WE LOST BUT .....

Our Team U15 lost to SMK Agama Tun Ahmad Zaidi 1-3 earlier this evening. If I were a sore loser, I would say that we were unlucky, that they played 35 players while we had only 18, that their pitch was not suitable for our kind of football, that we had only 6 15-year-olds while they probably had 30...enough of that already.

As I have said before, when we play matches, we look at how our Kickies have progressed - are they using the techniques that they have been taught? Have they improved over the time they joined Kickalob? Will they be able to handle advanced progression in terms of our training modules? Are they capable of playing at a higher level? These are the factors that we evaluate and analyse, and not the scoreline.

That is academy training.

MATCH FOR TEAM U15 KICKALOB

Our Team U15 Kickalob will be having an away match on Friday (29th) against SMK Tun Ahmad Zaidi, Petra Jaya. Our Team will compose of several team members from our Team U12 Kickalob which participated in the recent Piala Waga 2009 in KL. It will be good to see how they carry themselves playing in a more senior team which requires more thinking, teamwork and individual coordination. Kickoff is at 4:45pm.

HOW TO DO DEVELOPMENT LIKE THIS? AIYA....

Excerpts from an interview with Lim Teong Kim conducted by The New Straits Times not so long long ago which pinpointsExcerpts from an interview with Lim Teong Kim conducted by The New Straits Times not so long long ago which pinpoints the problem with our football development. I had the chance to play with Teong Kim representing Malaysia B in the Lion City Cup in Singapore way back in the early 80s. Teong Kim was the first Malaysian footballer to play in Europe when he turned out for German club Hertha Berlin in 1987. He was a member of the national team that won the 1989 Sea Games gold medal and is now based in Germany coaching Bayern Munich's youth teams.

Q: Your overall assessment of the infrastructure in Malaysia?
A: How can people talk about football where there is no proper infrastructure? The current infrastructure is 30 years behind time. Malaysian football will not develop unless the infrastructure here improves. What we have and what I have seen here is not good enough. Maybe it was good enough 20 or 30 years ago but not at the present time. In Bayern Munich, for example, there are seven fields and other facilities are also top class. We have 11 youth teams in age-groups between eight and 23, with more than 100 players. The club allocates E2 million (RM9.7 million) annually for its youths teams. The system is almost the same with other clubs in Europe.
We don't have that in Malaysia. Instead, the government and local councils are taking away football fields. I used to play football in my youth days in Bandar Hilir, Malacca. It had three fields but now malls have been built on them. What do we get by building malls? Does it help in the development of a sports culture in Malaysia? We need proper infrastructure in Malaysia. Taxpayers' money, which the government wants to use to send the national team to Europe, should be allocated to building facilities for football. If you want kids to play football then you have to invest in it.

Q: Who should be responsible for developing youth football in Malaysia?
A: The states should play a bigger role in developing youth football. They should do the work and run the programmes but infrastructure must be there first. Sports schools like Bukit Jalil and Bandar Penawar should be supplementary ingredients in this case.

Q: What do you think of the Malaysian League?
A: It is ridiculous not to have foreign players in the league. It does not help in the development of local players. How are Malaysian teams going to compete against bigger Asian clubs in the Champions League and AFC Cup? A Malaysian team cannot rely on local players against clubs with foreign players. It is a huge loss in revenue as they are not good enough to compete against the best in Asian.
Why did FAM decide on barring imports from the league? Is it because some teams could not afford foreign players? The association should allow those who can afford to hire them. One cannot look at all teams in the league as equal. Teams, who do not have money for development and foreign players, should be left out. It should be left to the respective clubs on whether to hire foreign players. This is professional football. You cannot tell Bayern Munich not to have foreign players as they need their services in the domestic league and Champions Leagues. The revenue of the club depends on Bayern's first team's performance in the Bundesliga and Champions League and if they don't do well, the club cannot generate income.

Q: Should local football rely on foreign coaches?
A: Yes, because foreign coaches have comprehensive knowledge about the game. I am not saying that local coaches are no good but we need foreign help to take our football to another level. If our ambition is to develop good players, then we have to hire good coaches. For instance, Japan are now Asian giants because they hired top-notched foreign coaches to develop their game at the start.

Q: Will you consider a coaching job in Malaysia?
A: I have been linked before with FAM and state teams but it was only speculation. I will consider working in Malaysia but first several conditions of mine must be accepted. What I want is infrastructure. I will consider a job here when there are proper facilities. The government should start by developing proper infrastructure for a few state teams before developing the rest.. It is a slow process but the nation will gain in the long term.

Q: Are you still with the Bayern Munich youth team?
A: Yes I am. I am attached to the Under-19 team as assistant coach. It is my third season now. I have been with the club since 2000 and then I was the coach of the Under-12 team before moving up the ranks. I have worked with two players, when I was coaching the Under-13 and Under-14 teams before, who are now in the Bayern Munich senior side. They are striker Thomas Muller and centreback Bad Badstuber. The duo were not as gifted as some of their teammates in the youth teams but they made it big because of their dedication to training and matches. Muller could be representing Germany in the World Cup.

INTRODUCING OUR KICKIES ..........

AZFAR BAZLI BAKRI
Birthdate: 09 June 1997
since Term 02/09

APOLOGIES TO THE BELL FAMILY

Apologies are in order for the Bell family who has been a staunch supporter of Kickalob Sports Academy. It was brought to my attention that I had forgotten to include my thanks to them during our recent trip to KL with Team U12 Kickalob. In actual fact, they were the first ones to arrive in KL (for shopping lah), the earliest to be at the tournament venue (6:45am mind you), and one of the loudest supporters (no, not Mr Bell but Mrs Bell!). For your information, Mr & Mrs Bell are the proud parents of Ryan Bunsu, Marcel Owen and Adrian Assan - these 3 are among the gems in Kickalob waiting to be polished. Ryan and Marcel were part of the team in KL; Adrian was there too giving the team support! Apologies and thanks guys!

