KUALA LUMPUR: Building a close rapport with his charges is the philosophy of national singles chief coach Kenneth Jonassen to bring about positive changes.
The Dane has already started this approach over the last three weeks by engaging in phone conversations and text messages to understand more about the national shuttlers.
Women's singles world No. 60 K. Letshanaa is overwhelmed by Jonassen's proactive move that she can't wait for him to begin work on Jan 4 to learn more in her attempt to become a world top 32 player.
"I am quite excited to work under Jonassen next month. He is a nice person and understanding and has already been engaging with us before coming here," said Letshanaa.
"He has kept in touch through phone calls and text messages to find out more about us and our objectives.
"I can't wait to meet him in person and train under him.
"He is coming here to help us to become better and it is also important for me to put in the effort to learn from his experience.
"I hope that my push to become a top 32 player can also be realised under his training and guidance."
Letshanaa, who is the national No. 2 behind independent shuttler Goh Jin Wei (world No. 43), has been showing some progress since October after failing to get past the preliminary rounds in her earlier tournaments.
The Selangor-born shuttler reached the quarter-finals at the Malaysia Super 100, advanced to the semi-finals of the Indonesia International Challenge and finished second in the Super 100 Indonesia Masters II over the last two months.
She said training under women's singles assistant coaches, Jeffer Rosobin and Misbun Ramdan, has enabled her to progress in different aspects of her game.
"Coach Jeffer focuses on physical strength while coach Ramdan helps to improve skill. I just can't wait to train under coach Jonassen," added Letshanaa.
Jonassen, whose primary focus will be the men's singles, will also oversee the women's singles squad where his main focus will be on a mentoring role to motivate the players.
The BA of Malaysia currently has a three-member women's singles squad.
The others besides Lethsanaa are Siti Zulaikha Azmi (No. 123) and Oo Shan Zhi (No. 222).