Honorary Secretary of BAM & Chairman of the Coaching & Training Committee, Mr. Ng Chin Chai shares with us his story and his views on the future of Malaysian Badminton. JY : Tell us a bit about yourself and how did you start off in Badminton? Do you still play competitive badminton?
NCC: I am 47 years old, born, bred and educated in Seremban. Studied in King George V Primary & Secondary School and continued further education at University of Malaya. Presently practicing as a lawyer in Seremban. I started badminton when I was 10 years old, playing with neighbors in an empty plot of land with a net stringed across a coconut tree and a rambutan tree. Started formal training at 13 and played for NS State from 14 onwards, for around 18 years. Represented the country at junior level for 2 years. Nowadays I play socially about twice a week and still take part at club and state level competitions, mostly in the veteran category. However I had a knee and shoulder surgery during the last 1 year and hardly played during this period.
JY : You're a Seremban boy and you travel daily to KL, why don't u move to the Klang Valley where which is closer to BAM HQ?
NCC: My family is in Seremban and my 3 children are schooling in Seremban. Moving around in Seremban for work, school, activities and leisure takes much shorter time compared to in Klang Valley. Residents in Seremban get better quality time. I travel to BAM office around 3 times a week and it’s not a hassle for me. It takes average of 1 hour journey and I can plan my timing to avoid peak hours’ traffic.
JY : How do you feel being appointed the honorary secretary of BAM & chairman of the coaching & training committee?
NCC: I was pleasantly surprised and deeply honoured when I was appointed firstly as the Honorary Secretary on 4 June 2010 and later as Chairman of the Coaching & Training Committee in 2 July 2010. I have a great passion for badminton, more so when for the honour of our beloved country. All my life I’ve been trying to contribute towards Malaysian’s badminton and when the opportunity came, I took up the appointment without hesitation as now I can be in the driver’s seat to steer the direction of Malaysian’s badminton towards a higher level.
JY : Misbun recently voiced out that, more emphasis should be given to training in BJSS if we were to produce world beaters. In our culture, where parents place education highly, do you think this will be a challenge? How does BAM expect to tackle this?
NCC : BJSS is run by Ministry of Education whose responsibility is education, with a greater emphasis on sports in BJSS. So far BAM have no problem with the balance of studies and training of our BJSS students, in fact we are churning out World and Asian junior champions from BJSS regularly.
Badminton is one of the more popular sports in our country and fortunately a lot of parents are willing to allow their children to play the sports seriously, even to the extent of putting less emphasis on their children’s education or even giving it up. The challenge is for our government to put greater emphasis on sports by giving sports achievers advantage in getting places for higher education, scholarships, job opportunities etc. and this will encourage parents to push their children towards sporting excellence. On the part of BAM, we hope that BJSS will give badminton more places for potential players identified by us and for the government to give us more funding of our BJSS training programme.
JY : BAM has introduced a revamp of coaching & training policies in BAM, how is this different from previous policies and what results do we expect to see in the near future?
NCC : Previously the National Training Centre is made up of Singles and Doubles squads headed by a Singles Chief Coach and a Doubles Chief Coach. After the revamp there is 6 squads, i.e. Men Singles Elite Squad, Men Doubles Elite Squad, Women Singles Squad, Women Doubles Squad, Men Singles Back-up Squad (consisting of players below 21 years) and Men Singles Back-up Squad (consisting of players below 21 years). There are now 6 Head Coaches for the 6 different squads and they are headed by a High Performance Director, whose job is administrative while the coaches job are technical and on the ground with the players. Previously the 2 Singles and Doubles Head coaches are pressured to achieve immediate results all the time and tend to focus on the few senior men players to achieve these immediate results. With the formation of the Women and Back-up squads, they will now have a Head coach each to pay more attention on them and to make long term plans towards their development. The new structure will put emphasis on both short term targets and long terms targets. I personally hope that this structure will bring immediate success in 2011 World Championships and 2012 Olympics while the Back-up squad players will be groomed well to achieve success after 2012, i.e. at the following years’ World Championships, 2014 Asian Games and 2016 Olympics and so on.
JY : If u look at our backup players, it's worrying because at this point no-one seem to be performing consistently enough to show that they can take over the elite players, what is BAM doing to tackle this issue?
