KUCHING, Nov 30: The Sarawak Government has established Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model to develop local coaches with better and latest knowledge and produce world class athletes throughout the year.
Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the model focuses on optimal training, competition and recovery schedule for each stage of athlete’s development.
“Coaches who engage in this model and its practices are more likely to produce more athletes who reach their full athletic potential.
The general LTAD model suggests that athletes will move through specific stages of development on their way to optimal elite performance,” he said in his winding up speech at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) today.
According to Karim, there are 276 Sports Development Centres throughout Sarawak with a total of 6,032 athletes.
He said, these centres are established in Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC) facilities, schools, and private premises, assisted by 339 coaches of various disciplines.
“In this centre, the athletes were taught and coached with basic skills. Then, they will be evaluated by their coaches based on whether they have mastered the necessary skills before being promoted to the next level of training skill.
“Whereas in the Excellent Elite Centres (Pusat Elit Cemerlang), the athletes are being developed to acquire skills in the technical and tactical aspects of the game, to compete at higher level tournaments. At this moment we have 75 Excellent Elite Centre (PEC) with the total of 1,664 athletes with 119 coaches,” he elaborated.
According to Karim, these athletes will be representing Sarawak to contest in coming SUKAN MALAYSIA or SUKMA and other national and international tournaments. – TVS
