Foul!

Nazmi Faiz Mansor missed his SPM examinations yet again as he is currently plying his trade in Portugal. This is the second time Nazmi missed the crucial examination as he was involved with the Sea Games last year. His efforts were not wasted as the national Tigers went on to defend their gold medal in Jakarta. Naturally, many questioned to why Nazmi missed the examinations. Living in an academic-centric society, many believe Nazmi should have sat for his papers - just like what Nicol David did and she passed with flying colours. There are others who stress that Nazmi should be allow to pursue his career in Portugal and that it is alright to sideline his books temporarily. Perhaps Nazmi can get pointers from a 55-year-old grandmother who is currently sitting from the examinations in Kedah as reported here . Now this brings us back to the role played by sports schools in the country. Sports schools in Malaysia are governed by the Education Ministry and they are to adhere to ...

What is a sports school? A. To churn out student athletes, OR B. To churn out students who are active in sports Education is VERY important. Period. But let's look at the situation faced by two Bukit Jalil Sports School footballers Raphi Azizan Mariappen and Muhd Ariff Farhan Md Isa. There are efforts to get both footballers to stay in Wisma FAM - in a bid for them to further gel with their team mates. Apparently the school is not too keen with the idea and insists they stay at the hostel in Bukit Jalil. It was also learnt the school was not "cool" with the fact Nazmi Faiz Mansor skipped his SPM for national duties. One does not blame the school as they are regulated by the Education Ministry and are forced to adhere to the regulations set by the Ministry which is similar to that of any other SMK. This includes obtaining a "healthy" number of passing rates and good attendance. So where do we draw the line? This has been a subject of discussi...

I received a tip-off recently regarding the poor conditions at the Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School in Bandar Penawar, Johor. I felt it was only right to visit the school which was formerly known as the Bandar Penawar Sports School. Accompanying me was Astro Awani's sports editor Fadzrie Hazis. The tip-off turned out to be true. This was my observation; 1. Hockey turf ( pic 1) - There is only hockey turf in the school which is shared by both the boys and girls teams. The turf is in bad shape as evident in the picture and the condition started becoming worse since last year. Despite such shortcomings, the lads won the Malaysian Junior Hockey League this year. 2. Pole vault ( pic 2 ) - it is damaged and judging by the looks of it, it has been left to rot for sometime. When asked, a worker said it has been not used for "almost four years". 3. Lawn bowls pitch ( pic 3 ) -  They have lawn bowlers but no coach and no proper pitch as the one at the school is in...

FOUR new sports schools will be constructed in Pahang, Perlis, Terengganu and Sabah. Officials from various National Sports Associations (NSAs) were invited to the Education Ministry in Putrajaya on Monday to discuss about their sports being absorbed into those schools. It should be good news. Currently there are two sports schools in Bukit Jalil and Bandar Penawar. Yet, some of the NSAs were skeptical and I don't blame them. We have the tendency of wanting to do everything but do not put much thought into what we do. They are afraid some of the programmes run in the new sports schools may fail due to lack of expertise and infrastructure. It has happened before. Also, not many understand that sports schools are still required to clock in the academic hours and are bound by MoE's regulations as seen in other government schools and this can be frustrating for the teachers and principals. Nevertheless, the idea is noble and it was nice of MoE's sports unit director Ee Hong to ...