Good Luck to the Malaysian badminton players competing in the World Championships in Paris, France that starts today. Play well, fight and work hard, focus and stay positive. All the best!

A few days ago I watched some very young boys training to be goalkeepers in football. They were being trained by a friend of mine, Coach Lim Chuan Chin. I enjoyed watching the faces of the boys full of enthusiasm and delight. What moved me was the way they were being taught. They were praised when they did well and when they did not do so well, they were corrected with a smile. Lim made the training fun. Having this approach will keep these future goalkeepers motivated and coming back for more.

Training in Bath

I read in the newspapers all the comments regarding our badminton players training in Bath, England in preparation of the World Championships in Paris, France.

As I had mentioned earlier, it really does not matter where they train, what is important is the attitude.

Quality Please!

Yes, quality please!

As we enter the second half of 2010, many of us are preparing for various challenges. If you are a student, you are most probably preparing for exams or starting a new term in college or university. If you are an athlete, you are preparing for the upcoming Commonwealth and Asian Games. But whoever you are or whatever you do, maximize your effort with “quality”.

Spending 3 hours studying and learning nothing is a sheer waste of time and spending 3 hours training and achieving nothing is a sheer waste of effort. It does not make sense when you have the quantity and loose the quality.

Make sure you get enough rest. Concentration and focus goes down when you are tired. Do it willingly and not feel that you are forced to do it. Relax and be calm. Your level of alertness is at its peak when you are relaxed. You will be able to absorb and learn more and faster. Stay positive and be patient and keep on trying.

In every task that you perform, do it with a purpose of achieving something. Have an aim. This will give you direction and a clear picture of your end result.

Quality Please!

I have been pretty quiet these past few days thinking of a relevant subject to write on. I want to write on something current today and that can be applied by everybody.

As the examination season approaches, students are frantic trying to cover all the subjects. As the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games are nearing, preparation is at the pre-competition stage. So how we put all that needs to be done in such a short time?

Have more “Quality” in your preparation. It is not the number of hours that you put in but it is how much that has come out of it. Spending 3 hours staring at a book and not understanding what you have read or putting 3 hours into a workout with no sense of what you have achieved is a sheer waste of time.

So how do you get more “quality”? Make sure you are well rested. When you are tired, concentration and focus goes down. Have the correct attitude. Do it because you want to do it and not because you are forced to do it. Relax and be calm. Rushing gets you nowhere. Stay positive and be patient.

Have a purpose in wanting to achieve something in everything that you do. Do it with an aim. Nothing good comes with doing something that has no direction. Keep your eyes on what you want in the end.

Congrats Malaysia U-23

A big congratulations to the Malaysian U-23 football team for winning the friendly match against Korea yesterday. The Malaysian players played their hearts out and were impressive. They showed commitment and determination. They relentlessly chased down every ball and challenged every encounter with the opponent. It was indeed refreshing to watch our players control the match coupled with accurate passing and well rehearsed set pieces. The cohesion in the team was apparent as many of these players have played together for many years. They know and understand how their team mates move and play. Every players in the field did his part.

No doubt this team will form the backbone of the National Team for the coming Asian Games in Guangzhou, China in November. They are young and full of energy. They are fearless and brave. Mentally, they are confident and they belief in themselves and their team. They support and trust each other.

So keep on working hard. Improve on whatever weakness that may exist and strengthen your strengths. Look beyond what you have already achieved and aspire to do more and better.

Move forward and upward.

Emptiness

The end of the FIFA World Cup has left an empty void. For 31 days I enjoyed to matches and looked forward to each encounter. It bacame the talking point with everyone I met. The event filled up the mamak stalls to the brim with eager followers each banking on their favourite team. But now that it is all over, I feel “bored”. I look for other sporting events to follow but the appeal is lacking. Nothing can compete with the excitement and enthusiasm I had during the World Cup.

But move on I must.

On the local scene, I would like to congratulate Sivachandran for his win in the Negeri Sembilan golf masters. I worked with Siva several years back and he is indeed a great competitor.

Otherwise, focus is now in preparation for the coming Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in a few months. Train hard and you will be rewarded.

And I look forward to the next FIFA World Cup in Brazil in four years time.

Badminton Training in Bath

I read in the papers today that BAM was planning to send a 30 man team to Bath University, England from Aug 10 – 20 to prepare 8 players who have qualified for the World Championships to be held in Paris, France from Aug 23 – 29.

It is the hope of BAM that this training stint, away from all distractions of sorts, will help the players in their performance in Paris.

While I am all for this training in isolation project, it must be stressed that ‘self discipline’ and ‘commitment’ is of the utmost importance. The players competing must understand that the ‘desire’ to play and win has to come from inside themselves irrespective of where the training is. No amount of training in the most perfect environment can assure success if the approach and mindset of the players competing in this competition is to go and play their best because playing their best is not good enough anymore at this level. They must enter the competition with the expectation of ‘winning’ each and every match they play and push themselves hard mentally and physically to ensure that they get the result they expect. And they have to start by having this mindset at training and bring this mindset along for the competition.

Victory very rarely comes easily but if you ‘believe’ that you are the best, then ‘act’ the part. Train hard with discipline and commitment and you will not be disappointed.