Get rid of silo mentality, Khairy tells sports institutions

KUALA LUMPUR: Sports institutions must refrain from adopting a silo mentality if they want to see sports develop and progress in Malaysia, said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
He said the National Sports Institute (ISN) must work closely with the National Sports Council (MSN) and other relevant agencies and ministries for the development of sports.
Khairy said proper coordination between the sports institutions and the relevant bodies will spur the development of the sports industry and athletes, including laying the foundation for future generation of athletes.
"We had a data collection method to identify potential athletes, but unfortunately the candidates were not developed in their sporting skills. We now want to put the system right and ensure that potential athletes are trained in their respective field of sports to represent the nation at national and international games," Khairy said.
He said the country needs a pool of well-trained athletes not only for now but also for years to come.
"If this does not happen, all of our efforts will be in vain," he told a press conference after launching the National Talent Identification and Development (MyTID) Data Management System at ISN today.
On the MyTID initiative, Khairy said the government has allocated an additional RM34 million for the programme to develop young athletes in Malaysia.
"Some of the allocation will be used to screen the number of potential young athletes, and the rest will be used to build more multilateral sports development centres," he said
He said through MyTID, 100,000 Standard One pupils from 1,500 schools will be screened to identify whether they have the potential and skills to be developed to become national athletes.
"Those selected will be trained at the multilateral centres and will be exposed to various type of sports training," he said.