- Where are we now and how well have
we done? (will incorporate our strengths and weaknesses)
- Where do we want to go? (future directions)
- How do we get there? (working out
strategies within the context of threats and opportunities
we face as an organization)
The inputs derived from this plenary
session will then be taken up by the OCM strategic planning
committee, which will then work on this to develop the
strategic plan which will be tabled before the Executive
Board and Council of the OCM for ratification before
implementation.
The OCM Conference was held on the 23rd
of January 2010 with the following objectives:
- To allow the President of the OCM
to present his thoughts for the future of the OCM
- To hear from designated speakers on
various aspects of the OCM's past, present and future
- To allow the participants at large
to provide their inputs as well as to react to the
presentations detailed above.
A total of more than 130 representatives
from the National Sports Associations (NSAs) affiliated
to OCM, representatives of sponsors, government sports
officials, sports officials attended the Conference.
Khoo Yi Kiat of PACM & I were two of the 8 invited
volunteers to help to capture all the comments and views
given by the invited speakers and members of the floor.
I was also given another role as one of the panel speakers
on the SWOT analysis of OCM. Many diverse views were
given and for the purpose of this article, I will only
touch on few issues closed to my heart; weaknesses of
the NSAs, sports management education and clubs as the
foundation of sports. Eventually when the final strategic
plan is finalized, I hope some of my input will survive
in the plan intact. More importantly, the plan gets
implemented and desired results achieved for the betterment
of Malaysian sports.
I find that the term "sports development"
is not well understood as it usually refers to the churning
out athletes in high performance sports. I feel sports
development should be broad base, introducing &
promoting the sports to individuals, from the young
to the old, from those with more natural talent to those
with lesser capabilities. This is where I feel failure
among most NSAs. NSAs are very medals focused, measured
by number of gold medals in regional games and I feel
they could be obsessed with it at times. In their mission
and goals, sports for all are excluded.
Weakness in OCM / Affiliates
I feel the weakness in OCM lies in its 50 affiliates.
OCM's affiliates are rather weak generally and unable
to perform their role in promoting their respective
sports effectively. This in turn affect the objectives
of OCM in promoting and developing the high performance
sports and sports for all as OCM rely on its affiliates
to develop their respective sports. I come from the
corporate sector and if we were to compare OCM as a
holding company with many subsidiaries made up of all
the NSAs in different businesses (in different sports
in our case), then OCM as the holding company can only
be "Great" if the majority of the NSAs are
themselves "Great" or at least "Good"
General Electric Inc (GE) is regarded
as a "Great" company, although they did not
make it to Jim Collins' list of 10 great companies in
his book "From Good to Great". GE is in diversified
businesses and their belief is that in all their businesses,
they have to be a leader or among the leaders. If they
do not achieve that, they change the CEO / Management
or exit the business. If we take this analogy to GE's
strategy of being "Great" in all their businesses,
OCM must have a strategy to ensure that majority of
the NSAs are "Great". Unlike GE, I guess OCM
cannot exit a sport even if it does not do well but
the crucial question is how could OCM help the NSAs
that are weak and non-performing?
It is good to note that OCM will not
be starting from scratch here as it already has Rating
Process to grade the NSAs with approved criteria. Having
done the rating exercise, OCM is able to put the NSAs
into separate categories and now play an active advisory
role to these NSAs based on their strength and weaknesses
and have a transformation plan for each of the weak
NSAs. I realized how helpless some of the state and
national associations are when I attended the ASMC with
some of them last year.
The transformation plan has to be individually
designed as it will not be a "one size fit all"
plan as different NSAs would have different problems/needs.
OCM may not have this advisory team now but given its
resources, it can form such a team with selected expertise
from all over. OCM's advisory role can complement the
educational objectives set out for the National Olympic
Academy.
OCM has set up the National Olympic Academy
with noble objectives. At the moment, the education
process is very much voluntary and the attendance/commitment
from the NSAs is rather lukewarm. The recent ASMC I
attended is a clear indication of their lack of interest.
