By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, Aug 9: Sport psychology is an important element in developing a winning culture among Sarawak’s coaches and athletes, according to Minister for Youth, Sports, and Entrepreneur Development Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
He stated this today before declaring open the 9th Asian South Pacific Association of Sport Psychology (ASPASP) International Congress 2022, at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here today.
The congress which is being held from August 9 to 11 is organised by Sarawak Sport Psychology Association (SASPA) in collaboration with Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Sarawak and Institute Of Teacher Education (ITE) Batu Lintang Campus, with support from ITE Tun Abdul Razak Campus and Sarawak Sports Corporation (SSC).
The congress was endorsed by ASPASP and supported by Sarawak Convention Bureau (SCB) and Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MYCEB).
The main goal of the congress is to provide avenues for the establishment of collaborative networking within the sport psychology community across the various Asia Pacific regions.
It also intends to enhance the role of sport psychology in fulfilling the psychological needs and demands of athletes and non-athletes in order for them to be competitively successful.
“The Sarawak government has always placed the main objective of turning Sarawak into a sports powerhouse in Malaysia, as one of its top sporting priorities.
“By supporting the organising of this congress, it is a small step towards achieving this eventual goal.
“I am therefore optimistically hopeful that future Sarawakian athletes will benefit from the effective exchange of knowledge in this congress,” Abdul Karim said.
Abdul Karim, who is also the Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts, noted that Sarawak can look forward to a new generation of athletes who will be psychologically well-equipped to face the stresses of high-level competition.
The congress has attracted the attendance and participation of 143 foreign and 74 local presenters and delegates, as well as 127 undergraduate students from UITM Sarawak, ITE Batu Lintang Campus, and ITE Tun Abdul Razak Campus.
The foreign presenters came from universities and institutions in China, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, and India, while the local presenters came from universities and institutions in Sarawak, Sabah, and West Malaysia.
Participants will have the opportunity to be exposed to a wide range of sport psychology topics over the course of three days as covered by the presentation and workshop sessions.
There will also be poster presentations and pre-recorded online presentations from presenters who are unable to attend in person due to ongoing pandemic control measures in some countries. — DayakDaily
