KUCHING: It is high time that the Malaysian Volleyball Association (Mava) make a serious effort to develop volleyball in the country to put its standard on par with other countries in South-east Asia.
Former national player SC Pang said the disparity in the standard was very obvious as the national men's and women's teams have suffered two consecutive defeats in their SEA Games campaign in Myanmar last week.
Pang, who made his SEA Games debut in 1991 as a 19-year-old, had also played in the 1993, 1995 and 1997 SEA Games.
Pang observed that Thailand has now become a powerhouse while countries like Indonesia, Vietnam and even Myanmar are now better than Malaysia.
"Since my playing career and until now as a coach, I have seen the standard in SEA Games grown by leaps and bounds. Thailand is now very strong, Indonesia is not bad while previously Vietnam and Myanmar were on the same standard as Malaysia," said Pang.
He felt that the Malaysian volleyballers lack international exposure.
"The Thailand women's team reached world standard as they have played in many major international competitions whereas our chances of playing overseas is very slim," he said.
He hoped that Mava could make arrangements to send the national men's and women's team to compete in international competitions.
There should also be a good long-term development and training programmes to groom potential players.
"There are not too many competitions organised locally. We only have the national championship and the national volleyball league whereas the other competition is the inter-university championship,"he added.
"No matter whether it is local or international competition, the players need to play in competitions to meet certain targets, otherwise they will gradually lose interest if they only engage in training all the time."
Pang also said Malaysia will be looking to put up a formidable challenge in 2017 where Malaysia will play host as volleyball might not be competed as one of the events in SEA Games 2015 in Singapore.
"Our players now are still very young. The average age of the women players is 19 while it is 22 for the men's team. If we can keep them together until 2017, I believe they will be mature players able to pose strong challenges."
Pang said the coaches panel have also come up with a plan and it needed Mava's support and coordination.
He said Mava should look for major corporate bodies to "adopt" the national teams so the welfare of the players could be looked after during their training programmes and while competing in international competitions.
http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/serious-review-needed-to-lift-malaysias-volleyball-standard/
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