Seeing And Taking Action In Development Part 1

Will be disseminating information on the Development of players in three parts as this is a vast area to cover.

Looking back at the past results, especially in the Olympics and World Cup Qualifiers, we have consistently lost concentration in the last ten minute of the game e.g

• 2010 World Cup Qualifier in Invercargill (New Zealand 2 Malaysia 1), Malaysia was leading from Amin Rahim's goal until Hayward scored in the 57' and 60' minute for N.Z to take the one spot available for 2010, World Cup.
• 2012 Olympic Qualifier in Ireland(South Korea 3 vs Malaysia 2)it was 2-2 till Jung Hyun scored the winner in the 67 minute that put Malaysia in a difficult position against Ireland)
• 2016 Olympic Qualifier in Antwerp, Belgium(Malaysia 2 India 3)India scored the winner in the last 3 minute)

From the above results, we can see that two areas of concern are physiology and psychology.

Whatever the weakness we see at the Senior level must be due to our Development program, where improvisation must be put in place.

Excellence must be embodied in the development stage in producing quality players.

There is a Malay proverb "Nak lenturkan Buluh, Biar Dari Rebung" in English is "If you want to bend the bamboo,do it when it's young.

During my tenure coaching the age group teams,I can see that coaches and parents are obsessed with winning without realizing the psychological damage they are doing to the child.

Excellence allows room for failure and learning, while obsession with winning does not.


Below is a video where Coach Stan Van Gaudy, former head coach of Miami Heat (NBA), shares the problems in developing quality basketball players at the youth development level in America.

We are also facing the same scenario here in Malaysia.

The issue of thinking players was brought up by some hockey officials during the Junior Asia Cup in Kuantan, Pahang.

The question to ask is, how did we train our youth hockey players from the development level, did we coach them on "what to think" or "how to think".

If it's what to think then we have created robotic players who won't be able to make decisions when they face situations new to them.


"To create thinking players, we need thinking coaches".


Before I pen off, I will share with you the key to my successful penalty corner conversion rate in 1991,Olympic Qualifier in Auckland, New Zealand.


Till today I can still vividly remember after our Saturday video session,our coach "Terry Walsh" will remind us to take a book from the coffee table, where there were many books written on how athletes and personalities achieved success in their respective fields.


Guess what, I took a book on how America going to regain the prestigious "America Cup" from New Zealand, written by "Dennis Conner".


"Dennis Conner" shared in his book that even the smallest details are important to regain the America's Cup.


"Dennis Conner" achieved his dream to regain the prestigious "America's Cup", and so did Malaysia; qualified in style for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

"Psychological aspect distinguishes between elite and sub-elite". 

Thanks for Reading and will continue on this topic in my next posting