NCC : As I have said earlier, the new structure now gives the Back-up Squads greater emphasis. We have appointed coaches with great credentials i.e. Hendrawan as the Back-up Squad Singles’ coach and Tan Kim Her as the Back-up Squad Doubles’ coach to take charge of the Back-up Squad players. Both are knowledgeable, dedicated and disciplinarian and I believe they will be able to groom the Back-up Squad players well. BAM are increasing funding for the Back-up Squads where we are sending the Back-up Squad players out for more international tournaments next year. We are also paying them higher monthly allowance and better incentives for performing well at international tournaments. The structure is in place, it is now time to implement the plan and we hope to see success after 2012.
JY : Our players fall short in major championships and lack the consistency, why do you think so?
NCC : What you say is true. For the next 2 years, we are making careful periodization plans for Lee Chong Wei and Koo Kean Keat/Tan Boon Heong to peak at 2011 World Championships and 2012 Olympics. They will participate is less tournaments and focus on major events only. Actually Chong Wei is quite consistent recently but with age catching up, he is succumbing to some minor injuries which is affecting his performance in some tournaments. However I readily admit that Lin Dan is superior to Chong Wei in terms of speed and power, therefore if both players play at their best, Lin Dan will come out top. As for the Men Doubles, there are about 6 pairs in the world that is equal and they can all beat each other. No pair is certain of victory at the moment. Notwithstanding the foregoing statement, BAM is committed to prepare the players technically, physically and mentally to achieve success at the major tournaments in the coming years.
JY : What's your immediate goal in this position (BAM)?
NCC : Firstly to the strengthen BAM’s administration and finance and then to steer our national team to achieve success at Asian and World level tournaments. I am targeting Malaysian badminton to win the gold medal at the 2011 World Championships and 2012 Olympics.
JY : Aspirations for msian badminton or msian sports?
NCC : I hope that there will be more people involved in sports especially badminton. Sports generate healthy body and mind; and brings people together transcending racial, religious and political barriers. Sporting success is a numbers game; more people playing, more frequent playing and more events participation will definitely bring more success internationally for any sports. Therefore I hope that the 1 sports 1 student policy will be implemented seriously and will be carried forward to our society at large by having more venues, facilities and benefits for greater participation in sports.
JY : You're a lawyer by profession, how do you juggle between your day job and your commitments in BAM?
NCC : To me it is priority and sacrifice. No matter how much I love badminton, my family comes first, then my profession and then badminton. Due to my deep involvement with badminton, I know that I have to sacrifice by working longer hours compared to other people. I go to my Seremban law firm office early in the morning, and then about 3 times a week at mid morning I go to BAM’s office in KL. Other than that I also have to travel to different places for BAM related meetings and events. Since I took up the position in BAM, I’ve employed 3 additional staff in my office to ensure that that the quality and service of my law firm’s work do not suffer. I am also thankful to technology such as internet and mobile communication which have enabled me to multi-task, spend less time to produce more work, and to communicate on the move to juggle family, work and badminton.
JY : Do you think children today are encouraged to take up sports as much as they are encouraged to do well in academics? what's your advise to parents and children who are contemplating taking up badminton as a career?
NCC : Definitely not! Save for the elite few, generally it does not pay well (financially) to take up sports compared to academics. Chances of aspiring students to earn a living from sporting achievements are slim compared to earning a living from their academic achievements. Chances of success is higher in academics than in sports e.g. thousands of students scoring full As in the public examinations as compared to only a few hundred national champions in all sports competitions of MSSM.
However nowadays taking up badminton as a career is worthwhile. Presently a national badminton player can earn anything from RM2,000.00 to RM200,000 a month from just playing badminton. However the playing lifespan is short, from 5-10 years only. However when most badminton players stop playing, they go on to be involved with badminton related works, such as coaching, managing badminton halls/clubs, doing badminton equipments business, sports equipments sales, administration of sports etc. And a lot of them are earning a comfortable living.
For parents who believe that their children have the talent in badminton, it is worthwhile to guide their children towards a career in badminton. Sporting achievement is very gratifying and is much harder to achieve than academic achievement. For sportsmen who are at the cross-road and don’t know whether to choose sports or education, be advised that studies can wait but sports cannot wait. You can try to pursue sports first and education later.
JY : Any last words?
NCC : I believe that giving is more satisfying than receiving. People should give and share more and the society will be a much better place to live in.
Thank you!
