KUCHING, March 27: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen has warned children and parents to think twice before pursuing their badminton dreams with the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM).
BAM is an independent sports organisation with terms and conditions following the Badminton World Federation (BWF) to have international recognition and ensure its players can be enrolled in all international sports events.
Dr Yii claimed that many BAM junior and senior badminton players recently received a termination letter from the association’s management stating that their training programme would be discontinued without a relevant reason.
He alleged that the termination posed a danger to the players, especially the junior players aged between 12 and 19 because they had to leave their studies in mainstream schools in exchange for enrolling into BAM’s training programme and continuing their studies at the international school provided by the association.
“Once selected (by BAM), the association briefs the player, and they need to sign an agreement and be bound to the agreement signed between the player, their parents, and the association.
“The agreement reserves the right of BAM to terminate the training programme for non-performing players. Furthermore, if the player chooses to stop the training programme on their own terms, the player needs to compensate the association a sum of RM30,000. This shows that the terms and conditions of the agreement do not protect the players’ interests.
“The terms and conditions for junior badminton players to join BAM do not guarantee an education pathway for the player as well as their career progression where if the player does not meet management’s expectations, their training programme will be terminated, and at the same time they need to stop studying in the international school they have enrolled into.
“This issue has gotten the player’s parents in trouble as the player was in public school studying the national syllabus, and when they joined BAM for the training programme, they had to study in an international school.
“But after the programme’s termination, parents had to find a new school for their child to continue their studies. In other words, it delays the education progress of the player, and the player has no choice but to face it,” he said in a statement today.
Dr Yii, who is also the Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth (DAPSY) national chief, further called on those who planned to join BAM to continue their sports career, especially teenagers, to consider and plan more before deciding to join the association.
“This is to ensure that the parents and players can have a plan B if they are not selected to continue the training programme,” he added. — DayakDaily
