KUALA LUMPUR: Former national rugby sevens coach Ahmad Fadzlee Ahmad Idriss has urged the sporting authorities to look at placing greater emphasis on hiring former national athletes as psychologists to guide the national contingent.
Fadzlee, who is also a sports science expert, said ex-national athletes would better understand what current athletes are going through, especially during competitions in which they are representing the country.
"The Youth and Sports Minister (Hannah Yeoh) recently said it is important to place the right people in the right positions and I completely agree," said Fadzlee when contacted today.
"We already have ex-national athletes who are sports psychology experts, some of whom are academics, and I think their services are greatly needed in guiding our current national athletes.
"They would be able to better guide our athletes as they have already experienced what the athletes are going through. They know exactly what they are talking about rather than just talking about what they have read in a book.
"They know what it feels like to lose and they know what it feels like to win.
"This is especially true when you are representing your country. Having that national badge on your chest is a different kind of pressure. You are carrying the hopes of 34 million Malaysians.
"You have to remember that sports psychology is very specialised, this is not general counselling or motivating a sales team we are talking about."
Fadzlee added that the national contingent's performance at the recent Paris Olympics indicates that there is still significant room for improvement in terms of building mental strength.
He stressed that psychological skills training is something that athletes must continuously practice throughout their careers, not only in the run-up to major tournaments.
"We missed out on a few medals we should have won. There were instances when our athletes were in overdrive (overeager) when they should have paced themselves and there were also those who were too relaxed when they should have shown more intensity," said Fadzlee.
"This was likely due to the pressure they were facing in the heat of the moment but with proper education over the long term, it can be managed better.
"As I have said before, sports psychology takes time. Sometimes people think psychologists are magicians - send them with the contingent, expect them to wave a wand and produce results."
Malaysia won two bronze medals through badminton at the Paris Olympics which was a slight decline over the one bronze and one silver the contingent won at Tokyo 2020.