Star Online Friday July 18, 2008 Chief coach Kim Hock: I have a good feeling for Beijing KUALA LUMPUR: The 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games bring a gush of fond memories for national chief coach Yap Kim Hock. With Cheah Soon Kit, he won a silver medal in the men’s doubles badminton and it still remains as the best Malaysian achievement in the Olympics. “When I look back, one thing stands out. We were confident of our chances of winning a medal even three months before the Games. This helped us to have the psychological edge when we were in Atlanta,” said Kim Hock. “Our preparation was not only on improving our physical condition, skills and strategies. We continued to drum it into our heads that we would win a medal. “It was not being over-confident. But the good feeling gave us enough courage to face anyone on court.” Indonesians Rexy Mainaky-Ricky Subagja beat Kim Hock-Soon Kit to win the gold medal in Atlanta. “I am happy that the players (gearing up for the Beijing Olympic Games) are also feeling good about their chances. It is important to feel confident,” said Kim Hock. “We have depth in our Olympic-bound squad this time. I have a good feeling that we are going to nail at least a medal in Beijing.” ********************************************************** Personally, I am all for all these 'have good feeling' or 'ready to plunder' thingy and the rest of the hulabula. But I think YKH should have kept things a little under the radar. I mean, last year just before the WC in KL, we had the usual razmatazz but when it came to the competition proper, our shuttlers fall like dominoes at our own backyard. LCW famous tirade against YKH after the WC is well documented. I mean it is good that we have downplayed the gold to "nail at least a medal in Beijing" but to declare this I feel good factor may put unnecessary pressure on our shuttlers. YKH should take the lesson of last year's WC and not put the cart before the horse again this time round. I dread to think what will happen if we return from Beijing with zero medal/s especially now with a RM1 million carrot being dangled. Low key, low profile do the business on court. That should be a better approach. Especially when we are playing in LYB's backyard. My 2sen.
It's a no win situation. If you express your confidence then some folks will still critize and say its better to be more low-key and humble. If you remain low-key, then other will critize and say the team lack confidences and has no great expectations. Will be best for the athletes to brush aside the critics and perform at the highest level they can achieve.
PBSI is a bit lower profile this time....1 Gold medal will make me very happy....more than 1 is a really BIG Bonus for INA....
What's confounding is that it's officials (coaches included) and not the actual players who are raising such expectations. (Well, we haven't heard any 'ready to plunder in Beijing' yet from any player ) This is, of course, unnecessary and unproductive pressure
It is absolute right for YKH to say what he did. Imagine going into one of the most important tournaments and saying absolutely zero about confidence. Firstly, it would not augur well for himself as chief coach. Secondly, players will not feel that there is expectation of them to perform if nothing is said, and just go for a jolly. And of course, most importantly, it does not booster our players with confidence. Recognise YKH merely said he feels we have a good chance by his 'feeling good'. And he also did explain like I did above that 'it is important to feel confident' else how do you expect to beat your opponents. It is rubbish to say that we will put pressure on the players by what YKH said. There will always be some pressure whether it is the Malaysian team or anything other team, notwithstanding China (the powerhouse). It is irresponsible to suggest YKH is putting pressure on the players by merely stating his feelings, and that if we come back without the medals, YKH's feeling good would have something to do with it.
Its good to have confidence.. but not over confidence. Or show off confidence. Things will be different when you step onto the arena. So far i think we are doing ok.
Good to know from you that we are doing ok since you are always there - I rather believe you than someone from afar making comments which do not do anything but generate unnecessary questions about the coach's good feeling.
I guess in the Malaysia Boleh context, 'confidence' is something which must be communicated or made known to all. And our shuttlers' confidence can only be boosted by the coach, YKH, calling a press conference and issuing a "I got a good feeling" kinda statement. No press conference = no confidence. And this is considered bad mojo for the chief coach. Expectations cannot be conveyed in a low key manner to the players. It has to be plastered all over the papers. And we have people then complaining that our players are under too much pressure. Well, we made a lot of noise before the WC in KL last year. What happened?? Our KKK/TBH declared "We are ready to plunder" just before the AE this year?? What happened?? I mean, if we have learned nothing from these razmatazz, then lets just wait for Beijing. Time will tell. As for the players not knowing what is expected of them if nothing is said in public, then I am sorry to say, we need to have more intelligent players then. I like the Koreans. They go about their business quietly. Their players know what is expected of them (no need to have em' expectations printed in the press) and their coach dont need to boost their confidence via the press. LYB's China camp is exceptionally quiet too. I guess China & Korea will do their talking on court. And these guys are the ones who have won the Olympic gold a couple of times. While Malaysia's cabinet is still bare. What is irresponsible here is the inability to accept a posting that is different than one's own.
different strategy, different approach. Pemuda, good say, good say how about TC? did you watch the semi-f?
