2017 Malaysia Flying Disc Association Activity Report

Transcription

1 2017 Malaysia Flying Disc Association Activity Report Malaysian Mixed Nationals 2017 The first Malaysian Mixed Nationals tournament was held from 20 th to 21 st May at Setia Alam Football Field, comprising of 5 teams competing for the top spot. The initial goal for Mixed Nationals was and still is to have a tournament for Malaysia s top 16 mixed teams to compete. The final rankings of teams in this competition will be used to determine seeding for future tournaments. At the same time, it will also be used by MFDA to award teams with bids to participate in WFDF club championships (e.g. Asia Oceanic Ultimate Club Championships or World Ultimate Club Championships). For 2017, MFDA used the results of Malaysian Mixed Nationals to allocate 3 available bids for the Mixed Division of Asia Oceanic Ultimate & Guts Club Championships 2017, Manila. The Islanders from Penang emerged as champions of the 1st Malaysian Mixed Nationals, beating Rojaks in the final. Photo credits Christina Hunter 1

2 After the announcement and during the bidding process, it became apparent that many teams had the preconceived notion that this tournament was more of an AOUGCC qualifier rather than a tournament to determine the top mixed team in Malaysia. Following that, the organizing committee tried to explain the actual purpose and goals of the tournament to team captains. Even after that was made clear, there wasn't enough interest from teams to participate. The 5 teams that competed were all teams that had expressed interest to go to AOUGCC. The top 3 ranked teams of Mixed Nationals were awarded the bids for AOUGCC. They are, in order: The Islanders (1 st ), Rojaks (2 nd ), Badgers (3 rd ). 2

3 Morrill Performance Functional Performance Training Clinic The Malaysia Under-24 National Team Strength & Conditioning team for the 2018 WU24 Campaign, comprising of Jansen Yeoh and Ng Zi Wen, organized a clinic for performance training in partnership with MFDA and Morrill Performance Functional Performance Training (MPFPT). The objectives for this clinic were to train coaches/captains and players of local Ultimate teams on the concepts and principles for performance training and injury-prevention, so that they will be able to bring these learnings and knowledge and share with their respective teams. Tim Morrill (left picture) and clinic participants performing a stretch (right picture). Photo credits Erwin Wee The clinic was split into 2 separate sessions - Speed & Agility (1 July 2017) and Strength and Power (2 July 2017). The session for Speed & Agility was held at Sunway University football field, while Strength and Power session was held at House Atlas Strength & Training Facility. Tim Morrill and Tara Lee from MPFPT were the instructors for the clinic, with help from Jansen and Zi Wen. A total of 18 people took part in this clinic. 3

4 Malaysian U24 National Team Campaign to WU24 Perth 2018 The Malaysian U24 National Team campaign to the World Under-24 Ultimate Championships in Perth 2018 has been more than 1 year in the making, since September 2016, when MFDA first opened applications for the position of head coach for the U24 National Team. Jamie Craig was appointed as head coach, while Martin Page and Christina Hunter were appointed as coaches to assist Jamie. The objectives for the campaign are: - To gain experience running a national team program - To train up local coaches, to learn from the coaching staff of the national team with the shadow coaching program - To train young and talented players from all over the country so that they can bring invaluable experience and knowledge back to their teams in all the different cities. - To promote Ultimate to the local community and generate interest through news coverage, social media, etc. Regional tryouts were held in 2016 throughout the country in both East and West Malaysia: Oct 15 & 16 Kuala Lumpur (Coordinated by the coaching staff) 115 registered participants Oct 16 Penang (coordinated by Victor Wu) 57 registered participants Oct 16 Kuching (coordinated by Donny) 24 registered participants Oct 22 Bintulu (coordinated by Ah Yin) 22 registered participants Oct 30 Kota Kinabalu (coordinated by Dinoza and Julia) 35 registered participants 76 candidates were selected from the regional tryouts to go through a 2 day combined tryouts at Sunway University football field on December 2016, of which 41 were selected to proceed to the next round. 4

5 U24 Players with their coaches and shadow coaches at a training camp at Nottingham University, Semenyih. Photo Credits Melvin De, 175g. The group of 41 players were split into 2 teams and sent to participate in King of the North 2017 tournament in Penang in February 2017, giving the players the opportunity to show what they can do and how they carry themselves when placed in a team where everyone is still getting to know each other. The 2 teams finished in 8 th and 9 th place respectively. Training camps were held every month from January till December 2017 at Sunway University, Kuala Lumpur. This was because a good number of players were from the Klang Valley area, and it simply made sense from a cost standpoint for players from other states to come to Klang Valley to train. Players who had to travel from other states for training camps had their travel costs subsidised by the team. Players shared the costs so that it was fair for everyone. 5

