KUALA LUMPUR: S. Kumar hopes there will be more focus on the development of hockey goalkeeping for Malaysia to cultivate a steady line of world-class custodians.
Kumar's 20-year career with the Speedy Tigers saw him help Malaysia win silver medals at the 2010 Asian Games (Guangzhou) and 2018 Asian Games (Jakarta-Palembang) and the 2017 Asia Cup in Dhaka.
Kumar, who has 321 international caps, was also named the Best Goalkeeper at the World League Round Three in London after helping Malaysia finish fourth and qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
The 46-year-old said Malaysia has a tradition of producing top goalkeepers like himself, Nasihin Nublin and Roslan Jamaluddin, but it takes a lot of effort.
Yesterday, the national team goalkeeping coach took time off from the Sultan Azlan Shah (SAS) Cup to share his knowledge with 10 school students in Ipoh.
Kumar conducted an hour-long session focusing on basic principles in goalkeeping, especially warm-up sessions before and after a game, running with the pads, and the correct way of padding the ball away.
"Almost all of these school goalkeepers do not have the basic knowledge of goalkeeping.
"This is very evident, and I am happy to share my knowledge with them. They learned some things that they never knew before," said Kumar.
"Goalkeeping requires specialised training, and it should start with a good foundation. We have good former national-level goalkeepers in almost all the states, we must find ways to get these players to coach young goalkeepers.
"We need to come up with a goalkeeping coaching module so the basics are covered well, and then we can add advanced training at higher levels."
Kumar's retirement from international competitions in 2020 saw him appointed as a coach for the national team by the Malaysian Hockey Confederation, and he has been one of the reasons for the rise of national No.1 custodian Hafizuddin Othman.
"We need to be serious about our development programmes. We need to get the right people and the right approach at this level. If not, we will struggle at the higher level due to a lack of good talent," added Kumar.