BY SUFIAN MOHIDIN
KUCHING: Daylight breaks early in Kuching. With bruises earned from the previous day’s “kickflip” fall still fresh, to certified skateboard coach, Denny Zulfikar Muhammad Husaini @ Denny ZFK, who starts his day sweeping the concrete floor of the public skate park as early as 7am, falling is an art.
The outcome of falling is mastering the art of jumping, flipping and spinning the board beneath his feet in mid-air and landing it. This is one of the many values that exist in X-Games.
Denny, a public administration graduate from UiTM, advocated the X-Games culture since 1995.
Recognised for his commitment and effort, Sarawak appointed him as skateboarding coach to lead the development programme under the Sarawak Sports Corporation on Nov 20, 2021.
Being the first individual to carry the role, Denny, who is also the founder and principal of School of Skateboarding, is Malaysia’s prodigy in X-Games development.
Denny stands watchful over his students during the training sessions, making sure that an ecosystem slowly grows. The nuance of every impact and every effect skateboarding can have on a person is crucial.
“Some like skateboarding because it’s cool. Comes the day they give it a try, the pain from falling the first time, second and third time is different.
“At the very beginning itself, manoeuvring the skateboard is not as easy as it looks. The key is, to fall first. Then fall again till you understand how you fall, you stand and your body is more alert and you know it,” Denny tells a newcomer.
“Let’s do that again, coach,” said Adam Daniel, one of his students, after falling several times.
“Before I was appointed the state coach, I had already envisioned an ecosystem – which we are fortunate to have – today, seven years ago. In 2016, I decided to start a programme named School of Skateboarding.
“I did all that was necessary to implement my ultimate goal, which is to share the joy that I experience from skating with everyone in my hometown,” said Denny.
Based on ESPN’s checklist on Must-Have Coaching Qualities, a great coach must demonstrate an understanding of the sport and eagerness to learn.
There is also a prerequisite for the ability to share knowledge, the skill to motivate, a nuance of knowledge about the athletes and the art of coaching.
First Hour
Before training begins, Denny makes sure that the skate park has zero hazards; the students arrive and grab the brooms from the store, mops and anything available to finish off the first rule, safety.
Principle of the school of skateboarding first, state X-Games coach second was the order of Denny’s current portfolio. As the principle of a sub-culture athletic competitive sports academy, his philosophies are well demonstrated in his lessons.
Second Hour
With warming-up exercises complete, Denny would allocate each section of the skate park to different groups. As the most important part of training is about to start, Denny’s polite requests for their attention and suddenly, the timbres of the skatepark turn into a conversation like an amphitheatre moment where Denny becomes like the tenor to a score of eager youngsters.
