THE Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) netball squad will get the chance to pit their skills against foreign teams during an invitational championship in November.
The BJSS netball coach, Choo Kon Lee, said they had invited seven foreign teams - Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England and China - for the championship.
“We will have an eight-team competition. The aim is to provide a platform for our players to gauge their progress. Training alone is not enough. They must play in competitive matches. The invitational competition will benefit the players,’’ said Choo.
Despite the Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak, there has been no slowdown in the squad’s training programme.
S-t-r-e-t-c-h: The players warming up before training.Except for five players - Norashikin Kamal Zaman, Nor Amirah Dayana Noor Azhar, Nurul Adha Abu Bakar, Nur Syafazliyana Mohd Ali and Izyan Shafiqah Mohd Wazir - who are with the National Junior squad taking part in the World Youth netball championship in the Cook’s Island, the team is training twice a day.
It is a hectic schedule as the two-hour morning session is at 6.30am while the evening sessions are at 4.30pm. The players, preparing for the PMR and SPM, are granted permission to attend their classes early.
Choo said they would like the players to excel in the examinations as well.
Let me catch the ball: The players going through a drill.“The players must get good results as we want to see them earn places in the Matriculation programme. It will provide them ample opportunities to pursue higher education,’’ said Choo.
She was also happy with the team’s results in the recent USM netball carnival. Two teams represented the BJSS in the carnival.
The Under-15 team took part in the age group while the Under-18 team saw action in the Open category. The Under-15 team became the champions but the Under-18 team only made it to the quarter-finals.
Choo said they were happy with the results as the Under-18 team was playing against established teams.
“For the Under-18 team, it was an opportunity to pit their skills against the seniors. Considering the handicap, we are pleased with the team’s performance,’’ said Choo.
Players from BJSS have shown tremendous progress. Three players - Norashikin, Nurul Adha and Nur Syafazliyana- played for Malaysia in the Asian championship in Kuala Lumpur in July.
Malaysia finished third behind Sri Lanka and Singapore.
Choo said the players had a bright chance of playing an important role in the National team.
“We will continue with our training programme and our vision is simple - to groom players for the national squad,’’ said Choo.
