Ellron (centre, front row) with senior sports officials and state coaches for a group photo after the event here Thursday.
KOTA KINABALU: Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ellron Alfred Angin has reminded coaches under the Sabah Sports Council (SSC) to refrain from practicing favouritism and looking for personal interest when carrying out their duties.
He said coaches must be firm in their decision and to not show preferential treatment to particular athlete that could lead to unhealthy atmoshere in training.
“A coach must select the best athlete to represent the state and not based on their looks, backgrounds or one who they are closed to.
“Favouritism in sport will lead to unfair selection of athletes and may be those who are better will not get the chance to compete for the state.
Ellron
“Coaches must be firm in discharging their duties and this include athletes discipline. We are preparing for Sukma (Malaysia Games) and the coach must not hesitate to drop athletes without discipline.
“We don’t want because of one athlete, the image of the state contingent is tarnished,” he said.
That said, Ellron hailed the important role of a coach and described the trainers as an important asset to the ministry it its efforts to implement development programmes for high performance world class athletes.
According to him, athletes tend to pick up whatever they were taught and therefore, it was important for the coaches to show the best coaching ethics to their trainees.
“All the coaches must support each other whether you are in the same sport or otherwise.
“Sharing or ideas and experiences would make a coach to be more sensitive, understand the situation and able to make or choose the best decision in the development of athletes,” he said.
Ellron said this when addressing the state coaches here on Thursday.
Ellron, who is a former national sprinter and later on a coach, went on to say that the ministry was doing their utmost best to produce more back-up coaches.
In view of that, he hoped the younger generation especially former state athletes will take up the the opportunity by taking part in sports courses of workshops as well as coaching tests and become qualified coach in their respective field.
He said the ministry through SSC will always try to organise suitable programmes for the coaches to improve on their knowledge and skills, including bringing in facilitators from the National Sports Council as well as foreign experts.
Meanwhile, Ellron revealed that the process of appointing coaches to work under SSC is decided after thorough discussion during a meeting, in which every candidate will be assessed and evaluated of their performance in producing athletes that can achieve excellence at national and international level.
He also said that the maximum age of SSC appointed coach has been set at 65-year-old, a move which he explained was to encourage and promote the younger coaches to show thair talents.
Having said that, Ellron denied the age limit was to neglect the role of the much experienced senior coaches. Instead, the minister wanted the senior coaches to be the mentor of their juniors.
“The senior coaches should rightly be higher up where they should act as a mentor rather than still sweating it out training athletes under the hot sun,” he added.
At present, there are 90 coaches and another 24 Para athletes coaches appointed under the SSC at 69 state training centres around the state with 1,100 athletes.
Towards this end, Ellron hoped that the coaches would do their utmost best in training their athletes to face tournament, including the 20th Sukma in Johor next year.
“We are still waiting for announcement including the exact dates for the Sukma next year but in the meantime, all we can do is continue to train towards that.
“I believe the Sabah Sukma contingent will be ready mentally and physically to chase the 40-gold target in Johor next year,” he said.
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