By : Halimatul Hamid

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: The plan to make sports an attractive career option for children has received the thumbs-up from the Malaysian Gymnastics Federation.

MGF honorary secretary N. Shanmugarajah said the Education Ministry's move to have a pre-school programme for gymnastics was an "old" but excellent idea.

The federation and the Perak Gymnastics Association, had a similar programme in 1996 called "Kindergymnastics".

A coach from China was brought in to train children, most of whom were siblings of Perak gymnasts.

"The children did very well in the programme but it was discontinued after three years because of insufficient funds.
"We had approached the Education Ministry regarding this matter but for the past decade, there has been no progress," said Shanmugarajah.

He said the programme would be successful if properly planned.

He cautioned, however, that training should be fun for the children.

"Although we want to create future national gymnasts, we must bear in mind that children should not be submitted to rigorous or intensive training. Coaches need to teach them the fundamentals yet keeping it fun to instill love for the sport," he said in response to a New Straits Times report on April 9 that the ministry planned to introduce sports at the kindergarten level, to make children and their parents aware of the career prospects in sports.

Shanmugarajah suggested the ministry bring in coaches from China to train local coaches, before they could train pre-school teachers.

"We need to train our coaches because they are not used to training children in that age group (between 3 and 6 years). Children of that age are delicate, so teachers need to be well-trained to prevent injuries."

Sarina Sundara Rajah, a former SEA Games and Commonwealth Games rhythmic gymnastics champion, begs to differ. She believes local coaches are qualified to train the young ones.

"I have trained kids for six years and have been a gymnast for eight. My contemporaries in the sport are also training young children. I think we have more than enough experience to train the teachers."

Sarina, who owns a rhythmic gymnastics club in Puchong, supports the ministry's move and hopes for a long-term plan for those who excel in the sport.

"It is great that the ministry wants to introduce gymnastics at the pre-school level. Gymnastics improves a child's agility and balance and stimulates the brain, preparing it for learning.

"However, this programme should be continued at primary and secondary level for students to go far." -NST

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