SK Tabuan victorious in Sarawak Cricket Association Kanga Cricket Sixes

October 8, 2012

ONE FOR THE ALBUM: Karim (fifth left) pose with the winners and competition officials.

KUCHING: Rising cricket star Mohd Khairul Azmi of SK Tabuan was named the Best Bowler of SCA Kanga Cricket Sixes championship last Friday. 

Playing for the host school, he was the x-factor for his team. 

SK Tabuan played five days of continuous cricket, which saw SK Tabuan A emerged champion of SCA Kanga Cricket Sixes, defeating SK Gita 2 by one wicket. 14 schools participated in the competition.

Assistant Minister of Youth Development Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah who attended the competition’s closing ceremony commented that the organising of the tournament was a good effort by Sarawak Cricket Association (SCA) together with Kuching District Education Department to identify new talents and to prepare for the MSSM Inter-State meet next year.

In another development, Abdul Karim added that parents too play a vital role in the development of sports. According to him, parents’ role is not only limited to attending, supporting and cheering during sports events played by their children but also plays essential task such as lending a helping hand in supporting the youth and sports programmes hosted by the government.

“Sports are intended to provide opportunities for children and youths to participate, have fun, develop skills and enjoy the thrill of competition in a positive, non-threatening environment. All these will shape a good and successful athlete,” he said.

Commenting on the off-field matter regarding athletes and their parents, Abdul Karim is also wary that the international and national media sometimes highlight stories of parents behaving badly at youth sport events.

Although such incidents are rare, he cautioned that inappropriate behaviour by parents detracts significantly from the original purpose of youth sport programs.

He lauded that some sports and professional groups in the state and country itself have initiated programmes and strategies to encourage and reinforce positive parent behaviour that would enhance their children performance in sports.

He suggested that basic coaching should also be extended to the parents whose children are selected to participate in sports on appropriate parent behaviour.

“I understand that Sarawak Sports Council for instance has initiated strategies on parents’ roles to help to enhance their children performances that are already in their development programmes. Although the coach’s primary role is to develop athletes, they must also accept the responsibility of educating their parents,” Abdul Karim added.

He continues to suggest that the meeting’s primary purpose could be to establish agreed-upon expectations for all parties in regard to coaching style, team rules, appropriate athlete behavior, etc.

The meeting’s secondary purpose could be to help parents understand how best to support their children’s sport participation and what constitutes appropriate parent behaviour in the youth sport environment.

“There was much fun and flair and a lot of cricketing skills on display throughout the whole five days. This is evident that our junior development programme and the untiring work of the coaches and teachers from all the schools involved are starting to produce results,” commented tournament organising chairman Chew Pok Cheong.

He also revealed that the competition served as a platform for SCA to select potential players to represent the state in MSSM in March 2013, Terengganu.

Another important aspect of the tournament is that the tournament saw a debut participation of teams from rural areas.

The purpose of inviting these teams is to give those living in the rural areas a taste and exposure in joining cricket tournaments. -TheBorneoPost