PETALING JAYA: Losing a good coach so suddenly is problematic but singles head coach Kenneth Jonassen is determined to turn the tough situation into a positive one.
Women’s singles coach Jeffer Rosobin surprisingly decided to part ways with the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) at the end of last month after just four months in his role, leaving a void in the coaching structure in the national body.
The Indonesian was the junior head coach for a year before he was promoted to the women’s singles coaching position last November.
While sad to see Jeffer go, Kenneth is staying positive and looking at new ways of guiding the women’s singles players along with his coaching team.
“When one door closes, another opens. Maybe there’s some positive, a new way of thinking, a potentially new style of how to address and work with women’s singles players going forward,” said Kenneth after overseeing a training session at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) yesterday.
“At the same time, coach Jeffer only had a few months with the players, so it’s not like it was set in stone how we were going to do it. I see a new opportunity opening and that’s the way I’m going to address it and also talk to the girls.
“I think some of them are slightly more experienced now. I would like to hear what they need to say on some of the sessions going on because if we are going to develop them into world beaters, we need a lot of strong, independent girls that have a voice of their own. We will listen to this, of course.”
Kenneth also said that he will not rush to hire a new coach as he wants to make sure that a suitable candidate that fits the team well comes in.
“Of course when we lose a colleague, we will look at the coaching set-up and find a right candidate that can fit in and help us do what we need to go forward but we won’t rush to appoint a new coach,” said Kenneth.
“For me, it’s very much a coach that understands the team. A team player is very important.
‘‘We are not going for a coach that is going to go in his or her direction.
“I have a few things that I want to make sure our girls improve on, so I like all coaches to work together and find a formula to move on.
“I’m quite open but it needs to be someone with experience coaching at the highest level.”
For now, assistant women’s singles coach Misbun Ramdan will take on more responsibilities while men’s singles coach K. Yogendran will also help out and guide the women.
