KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Swimming Federation (MAS) is on a mission to correct a number of fundamental issues in Malaysian diving.
MAS diving technical director Bryan Nickson Lomas said he and high performance director Khairul Safwan Mansur have been working hard towards boosting development at the grassroots level since the duo were hired by MAS in September.
"We are focusing on expanding development at the grassroots first. We want to revive the states which have been inactive," said Bryan when met recently.
"Currently, there are about seven or eight states who are active and we want to expand on this.
"We have already visited a number of states to view the facilities they have and see what kind of condition they are in.
"We have also been in discussion with a number of state sport council directors. We want to convince the states to restart their diving programmes.
"We are also hoping to boost the development of women divers as currently from the 14 divers in our national backup squad, only three are women.
"A number of women divers at the state level had, for one reason or another, quit the sport during the pandemic period."
Bryan added that MAS will also be organising coaching courses to boost the production of local coaches.
"We are currently facing a shortage of coaches at all levels," he said.
"There are some states who are interested in having their own diving programme but are having difficulty finding suitable coaches to handle them.
"There are also some states whose ability to produce talent is limited as they only have one coach.
"We will begin level one coaching courses from next month after not having any for the past few years. We want to push this initiative as we plan to place these coaches at a number of centres we have identified.
"Everyone knows that the ratio of coaches-to-athletes is very important in diving. Sarawak have about six coaches with them, which is why their programme has been so successful."
MAS are hiring three new coaches for the national programme. One will be assigned to the national elite squad while the other two will guide the national backup squad.
They are expected to join by February.