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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Volleyball Coach On A Mission

BUKIT Jalil Sports School (BJSS) volleyball coach Mohd Shaili Sukor will scout for talents during age-group competitions this year.

Mohd Shaili’s mission is to identify young talents to be drafted into the BJSS girls’ volleyball team.

Currently, there are only seven students in the training squad. Two students — Lee Jen May from Malacca and Luk Teck Kiew from Sarawak — were recruited early this year but decided to return home.

Mohd Shaili said with only a minimum number of players in the squad, it was difficult for him to maintain their momentum.

“We have to beef up the squad. And the only way is to scout for new talents during the Under-14, Under-17 and Malaysian Schools Sports Council (MSSM) championships,’’ said Mohd Shaili.

The seven players in the squad are Yew Sook Ting, Sim Ming Luong, Low Wan Jin, Teh Huei Hong, Nurhidayah Idris, Lim Yee Tyng and Nuraini Ariffin.


Ready to spike: A BJSS player (facing camera) in action during a friendly match with KL.

Yew was named as the Best Spiker and Sim the Best Blocker in the National Under-17 championships last year while Teh was voted as the Best Spiker in the National Under-14 competition.

Despite the shortcomings, the BJSS girls volleyball squad has an intensive training programme. Except for weekends, the squad trains twice a day.

Mohd Shaili also initiates friendly matches against local sides to provide the players strong sparring.

“The friendly matches give us the opportunities to gauge the players’ progress.

“We will also be playing in a lot of competitions,’’ said Mohd Shaili.

The competitions include the Arafura Games, the MSSM championships and Malaysian Volleyball Association (Mava) championships.

He has also been given the task to identify a pair for the beach volleyball event in the Asian Youth Games in Singapore in July.

“The local competitions will be an ideal opportunity to select the players,’’ said Mohd Shaili.