School softball enters era of sports science

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Senior assistant (academic) Lau Choon Teng and Cyndra look on as Asmalini receives a souvenir from Othman.

KUCHING: Softball at SMK Green Road reached a new milestone with the introduction of a sports science programme by the Faculty of Sports Science and Recreation Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Sarawak Branch.

The Softball Performance Analysis programme seeks to analyse softball performance in the school through video recording and enrich players with technical aspects of sports science to improve their performance.

Head of Faculty of Sports Science and Recreation test centre Asmalini Che Abu Shafie stressed that sports science is very vital to produce successful athletes in the modern era.

“Through sports science, the performance of the athletes can be brought to the maximum level and many national athletes are products of public and private institutes of higher learning such as UiTM,” she said.

According to her, SMK Green Road was chosen for the programme because of its excellent track record where the teachers had successfully managed and trained the players to be the three-time champions of the MSSM Kuching Softball Tournament in 2012, 2014 and 2015 despite only having joined the competition in 2011.

“With the technical assistance such as application of sports science to the training system, their performance will surely improve further,” she added.

Asmalini, together with lecturer Cyndra Robert Budull and three students from the Faculty of Sports Science and Recreation, initiated the programme at the school last Friday.

SMK Green Road principal Abang Othman Abang Masagus commended UiTM for the long-term cooperation and assistance offered.

He conveyed his appreciation to UiTM Sarawak especially its rector Prof Dato Dr Jamil Hamali and Faculty of Sports Science and Recreation for selecting SMK Green Road for the programme.

Meanwhile, teacher in charge of softball Juraimie Junaidi also thanked UiTM for the recognition of the school’s performance which was due to efforts of the students and the teachers-advisors such as Muhd Sophian Mohd Alli and Mohd Rosdi Zakaria.

“All the recognition, cooperation and support received means a lot to us in our efforts to bring the sport to greater heights,” he added.