Who is at fault ?

First of all, this is not a blame game. This is a topic that I would like to discuss and see if there are any solutions.

I would like to touch on who is at fault if a youth player fail to progress or even losing interest completely in football. This is a situation that do really happen to talented youth players. During my playing days with PKNP, I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by very very talented players but they have not made it to the pro level which is a big loss for the development of football. So who is at fault ?

Parents ? Maybe, just maybe. I take an example for myself. To be honest, my parents did not fully support me during my youth playing days. My dad does come out and watch me play sometimes, but thats about it. He never really try to find me a better club to train with, never really comment on my game although I know my dad was a good player before. My mom, she was the worst as most of the typical Asian moms. For them, football has no future and study is the main priority. Lacking parents support I think does affect the growth of a potential player. Comparing to my mate, Chan Wing Hong, his dad drive him every single day to train with a club full of ex pros. And that actually makes a big difference as he is definitely well ahead of me by training with a group of experience players at a young age. He went on to play for Perak, Malaysia and currently still plying his trades in M-League.

I was lucky enough to be spotted during the PKNP football clinic. Thats where I got my offer to play for PKNP youth team and indirectly put me together with the current youth state team players as at that time, all but me in the PKNP squad was from the SM Gunung Rapat Football Project School. Being presented a chance to train with the best did keep me interested in football and I started to progress from there. I wonder what will happen if I was not spotted at the first place. I might not even play football anymore.

Support from parents are really important, but that comes with a limit. If its not checked, it can easily turn into pressure for the youth player. To to release the pressure, that potential player might give up on football all together.

Enough of the parents, how about the youth club system ? We all know back in Malaysia, youth football development is very poor especially for our local boys. No doubt there are many youth clubs back home, but how many are properly set up. I have surveyed a few local clubs in Malaysia that in my opinion is not doing enough. Many of those only train Saturday and Sunday. We all know practices makes perfect and how on earth these youth players can progress by only training on the weekends. If a player got selected for the District or State, yes they do train everyday but how long is the season ? We all know youth football season for district and state level in Malaysia is short. Where do they go after that ? Back to club football that train on weekends ? Also out of millions of youths in Malaysia, only a handful will be selected for the districts and state, what happen to those that have potential to improve ? Club football that train on weekends ? No way they can catch up with these better skill players.

Another problem for a youth football club is, grouping talented players together with other players that are not on par with them. A talented player if put together with a so so player, that talented player will not train as hard. I can guarantee that !! That talented player's progress will be stunted as he does not need to train hard in order to get into the starting line up. He knows he will play no matter what. It will be a different case if this talented player is group together with players of his same level. He will need to fight hard to gain a place in the team. He will have to battle. And by this, that talented player will continue his progress to be a better player.

Grouping of different level players in a same team happens as all youth clubs needs to make certain amount of money. And I am not talking about profit. I am talking about the cost of running a youth football club. Field rentals, coaches salary, administration fees, jerseys, equipments, setting up matches and the list goes on. The cost of running a youth football club is massive. This indirectly makes the club needs to take all level of players interested in joining the club. If not, there is no way a youth club can survive unless that youth club has its own field or having a lot of sponsors thus enabling them to choose the best. If not, that youth club can't afford to turn away players that did not make the grade as every fees paid by a player helps the club to survive.

So..who is at fault ?

Dreams come true eh...

This is a funny one.

31 Malaysians, 25 of them are winners of the Mister Potato Man U vs Liverpool contest went to Old Trafford to watch the historic match. I would say half of them must be Man U fans. Historic as in we ( Liverpool ) stuff them 4-1.

The first paragraph of this article have me cracking up

DREAMS do come true. Where better to realise it than at the Theatre of Dreams — at Old Trafford and watching Manchester United playing arch rivals Liverpool in an English Premier League match

Read Full Article here

Yeah rite, Theater of Dreams... dreams come true eh , to watch your team hammered 4-1 at home. For Man U fans, lucky enough to win the contest, but not lucky enough to make this a memorable one. But for Liverpool fans that won the contest, what a trip you guys have there !!

Walk on !! and Dream On..

He is a bit Special

During my association with QiLin FC, I have encountered many many talents. But there are only a few that really caught my eye. One of them is Willy Thompson.

Born is Detroit, Michigan on January 1995, he makes his debut for QiLin FC in 27th January 2007. That is the first time I saw him play and its against our biggest rivals in Shanghai, AKS.