OCM would need to be more forceful in getting its affiliates
to attend training programs. In most professional bodies,
there are certain compulsory professional education
requirements to ensure professionals keep pace with
their skill development. Why should sports be different?
All in all, OCM need to enforce transformation
in NSAs that are non-performing just about the way a
Holding company would do so to their non-performing
subsidiaries. It will be a painful process but like
all strong medicine, things will get worse better it
gets better.
Of Foundation, Clubs and Sports for All
The other piece I like to comment on is the role of
clubs in sports development and inculcating sports for
all. I was at the OCM Museum during the recent OCM Youth
Leadership Conference and I saw on chart that I reproduce
here to show the relationship of the sports structure
globally.
Having taken a helicopter view from 30,000
feet above sea level, let's try to go to the ground
and see what's happening. Since I am a recreational
runner, I would use athletics as the example. Sports
governance exists for the purpose of the sports to serve
the athletes. The athletes usually are individuals or
members of a sports club, in my case I am a member of
Pacesetters Athletic Club, Malaysia.(PACM) PACM, in
turn belongs to Federal Territory Amateur Athletic Association
(FTAAA) which is the state sports association (SSA)
for athletics governing the sports. FTAAA is affiliated
to Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union (MAAU) (http://maau.net.blog)
the national sports association governing athletics
in Malaysia. MAAU is the only recognized athletic body
in Malaysia that is affiliated to International Association
of Athletics Federations (IAAF) (http://www.iaaf.org),
the global body governing athletics. At the same time,
MAAU is also affiliated to OCM, the coordinating body
for all national sports associations. IAAF and OCM along
with all other International Federations of other sports
and various National Olympic Associations are affiliated
to the International
Olympic Committee, based in Switzerland.
The vision, mission and goal of MAAU
are as follows;
While this article is not intended to
critic MAAU's Vision Mission statement, I can't help
but find the sports for all piece is totally missing
from the goals, it is all about high performance sports.
I wonder whether sports for all are in the State AAAs'
goals. This perhaps partly explains the missing link
in the sports clubs as sports clubs tend to be more
recreational rather than high performance.
Now why do I take so much pain to explain
the relationship? It is my intention to dwell with the
substance and form of this governing structure. The
fundamental role of the NSAs is to govern and promote
their sports. Therefore, if a certain sport in a country
is not doing well, the buck stops at the NSA. In Malaysia,
the NSAs promote their sports via the SSAs. This is
where the problem lies, not all the SSAs are capable
or active. Of course due consideration has to be given
to small states like Perlis as compared to large state
like Selangor, the population of the states, their demography
will determine the popularity of the sports. Within
the states we have the districts sports activities promoted
by the state sports councils. The membership of the
SSA is from the sports clubs. The strength and weakness
clearly lies in the sports clubs. In many sports, especially
in athletics, the clubs are few. Just use FTAAA as an
example, I recall FTAAA having more than 130 affiliates
of various clubs and associations back in the eighties
when even my old boys association was a member. Now
FTAAA has about 30 affiliates and even these affiliates
are by and large inactive. FTAAA is considered one of
the strongest SSAs and you can imagine the situation
in the smaller states. This problem is repeated in many
other sports where the vacuum is greatly felt at the
demise of the sports clubs, in short, the SSAs are hollow!
A few years ago when we have Datuk Azalina as Sports
Minister, the revival of the sports clubs is very much
talk about at national level. However, the status of
the issue is that we talked about it, nothing more!
We can say today we have a big vacuum at the SSAs and
the clubs.
