A new ball game for the young needs new strategies

“YOUNG kids have it easy these days.”

That’s what the older folk often say. After the just-ended SEA Games in Cambodia, we are going to have more people digging up past glories, and demonising the already demoralised young athletes.

We finished below Singapore, a much smaller nation than us, they will say. Look at Vietnam, they will say. They came from nowhere and now they are ahead of the pile.

There will be post-mortems, lots of scrutiny, some soul-searching on where we went wrong.

National sports associations will be summoned by Youth and Sports Ministry, National Sports Council (NSC) and National Sports Institute (NSI) to give their take and their plans.

And, what next? If the past is any yardstick, things will likely just go back to the way they have always been.

Have we ever wondered about what the athletes feel? What they truly want? And what’s truly needed for Malaysian sports?

I have seen some commenters saying athletes should be grateful that they are getting paid to do what they love while travelling the world. And yet they falter.

Of course, some compared them to the athletes of the past, the feats they achieved and the struggles they went through.

But it’s a different world now. Things are more advanced. Mere hard work and passion is not enough, the game and physical aspects are all advanced.

Then, there are the optics. Social media has changed the facet of sports. The number of eyes on you can be overwhelming.

The cries of so many that we have failed can have a massive psychological impact, even on those who only barely missed the gold.

Right now, my concern isn’t for the officials or the associations. It’s the athletes. What’s next for them?

There are many who are disappointed, even disillusioned.

I am not going to mention names here, but I am going to share some quotes based on the chats I had with athletes.

“They want us to win gold, but we go to compete in only two competitions before the Games, and those were just invitational meets. How do we get our competitive juices going?”

“Our allowance is not that high, but they demand the world by saying we will get rewards if we win gold medals. Our training methods and preparation are still archaic. How?” lamented one athlete.

The athletes have a point. They, more than anyone else, want to win. However, they have little or no say in what goes on. If they open their mouths, they could be ostracised. The truth is: they need all the support they can get.

If they are not supported, how are we going to see success?

Sports have evolved now. Post-mortems will not do us any good if they do not bring reforms.

How do we close that gap?

One method could be decentralise training, giving more clout to privately managed institutions, instead of relying totally on our sports institutes or state associations. We should encourage our athletes to move abroad. Just look at Shereen Samson Vallabouy and sprinter Mohd Azeem Fahmi. Both look set to be world-class.

We also need to hear the athletes out, so their needs can be met. They should have access to all the resources they need - the best equipment, the best coaches, the best preparation.

The Cambodian outing showed that Malaysian sports is heading to a dead-end. It needs resuscitation.

Talking about old times will not help, we need to look to the future – a future that is driven by technology, state-of-the art facilities and medical advancement.

Until we can give our athletes all that, it’s best that we empathise and demand the best for them.

No sir, the young do not have it easy these days.