After that game, this is what I have to say on one of my blogs in a forum, written on 27th Jan 2007

" Today is also a debut for a kid just sign with our club..His name is Willy..and is a great great addition to my squad..Strong midfield player.have a good technique in hitting the ball...and also his vision of the game is really good..and to cap off the perfect debut..he scored a cracker...Brilliant stuff "

Fast forward, 2009. Indeed my view of him as a good player is totally correct. Spot on ! He is currently playing for the QiLin FC U14 team and also a team mate of mine in the Senior Team.

He is also a part of the U12 and U14 Championship team that is unbeaten in the Shanghai International Youth League.

Click Here for his full profile

At his age, he is at a very important stage. In my playing days, I have seen many great talents drop out from football. He will need all the guidance, all the support in order to progress well. And besides that, I do hope our own football system will not hamper his progress. I will touch on that later on in my coming article.

And we still have a few young talents from the club that looks like will dominate their age group such as Nicholas De Vriese, wing wizard for the U12 team, Kosuke Namekata from Japan, 10 years old, currently playing in the U12 team and Charlie Thompson, another talented U12 player.

If you are in Singapore on the 24th April 2009, you can catch our young talents in action during the ANZA International Football Tournament.

Hattrick of good news !

First of all, I am a big big Liverpool fan, so me blog gotta have some Liverpool news in it.

First off, we beat the mighty Real Madrid 4-0 at Anfield. Not that mighty anymore.

Second, we stuff 4 past the Mancs at and this is a sweet one. Long time coming..

And the third one, news just in earlier today that Rafa has signed the extension of his contract that will keep him at Liverpool till 2014. With Rick Parry departing, I would say Rafa will have total control in bringing players in. Villa, Silva, Barry..the name goes on. We need these players in order to win the Premiership. No doubt about it.

Picture courtesy of Liverpoolfc.tv

Here is what Rafa have to say after signing the extension

"My heart is with Liverpool, so I'm delighted to sign this new deal," said Benítez, whose reign has yielded a European Cup and an FA Cup.

"I love the club, the fans and the city, and with a club like this and supporters like this, I could never say no to staying. I always made clear I wanted to be here for a long time, and when I complete my new contract it will mean I have spent over a decade in Liverpool. The club is greatly respected around the world due to its incredible history and tremendous heritage. It is my aim to uphold those values and help create a new chapter in our history. Throughout this process, I would like to thank the owners for their hard work in finalising the deal. All of us at the club want the same thing, which is to be successful by winning major trophies."

This is fantastic news for all supporters of Liverpool. I know there are doubters out there, but I do believe Rafa is the man to bring the Premiership back to Anfield. In Rafa we trust

I'm here...This is my story

I came to Shanghai back in 2002 following my wife as she was posted here. I was clueless at first on what I am gonna do. Since I still play football competitively, 1st thing I search for is a football club. Back home, I was still playing for the Ipoh District Senior team and during my teens, I have been with Sri Tahan FC in Ipoh League and also played for PKNP from U15 to U21.

After a few months here, I have found my team Shanghai Lions. At first, and to be honest I was crap. I just can't keep up with the physical and speed of the game. But slowly I manage to adjust myself and became an important part of the team winning a few tournaments such as Beijing International Tournament, Hang Zhou International tournament and also a few league titles in Shanghai. And with Shanghai Lions, my football journey here in Shanghai begins.

From this team I have known a few players that has been playing pro before and actively involve in youth coaching and by 2003 I was coaching youth football with High5 Activities Club.

It is more on recreational football and nothing serious in it.

Fast forward, summer of 2006 me and a few other coaches decided to go ahead on setting up a proper youth football club. QiLin FC was born. Read here QiLin FC History

Between 2003 - 2006, I have gain lots of experience working together with these experience coaches. Their approach of the game is much much more better. Valuable experience money can't buy !! I started of with the Under 12 team sponsored by Tourism Malaysia

By mid 2007, my boys won the Shanghai International Youth Football League U12 division. We manage to finish top of the league by winning all our matches. No draw..no lost..all wins.

Awesome achievement from the boys !!

We did not do too well in international tournaments anyway especially the one in Malaysia where we lost in the quarter finals.

By the summer of 2007, I was asked to coach the U14 team. I take it as some of my U12 boys will be moving up to the age group and this is a new challenge as well for myself. I manage to get together a strong group for the U14 squad and again we won the Shanghai International Youth Football League U14 division unbeaten again. Massive achievement from the boys and I am keeping my 100% unbeaten record in the league. We finished as runners-up in the AKSIL International Tournament, 3rd place Shanghai Cup and 4th place in Little League Malaysia International Tournament.

Currently I am coaching the U12 again as the club said they need a much much more technical coach for the boys. Well, I take it as a challenge although deep down inside me, I am gutted to leave my U14 boys. These boys has been with me since the start of the club and one of them have progressed really well which I will put up in my blog later.