Sarawak football development programme running smoothly

The Sarawak Football Development Programme (SFDP), which is into its second year, is running very smoothly and right on track.

Sarawak State Sports Council (MSNS) director Francis Nyurang Ding said yesterday all parties involved in the running of the programme including Sarawak Education Department, Football Association of Sarawak (FAS) and MSNS have played their respective roles well.

“We are more focused in the football development and identifying new talents in the programme through an annual SFDP Inter-Centre Football Tournament which is organised by the State Education Department with technical assistance from FAS and funding from MSNS,” he said at MSNS office recently.

Francis said the ongoing 2nd SFDP Inter-Centre Football Tournament would be held until July 21 at three zones namely Southern Zone comprising Kuching, Samarahan, Sri Aman and Betong, Central Zone (Sibu, Sarikei, Mukah and Kapit) and Northern Zone (Miri, Bintulu and Limbang).

“I would like to thank the State Education Department for having successfully organised the tournament last year and I strongly believe that they will do another good job this year,” he said.

Francis Nyurang said the tournament would be aimed at selecting the best players into the Emerging Talent Pool where they would be groomed to represent Sarawak at Sukma and President Cup competitions, and later vie for promotion to the senior state team.

Kuching District Education Office is hosting host the event.

“The Northern Zone competition will be hosted by the Miri District Education Office at Miri Mini Stadium from July 11-16 while the Central Zone competition will be hosted by Sibu District Education Office at Tun Zaidi Stadium from July 18-23,” said SFDP project manager Lucas Kallang who is also the MSNS Sports Officer.

He said among the objectives of the tournament are to monitor the progress of the trainees in various centres, identify players for Sukma XV and President Cup next year, identify talented players in different age categories to keep track of their progress and their details to be kept in SFDP database, and prepare for the Borneo Games in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Indonesia from Dec 4-11.

“Trophies will be awarded to champions, runners-up and third placings while individual awards will also be given to Best Player, Best Goalkeeper and Top Scorer at the respective zones,” said Lucas.

A skills competition will also be organised between the competitions on ball dribbling, passing, shooting and controlling, headed by SFDP coordinator Mohamad Mantali.

Lucas said coaching seminars would also be conducted by SFDP technical director Alan Vest during the competitions at all zones.
“Vest will conduct the seminars in Kuching at Miri Mini Stadium from July 12-15 and at Tun Zaidi Stadium in Sibu from July 18-21,” he added.
“We anticipate an improvement in the players’ performance in terms of team techniques and tactics and I am also looking forward to see an improvement of the coaching approach such as psychological coaching approach.”

Lucas also hoped that the players will display a professional approach to the game.
SFDP is a five-year programme implemented by KPSU through MSNS with the main objective to develop football at school level.

MSNS will work closely with Sarawak Schools Sports Council (MSSS) to develop football in the state.

The scouting for talents are also carried out at FAS youth competitions, MSS division and state level competitions and at Tabuan Jaya State Sports School.