6 U24 players celebrating after a hard fought win against Lagi Shiok at Trio Invitational Photo Credits Wee Kiat Teoh, UltiAsia In July, the final cut was made, narrowing down the squad to 28 players, 12 female and 16 male. Their first test as a team came when they took part in the TRIO Invitational tournament, going up against some of the best teams in the region like Shiok and Freakshow from Singapore. The team did considerably well, finishing in 3 rd place behind Shiok, the eventual champions, and Freakshow in 2 nd place. The Malaysian U24 team were seeded last (14 th out of 14 teams) going into the WU24 championships at Perth. Unfazed by the low expectations set on them by the seeding, the team did Malaysia proud, providing stiff opposition to some of the best teams in the world like Australia and Canada, and producing hard fought wins over India, Hong Kong and China. Full results as below: MAS U24 11 vs 14 NZL U24 MAS U24 4 vs 15 JPN U24 MAS U24 9 vs 12 SGP U24 MAS U24 8 vs 15 CAN U24 MAS U24 15 vs 11 IND U24 MAS U24 6 vs 15 AUS U24 MAS U24 10 vs 8 HKG U24 MAS U24 12 vs 4 CHN U24 6

7 The Malaysian Under 24 National Team at WU24 Perth Photo Credits Amir Moslim All in all it was a respectable and successful campaign for the Malaysian U24 National Team, beating our initial seeding and finishing in 12 th place. Feedback from players and coaches were positive, with many lessons learnt that can be applied in the players respective teams, as well as in future national team campaigns. 7

8 Team Pantai at World Championships of Beach Ultimate The journey to World Championships of Beach Ultimate (WCBU) in Royan, France started when MFDA received an invitation to send a team to the tournament. With the WU24 program already taking up most of MFDA resources and time, we needed help to organize and lead the charge if we were to send a team. Jason Conrad (fondly known as Punk ), volunteered to take the leading role. An expression of interest form was setup since September 2016, and over 40 applicants signed up. Due to the various geographic locations (different countries) it was challenging to hold tryouts for everyone, so extensive research was done instead to select players. The final team consisted of a total of 15 players (9 men and 6 women) from four nations 10 Malaysians, two Canadians living in Penang, one British also living in Penang, and two Americans with connections to Malaysia. WCBU organizers agreed to consider Malaysia as a small ultimate community in order to allow non-malaysians with ties to Malaysia to represent the country. According to Punk, with the high cost of attending the tournament and limited sponsorship, the selection process was difficult. Many applicants that could afford to pay for their own way to attend the tournament were living in other countries. The average cost per player to travel to and participate in WCBU 2017 was estimated to be around RM11,000. The objective set by the team was to play at their best and try to win the Spirit award. From MFDA s perspective, it was to give Malaysian players a chance to play on the international stage and gain valuable experience playing against the world s best, which will hopefully be brought back to help with the development of the sport in the country. It also presented an opportunity for MFDA to promote Ultimate in the local media. Cilisos.my featured Team Pantai in an article during WCBU, which gained 1.6k Facebook shares. Team Pantai at WCBU 2017 Royan, France. 8

9 The team did not have a chance to have proper training or preparation matches before the tournament in France, so chemistry had to be worked on at the tournament itself. Team Pantai played a total of 12 games over 6. Results as follows: MAS 2 vs 13 AUS MAS 4 vs 13 RUS MAS 0 vs 13 POR MAS 4 vs 13 UKR MAS 6 vs 10 POL MAS 3 vs 13 AUT MAS 1 vs 13 GBR MAS 5 vs 10 BEL MAS 3 vs 13 NZL MAS 6 vs 13 VEN MAS 5 vs 9 CUR MAS 3 vs 10 MEX 9

10 Registration with Ministry of Youth and Sports and Recognition by National Sports Commissioner 2017 was the year we finally got a breakthrough in our journey to get the association registered and officially recognized by the government. A meeting was set up in October with Dato Zaiton Othman, the current Sports Commissioner and her officers. The president Ong Ben Jin, vice president Amir Moslim and committee member Nizam Muuti were present to give an introduction on MFDA and the sport of Ultimate in Malaysia, as well hold discussions to iron out any issues in the process to get the association recognized. The meeting was a big success and 2 months later after meeting all their requirements, we were officially recognized as the governing sports body for flying discs sports in Malaysia and provided with a certificate from the Sports Commissioner s Office. MFDA committee members posing with officers from the Sports Commissioner s office, and the Sports Commissioner herself, Dato Zaiton Othman (3 rd from left) Photo Credits Amir Moslim 10

11 Closing Words 2017 was a big year for us, with many milestones such as first Mixed Nationals tournament, first National Team campaign and official recognition from the government. Yet, there is so much more to be done to continue growing the sport at the grassroots level. We need more help from the community at large to create more events and organize more activities so that the level of participation in Ultimate and disc sports in general will continue to expand. Please let us know if you are eager to assist in any way. With Zeal, Erwin Wee Secretary Malaysian Flying Disc Association 11