Zulfadli Zulkifli

I don't know how many clubs there are in MAS that can be compared with KLRC to start off with.

As far as I can recall, BAM invited ZZ to join them but he refused and chose to join KLRC instead. So how can BAM not treat KLRC as a rival? I'm sure KLRC also considers BAM a competitor.

And how can one expect BAM help rival KLRC to develop its talents? KLRC should use its own resources to help ZZ to maintain its independence and not rely on BAM.

 

This is exactly the narrow-minded mindset which the author of the article has pinpointed so-correctly. No wonder Malaysia finds it difficult to unearth young talents nowadays as BAM is so far unwilling to cooperate with the clubs...instead, they treat any opposing voices as rivals! So far, the young talents in Malaysia are mostly products of the BJSS.

There's several cases of young club players INA who declined the invitation to join the National Team like Zul (eg: Melati Daeva Oktaviani recently) as the clubs want to groom them into better players first before they are released.

That's why I am thankful that in INA, PBSI is at least not as narrow-minded as compared to BAM.
It will be unthinkable if PBSI were to treat these clubs as rivals simply because some young players refused the invitation join the National Team.

Why is it so difficult for some people here to accept that clubs and the national organization can work hand-in-hand for the progress of badminton in a particular country? Why should the National Association treat clubs as rivals?

BAM should at least learn from Badminton Denmark in terms of how it works hand-in-hand with the provincial clubs to unearth talents like Viktor Axelsen. The system is more or less similar to what is adopted in INA whereby each city (esp the big ones) will have at least one badminton club.

Indeed, each club in INA also has one hall whereby their young recruits are trained (like the Petamburan hall which I had visited whereby the doubles pairs of PB Djarum are trained). Clubs also provide an avenue for those who have retired from the National Team to return and contribute in the ways they see fit. If not for PB Djarum offering playing opportunities for Eng Hian (with Rian Sukmawan) after he retired from Pelatnas or coaching opportunities for Sigit Budiarto and Antonius in the past few years; they may end up working elsewhere now.

The following is taken from the Badminton Denmark website:
"Playing badminton in Denmark is very easy. Almost every town – big or small – has a club or more than one and they also have a hall to play in. In Denmark it’s also possible to play a team tournament and individual tournaments whether you are an elite or non-elite player and no matter your age.

Because of this unique structure and approximately 550 member clubs, the Badminton Association of Denmark (BAD) cannot just think and allocate resources to the elite. If it wasn’t for the non-elite, there wouldn’t be an elite and the other way around. There has to be offers to the non-elite players and clubs – and there are."

KLRC has started the initiative of finding a talent in Zul and grooming him into winners of AJC & WJC so far. They also roped in Cheah Soon Kit as the head-coach a few years ago, which is another good move. I really hope Misbun is also sticking to his goal of unearthing more talents in Nusa Mansuri and groom them into potential winners. You have to start from somewhere.....and once these 2 clubs taste success, it will influence others to start a club of their own and join in the regeneration process.

Why can't BAM use their resources to help promote talent-unearthing process through clubs like KLRC or Nusa Mansuri? They will benefit from the recognition also if these clubs produce talents that represent Malaysia (like Zul last year).

 

By right, BAM should not regard the clubs as rival/competitor but as a complement to the national association. Even after the NSC voiced that it would be better if more private sectors can come forward to help in the mission of developing young talents, BAM did not change their policy. Andrew Kam showed he's being broad minded by saying if Zul wants to go over to BAM it's ok, he's just interested in helping Msia badminton.

KLRC did not ask for BAM's help, Zul's father did, that too in terms of sparring with LCW. I believe if ZUl had joined BJSS/BAM,there would not had been a 1st AJC and WJC for Msia, considering all the politics that goes on there. Look at what happened to Iskandar.

THere had been a number of issues over the years that show how BAM wants to be the association to provide badminton talents. From Gan,TBS, OSH, Lin wanting to leave BAM to Gan/TBS not being selected for WC, to Zakry/Fairuz not being allowed to spar with national team cos they not using Yonex logo on their shirt. All this does not help BAM's image

 

Precisely eaglehelang! Those of you who are truly concerned about Malaysian badminton will know better.

I like how Dr. Andrew Kam and Misbun Sidek show their support for the talent regeneration process.
Other National Associations like PBSI or Badminton Denmark themselves have to co-operate with the various clubs in their respective countries to promote and unearth regeneration process. So, I believe once the talents have dried up at BJSS, BAM will then be forced to look for other alternatives.

And remember also, Viktor Axelsen is not simply a product of Badminton Denmark alone. He trained in his club (Odense BK) before he was called up to join the Danish Team.

 

I thought all along it was the state associations in Malaysia that help identify and develop young talents in their states and once they are ready, they will be released to the national asssociation, BAM, to be groomed further. That is because BAM is the recognized government supported entity charged with the development of national badminton players in Malaysia.

But now we have KLRC which has publicly gone a step further to want to turn ZZ into a world beater and this is in direct competition with BAM. KLRC wants its name to be associated with success just as BAM wants its national players to achieve success. Sure the end result is that Malaysia will benefit if the players can become world champions.

When two rivals meet head-on, don't expect them to give way and help the other to win. Narrow-mindedness doesn't not come into play here. It is a matter of survival. If KLRC becomes successful, BAM will be hurt, so BAM has to do something to prevent this from happening. If one is sensible and in his right mind, one does not help the enemy to defeat oneself.