INTRODUCING OUR KICKIES ..........

HARRIS IZZAD SHAFFIQ IZZAD
Birthdate : 15 August 1996
since Term 01/09

INTRODUCING OUR KICKIES ..........

MARCEL OWEN BELL
Birthdate: 13 March 1999
since Term 02/09

FRIENDLY MATCH FOR PARENTS/COACHES TEAM

Kickalob's parents/coaches team will be playing a friendly match on 16 January 2009 (Saturday) at 4:30pm at Padang Stadium B (behind the old stadium). Most of the coaches will be playing....so if you want to see a beautiful game of thinking and brainy football, come and give us a watch!

COMPLETE FOOTBALLERS

I am a big believer in training footballers to be COMPLETE FOOTBALL PLAYERS instead of training them to be position-specific as forwards or midfielders or fullbacks. There certainly are times when position-specific training is needed (especially for goalkeepers but also for other positions as well); however, in modern football, we need to develop and produce complete footballers as opposed to position-specific players.

Recently, ManU was playing Wolfsburg in the European Cup and due to numerous injuries, ManU had to start one regular fullback and three midfielders as their back four. While there were occasions when it was apparent the back four were not the regular fullbacks, for the most part, they did an excellent job (and ManU won 3-1!). Now, how many of you forwards are prepared technically, tactically and psychologically to move to a midfield or fullback position? How many of you players think of a move to the back four as a "promotion" instead of "demotion"? And how many of you players think of ourselves as "football players" as opposed to "forwards" or "midfielders" or "fullbacks"?

Food for thought, don't you think?

THINK POSITIVE

In football, players must always maintain a positive attitude. Winning or losing is part of the game, any game actually. If our team is losing, it is not good to sulk & be rude to the winning team; there will be other games for us to win. What is important is that you give the game your best shot. Never blame another member of the team if we are losing. We are all a team; each and every one of us is equally responsible for the outcome of the game. Play with camaraderie & good sportsmanship. You will not learn the values that football aims to instill in you if you are a sore loser.

INTRODUCING OUR KICKIES ..........

SHARIFAH SARAH YASMIN
Birthdate: 23 November 1993
since Term 01/09

INTRODUCING OUR KICKIES ..........

KAIREL ABA
Birthdate: 25 November 2005
since Term 01/09

INTRODUCING OUR KICKIES ..........

ASYRAFF ZAKARIS BRAHIM
Birthdate: 17 July 2005
since Term 01/09

INTRODUCING OUR KICKIES ..........

MUHD HAZEEM SYAZWAN DAUD
Birthdate: 10 December 2002
since Term 01/09

WHAT A START TO OUR 2010 SEASON

It was a beautiful morning last Saturday when we had our 1st session for 2010. The sun was out...the pitch was soft...our Kickies were eager to start...parents were as enthusiastic. We started off the day with the Technical Director's pep talk and how he was with the last term's assessment results where average grade was far lower than that of the previous term. We then proceeded to carry out the first and only drill of the day - the "Samba Warming Up Drill". It was good to see that most of our Kickies were potential dancers as they could pick up the technique fast. There were some who, like me, just didn't have that dancing ability, no matter what shoes we put on!!! But through the guidance of our able coaches, everyone was able to do the drill at the end of the 60-minute session.
Why the dance, you may ask? Because in football, we need our eyes and our feet to coordinate. The Samba Warming Up Drill is very suitable for this purpose and we will keep on doing this at the start of every session.
So far so good for the new season. Welcome back to our old Kickies Aaron, Anuq, Syamim, Hakeem, the 3 Bell brothers (Adrian, Marcel and sick Ryan), Umarashid, Hazeeq, Syafiq, Alvin, Azfar, Azzra, Carlos (still need to lose more weight!!), Amzar, Hariez, our 2 Lim brothers (Ah Cheng and Ah Chung), Harris, Isaac, Max, Danyal, Reduwan, Ikmal, Adli, Fareez, Taufiq, Thaqif, Hazeem, Awi, Misso, Ricky, Mousey, Shawn, Syazani, Azri and Faris. (I am confident the rest will turn up next week as most schools had extra classes on Saturday.)
To our new Kickies, we hope that you enjoyed our 1st session and that you will be coming back again next week.
See you all!!!

BRING YOUR OWN BALLS

Kickies will have to bring their own balls to our academy sessions effective this coming term. 2 reasons - one, to reduce the financial burden on Kickalob to replace lost balls (an average of 5 balls per session!!!); two, to ensure that each and every Kickie has a ball at home to practice with.
We have found out that the majority of our Kickies DO NOT have balls at home to practice the drills & techniques we teach during our academy sessions. Need we remind you that there is no point joining Kickalob if you don't put in the time to practice at home eh??
Please ensure that you purchase balls of size 4. For those aged 7 and below, you may use size 3. The Academy has some limited used balls for sale at RM20 each but it's on a "first come, first serve basis".
All Kickies must have their own balls by the 3rd session of Term 01/10; otherwise, you will have to sit out the academy sessions.
PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE FUTSAL BALLS!!!!!

WHEN IS OUR NEW TERM STARTING?

I have received numerous calls and texts from parents and Kickies alike asking when our new term will start. Can you believe that some of our Kickies were even at our Training Base last Saturday? Well, cheers for the enthusiasm but we will only begin on 9 January 2010, same place, same time. See you guys then!!