Ong Kong Swee, who was present at the event, stated that the state was committed to provide more training and development for interested parties in badminton and other sports in Sarawak.
He welcomed greater participation from the public in the various sports specific courses and certifications currently available.
“We would like to collaborate with as much as possible from various universities such as Swinburne and also sports associations such as Kuching Badminton Association as this widens our network and opens up a greater catchment area of participants in all aspects of sports,” he said.
Two more badminton coaching courses and an international sports conference are slated to be held this year.
They are Sports Specific Badminton Level One Coaching Course at IPG Sarawak from Sept 13-17, Sports Specific Badminton Level Two Coaching Course by SBA from Oct 24-30 and the International Sports Science and Teacher Education Conference at IPG Tunku Abdul Razak from Nov 4-6.