THE 1Mas Hockey programme will be entering into its fourth year in January, and plans are afoot to bring out the coaches and players from their comfort zone.
“After three years, we have 18 centres (14 states and four outsourced) and while some are active, others have needed constant monitoring to bring out the coaches as well as players from their comfort zone.
“And where complacency has crept in, the new re-structuring will make sure they become performance based again,” said 1Mas Project Director Lim Chiow Chuan.
From January, centres will be classified into four different categories, where funding will also play a big role in keeping coaching staff on their toes.
“Following the Steering Committee meeting (on Oct 30), it was decided that the program will be re-structured which will involve classification of centres into different categories. This exercise is vital and necessary to improve the quality and take the program to a higher level.
The centres will be categorised from Class One to Four, with Class One being best performers and Class Four being poor performers.
“The classification of centres will also determine the amount of allowances payable to coaches support staff. Centres in the higher bracket will be receiving better remunerations,” said Chiow Chuan.
A head coach, with all the required qualifications, can earn up to RM2,250 by running the weekend coaching centre at his state.
Right now, most of the age-group tournaments have shown some improvement in skills, as 1Mas players are the preferred choice.
“From our observations, the age-group tournaments that were held this year saw a large number of 1Mas players being selected to represent their states as these players have already been taught the basics.
“Also the Under-16 team that players regularly in the Mannheim (Germany) tournament has seen a big jump in the number of 1Mas players selected. In 2011, there was only one 1Mas player, 2012 seven 1Mas players, and this year there were eight 1Mas players selected to represent Malaysia,” said Chiow Chuan.