So don't expect BAM to lease LCW or other national trainees to KLRC to train or spar with ZZ in order to help ZZ become successful. KLRC must be able to command all its resources to combat BAM and if it feels it is not up to it, then it should release ZZ to BAM, as was the normal case, instead of fighting for personal glory and political victory.

 

Treating clubs as rivals to ensure BAM's own survival?? LOL....Good luck to BAM then if that is really their mind-set.

And I repeat. Thanks God, we don't have such a situation in INA!

 

The irony is that BAM has to turn to Mohd Hafiz Hashim (now representing KLRC) for their own survival in the Thomas Cup Qualifying campaign.

Imagine if KLRC (and Dr. Andrew Kam) is to treat BAM as a rival....they can just refuse to let Hafiz join up with the other players and let BAM rely only on the youngsters in the team event.

 

I think many countries, not only Malaysia alone, are concerned that their young talents are not committed enough to take badminton seriously because of so many other competing interests. They also know that when it comes to the international stage, many players will find it hard to beat their China counterparts.

As mentioned by others, currently, not only is Malaysia in decline, even another better known badminton powerhouse, Indonesia, is powerless to turn things around despite the support of so many private clubs. On the other hand some other hitherto less powerful Asian countries like Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and India are making some headway.

Are these countries' badminton setup vastly different from Malaysia's? Does the lack of clubs in Malaysia cause the slow decline of badminton in Malaysia?

Since BAM receives most of its talents from the state associations, maybe they should look at how the states talent-scout and develop their talents. What sort of attention are badminton talents receiving in the schools, clubs and others and how are they being trained.

Since Viktor's case is being mentioned, I salute his club Odense BK, for releasing him to Badminton Denmark to train with the national team. His club is not selfish and narrow-minded and does not want to rival the national association to fight for glory. I thought this is what KLRC should emulate Odense BK.

 

If HH is not released by KLRC for national duty, then some will say BAM is biased against "independent" players. HH himself may also seek to represent MAS for many of the rewards and incentives that BAM had given him in the past.

But HH may not win any points for MAS in the TC. Even without him, some others in the team will be given a chance to shine. I believe some in the current national squad had beaten HH before.

 

This is a common problem with fans in Malaysia. There must be a scapegoat and that scapegoat must not be "me". It has to be as always BAM. No wonder they never solve the problem. And they never will.
How sad. But what do you expect?

 

Let us restrict to badminton as it is the only relevant racket game we are talking about here.
In badminton, only countries that have intense centralized training become powerhouses, not those going independent. In other words, the more independent a badminton nation becomes, the wosre off it becomes. Now, what are the facts to back this up? Look at China and Korea versus Malaysia and Indonesia.

Perhaps, an elementary outline on sports organization that is fundamental to its progress is helpful.
In any country, any sports must be organized to function well. The pathway is bottoms up, from the lowest village clubs, schools, to the districts, metropolis, states/provinces, and finally the national level. The "bottoms" are the breeding grounds and their job is to spot, scout, train and then feed talents to the next higher level/levels, not competing against it. At the state/provincial level there must be only one governing body. Likewise at the national levels there must be one supreme body. All clubs must be part of the various state/provincial or even district levels.
No independent clubs should be independent except for those that are part of recreational clubs for retired business people or millionaires, where players with "expired dates" can have at least an extension of their playing life.
It is incumbent upon any lower tiers of organization to promote their star players who have great national or international potential to the state or national levels instead of trying to be too smart and try to "steal" resources on a pick-and-choose basis. Who the hell do they think they are?
Now, both Malaysia and Indonesia, pls get the above sorted out and go back to the correct path before it is too late!

 

No, badminton is a very different game from other racket games. Of course it has progressed more than any other racket games. It has more than double the number of players than tennis right now and the margin will be perhaps ten times more in less than 5 years.
My advice is a straight "don't copy blindly", but innovate.
Also talking to BWF officials will not make your case any more relevant. Perhaps, it might have unintended consequences! Also, there are better and more humble ways to put your ideas across than dropping names, which often reveals lack of confidence and conviction.

 

BJSS is the main source where the talents come from. State associations provide the talents to BJss. Not all parents favor this route as the child dont do well in academics when they join BJSS. The other reason was mentioned a China coach who coached for BAM bf. Sthing abt state associations dont get benefit if the youngster is roped into national team. Whoever remember the post pls point it out.

The other thing is Andrew Kam always maintained KLRC/badminton is more of a part time thing for him, his bread and butter is mining gold. So, he give impression -Players want join me club, join lah. Dont want join already, never mind lah, me no care. Gold more important, this badminton venture small fish thing only.

 

Which sport will say they get enough money from the government? Soccer, which generally gets a very high budget because of its mass appeal? How does badminton rank? Take a case from INA when PBSI is reportedly financially weak with insufficent funding from the government.

Please refrain from using the word tax-payers as taxes come mainly from the large non-government corporations and high income individuals. You are trying to paint a poor picture of the government.

Remember the government has to manage the country and there are much more important things than just sports alone. When citizens do not have enough to eat, no place to stay, can't afford to send their children to school, etc, who has to care for them?

If you have constructive suggestions that are practical and not complaints and unrealistic dreams all the time, that will be a good start.

 

Please, it is not a case of you falling into a trap again. This happens and it will always come to this if you keep championing or advocating half baked ideas or basking yourself with countless number of times of name dropping.
Maybe, you forgot about a missed opportunity to tell Barcelona's Messi that he would be even better if he opts to train on his own (going independent) outside Barcelona's centralized training.

 

It is indeed amusing to read some comments from non Msians who seem more interested in young Zul but some who did not follow certain developments, .