S’wak athletes told to pursue higher education opportunities
KUCHING: Sarawak athletes should look for opportunities to further their education even when they are still young and trying to become the best sportsmen and sportswomen on the field.
Under the initiatives of Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports Sarawak, Snowdan Lawan, the relevant authorities are also looking for avenues for local athletes to
further their studies at least diploma level with the support from institutions of higher learning in Sarawak.
“The State Government through the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports are always looking for ways to secure a better educational opportunities for our deserving athletes who have done well in bringing honour and glory to our state and country,” he said on the state’s government stand on education for the athletes.
“We must provide them with the opportunities to further their education especially after finishing secondary school and this may secure a better future in the job market,” he said on the prospects of having graduate athletes who can secure work after reaching the apex of their sports career.
According to him, there are many cases where former sports personalities had succeeded to become professionals and public figures who are able to achieve such job status after completing tertiary education at various colleges and other institutions of higher learning.
“Education is still the key to success in life and therefore we must provide such opportunities to our local sportsmen and sportswomen,” said Snowdan who had just completed his 100 days as the State’s Assistant Minister in charge of youth and sports.
“What matters most is that our local athletes are still at their learning curves and they must seize the opportunity to continue study. Getting a diploma can facilitate them to secure jobs in the near future,” he said and expressed optimism for such opportunities to be well received by the local athletes.
For starters, Snowdan announced that local athletes who are getting the upcoming Sarawak State Sports Awards are eligible to apply for scholarship incentives currently being offered by a private institute of higher learning who had a history of supporting exemplary student athletes.
“The support from the private sector is crucial in sustaining such initiatives and we look forward to working closely with those who are interested to provide education opportunities to our deserving athletes,” he added.
“Even though some of them had the age limit but we can still vividly remember their good deeds…the scholarship offer is another token of our appreciation to them for making us proud,” Snowdan said while commending the athletes who did well in various sporting events including last year’s 18th Malaysia Games (Sukma) and 18th Paralimpiad Games.
On the type of diploma course which the athletes may be encouraged to take up, the Assistant Minister said the field of event management is a good area whereby more people are needed to plan, hold and manage sporting events at grass root level.
Such organising and management skills can promote the staging of events for the larger masses especially the young people who can actively participate.
“There have been a number of international sporting events being held the past 100 days when I am in office…this will augur well for the promotion and development of sports and tourism in the state but there is still plenty of work to do at grass root level,” he said on the need to have more well trained people to organise events at community level.
“We are very excited with the prospects of having our own athletes to become qualified event managers once they completed their studies and surely they can become the important agents who can create and organise sport events all over Sarawak,” he said.