The way i look at this is.. ...it doesn't get any more entertaining than for this type of articles to tickle & entertain our Pemuda...
Realistically speaking, MD and XD is where INA can snatch the gold.....I can live with a 50% success rate .
You can't be serious If at all a coach needs to say something to boost his wards' morale ahead of such a major event, why would be need the media as his mouthpiece? Why not just quietly and directly tell the team that much is expected of them? In any case, I don't think Lee Chong Wei or KKK/TBH will 'go for a jolly' if they aren't told about the need to win!
I don't think the Koreans and China is quiet about their Olympic medal chances. I've spoken to the coaches too, and they also have high expectation and confident that their players will perform well in the Olympic games. Too bad the local medias does not covers them. Personally i think everyone needs hope and confidence in their lives.
Yep, I think the chances of INA winning two golds is pretty low, especially since it's supposed to be CHina's Olympics. And that sole gold medal won't come easy either, with the best chances coming from Nova/Lilyana and MK/HS.. SDK's best hope is for a silver. He could possibly beat either LD or LCW on the way to the final, almost certainly not both.
China also expressed their desire to clean sweep at this OG.... LYB is not a quiet guy ...certainly he is not keeping his low profile
It just so happened the inquisitve media wanted to know how YKH felt and he gave a simple confident vote on the team, and somehow this has been dug at by our famous 'you-know-who' who wants to make it an issue as always. He does not know it but the continuous criticism is easily seen through by all who knows him by now. In any case, even if he believes we ought to play it quiet, it is his own opinion. In sports, the coaches are now playing it up to boost confidence of their team. I am a great fan of the Aussie SWIM Team and they are all 'rah rah rah' about their team's capabilities. Why feel like we need to keep a low profile when we have to boost confidence. Make it known we are serious about winning medals and get the team all psyched up about winning medals -- and I think judging by the talk around the team this is definitely happening. Everyone is talking about winning medals but none has said anything to suggest overconfidence. If there is a 'psychology' we can apply is to strike fear into our opponents. Our guys are not doing it by being too loud anyway.So cut the crap.
BTW Oldhand post #14 should be "...players will feel that there is expectation of them to perform....." not ".....will not feel.....". It is wrong to change my wordings.
I don't see YKH's remarks as being 'overconfident'.Out of the 6 chances of winning a medal, he reckoned MAS can deliver at least 1, without specifying any colour.That's too modest.My gut feel is MAS will bring back at least 3 medals, but of course I'm a nobody so YKH 's is probably more credible. The gist of it is YKH recounting his own experience about how he won a silver by having good vibes pre-OLYMPICS. If one looks at the recent Wimbledon,there were 3 different opinions going into the tournament: 1.Federer: He's confident of his chances but he doubted Nadal would last through to the final without injuries.So Federer was hoping to win, courtesy of Nadal's injury.That's an indirect expression of unconvincing confidence.Nadal won, (perhaps even playing with pain)just in time, before Federer could get lucky with a third rain break. 2.Nadal: Before each match , he would be asked about his chances of winning the title and his answers would be similar.He has worked at what he has control of, ie his match preparations and physical and mental condition, and he will not underestimate his opponents. Most importantly, he takes his match one at a time, to win each and every match as it comes. 3.Djokovic:Novak is in a hurry. He set himself a target of reaching No. 1 by year end. So he MUST win Wimbledon to have a good chance of being no. 1.He looked too far ahead. He reckoned he can beat Federer in SF and Nadal in Final.He underestimated other opponents, esp. Safin, the mercurial, unpredictable performer.Well, Safin looked very fit and motivated so he knocked out ambitious Djokovic but of course it was not enough to last through to the tournament end.