FOR most teachers, the safety of their athletes is of the utmost importance and always in the back of their minds.
And many of them had much to worry about at the five-day Negri Sembilan State Schools Sports Council (MSSNS) Athletics Championships which concluded yesterday at the Za’ba State Sports School (ZSSS).
Several troubling questions were raised by the Negri sports fraternity.
In view of the heatwave scorching Malaysia, why stage the championships in Kuala Pilah, said to be the driest place in Peninsular Malaysia?
Picking the dates for the competition, on March 18-22, is just as baffling since it falls smack during the Equinox season.
The temperatures soared above 40 degrees Celcius in the first two days of the meet but mercifully for the athletes, thunderstorm came in the late afternoons over the next two days.
Any layman will know that these are bad conditions to stage a championships.
In view of this, how can we expect the athletes to break records and for the quality of the competition to improve?
Fortunately, all long distance races and walk events were brought forward to the morning sessions to spare the athletes from suffering heat stroke, dehydration and exhaustion.
Over 600 athletes and 100 teachers, who were coaches, team managers and technical officials, from Seremban One and Two, Port Dickson, Kuala Pilah, Jelebu, Jempol, Rembau, Tampin and ZSSS came for the MSSNS championships.
The choice of ZSSS as a venue also drew criticism.
There were only four male and four female toilets, resulting in queues most of the time.
How they wished it was held at the Paroi Stadium where the track is in mint condition following refurbishment last June for it to host the MSSM athletics championships next year and the Malaysia Games in 2022.
Even after a week of centralised training in their respective
district training camps, most of the athletes were not able to
give their best at the MSSNS due to the adverse weather conditions.
Former MSSNS chief athletics coach Teh Eng Eiau, 67, is concerned over the unsatisfactory conditions of the ZSSS’ synthetic track, especially at the start of the 110m hurdles and 100m sprint, as well as the runway of the long jump before the takeoff board.
In the steeplechase, the water pit was leaking into the earth, which made it difficult for the technical manager to fill up the pit overnight.