Higher Education System-The Way Forward For Malaysian Hockey

I have compiled key points from a survey done by the British Universities & Colleges on student-athlete representation at elite level i.e Olympic Games.

Official statics released by the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) website state that over the last 20 years (from Barcelona Games 1992 to London games 2012),61%  of Team GB were in fact ‘products’ of the higher education system.

During the London Olympic Games 2012, there were a number of sports that had a very strong student-athlete representation, such as modern pentathlon (100%), women’s water polo (100%), rowing (90%), field hockey (87.5%), athletics (79.5%) and swimming (54%).

The French synchronized swimmer valued the intellectual stimulation that her academic career afforded her, which helped her to break from the often-regimented training sessions in her sport. She explained how there were moments when it was difficult to keep up the level of concentration and commitment during the long training sessions, especially when she had to work through what seemed to her as endless mechanical repetitions until a sequence is perfected.

By having her academic degree to focus on outside her sport helped her to stay motivated and to sustain these challenging requirements inherent to her sport in the longer term.

The French athlete on the other hand discussed her reasoning from a more psychological angle as she genuinely believed that being in education and especially being under pressure academically helped her concentration levels during competition.

All of these athletes conceded that simply having more time does not necessarily lead to improved athletic performances; on the contrary as the two gymnasts found out, their decision impacted negatively on their sport as they started to ‘waste’ time and get distracted. Therefore, they decided to take up education once again.

My thoughts are as below:

The Way Forward for Malaysian hockey is to put in place a comprehensive development plan where hockey players will be a product of the Higher Education System.

Hockey is a fast and invasive sport where you have to make decisions in a crouching position.

Tenaga Nasional Berhad(TNB) can pave the path for Malaysian hockey as they have a University in its helm i.e University Tenaga Nasional(Uniten).

Uniten can consider teaming up with prestigious Universities in the field of sports i.e University of Bath or University of Loughborough in offering twinning courses.

TNB can start incorporating this in 2020,National Junior Team Development Model.

With this in place, a new breed of hockey players will be imbued with a proficiency in English,which will put the players on the right path in their pursue in hockey and a career after their sporting life.

Putting it concise, hockey is a game that need basic intelligence to play the sport well. 





Thank You.