The role of the clubs is not just about
development of sports at high performance level but
fulfill the very important role of promoting sports
for all, an equally important objective of OCM along
with high performance sports. They also form a conduit
for school leavers to further their sporting activities
after they left schools. Tunku Imran, president of OCM
spoke passionately that he rather sees 2 million individuals
running than having 5 gold medals. I would put in another
way, if we have 2 million individuals running recreationally,
we already have the cake. Should we also win the SEA
Games Marathon gold medal, we then have the icing on
the cake. Could you imagine having 2 million individuals
running? It means that we become a healthier nation
with fewer problems from lifestyle diseases. We would
move closer to a sporting culture like in Australia.
Examples of Grass Root Development
I do have a little story to share on the role of clubs
with Michelle Tan Bee Kiang as the case study. In 2000
and 2001 when Michele was in Form 4 and 5, she ran with
the Pacesetters Youth Program at Kampung Pandan under
the guidance of Viviene Kartsounis and KK Oon. She did
not have family support in pursuit of the sports. The
club played a role here and she was supported via the
New Balance Racing Team program as a back-up runner.
On Sundays for the long runs, members of the Permaisuri
Group such as Phoon Yoke Heng and a few others provided
her with the transport to Bukit Aman Car-park where
the Pacesetters train for their long runs. She took
part in both the track and road events with some modest
achievements. She wrote about her experience with the
club in her article, "Thoughts of a young Pacesetter"
(Footloose January 2001)
I recall she joined me to run at a road
race in Perak in 2001. On the way back, Jenny Lim (PACM
ladies captain then) hitched a ride from us and while
in my vehicle, Jenny advised her "You have strong
legs, you should be able to train harder and improve"
Michelle left the club after her Form 5 and further
her studies in LLB. After her LLB, she re-emerged in
the club and started training with the better runners,
including the African runners. Today she is one of the
top 3 runners in the women open category for marathon
and 21km with a personal best time of 3hr 45mins for
the marathon. The club cannot claim credit for her current
achievements but the club did provided her a niche during
her formative years when she was in Form 4 and 5; that
is factual.
Another story I wish to share is on my
third daughter, Karen. In her younger days, she is kind
of a softie among my 4 girls. Her school in Subang Jaya
is like any other schools now, rushing off their sports
activities by the first few months of the year to focus
on producing As in the public exams. She was lucky to
get associated with a former basketball player turned
coach by the name of Gary.
Karen and Wan after the District Finals
He has the passion for the sports and
gathered about 20 girls from a few schools to provide
them the basic training with the intention to form a
girl team for local competitions such as the Jasmine
Cup. Over the last 2 years I witnessed her improvement
in the sports and she ended by representing her district
in the Inter-district Under 18 Basketball Competition,
her team came out runners-up in 2009. In my housing
area, Subang Jaya we also have a group of individuals
who raise funds with some help from Datuk Lee Hwa Beng,
assembly man of Subang Jaya then and MPSJ to build a
covered basketball court in USJ14. This covered court
comes with lights and can host tournaments without interruption
by the weather. I appreciate the effort of this group
of individuals and Gary towards providing my daughter
and many kids in Subang Jaya an opportunity to play
basketball beyond what the school can cater.
Picture taken at the Inter-District U/18 Basketball
at Sungei Chua. The other lady is Lee Shew Keng, PACM
member and ex-national basketballer. I invited her to
watch the match as she stays in Kajang.
Build the Foundation
These two grass root stories gave hope towards a sporting
culture and there are groups and individuals out there
willing to contribute to sports mainly due to their
passion for it. The SSAs need to engage with these groups,
clubs and individuals and give them the appropriate
support. Engagement with them via membership, affiliation,
communication will be a good start towards building
up a strong representation of the sports at district
/ state level. The SSAs should provide incubator service
(helping clubs through the formative stage) to encourage
more clubs to be formed and get affiliated to them to
create a wider base of both recreational and high performance
sports practitioners. When more of the states are strong,
they become the foundation towards a stronger national
body. When more of the national bodies are strong, their
contribution towards national sports will be significant
and OCM as a coordinating body can perhaps become great
one day!
Wan Yew Leong
27 Feb 2010
wanyewleong@gmail.com
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