Slapped volleyball player hopes coach is retained, says father

The father of a teenage volleyball player who was slapped by her coach said his daughter wishes for the coach to keep his job.

"We have known him for more than five years, as my children have been trained to play volleyball since Year 5," said Abdul Halim Bakar, 50, according to a report by Utusan Malaysia.

He is the father of one of the Malacca volleyball squad players who was slapped by her coach during the 20th Malaysia Youth U14 Volleyball Championship in Kota Tinggi, Johor on Dec 16.

Halim said he personally wanted the coach to be retained since the matter had been resolved well before it went viral on social media.

He added that the family believed that the act of slapping was not with the intent to injure, but rather to boost his daughter's spirit so that she could perform better.

Halim said his daughter had also asked for her coach to be retained because he knows more about the team and he has sacrificed a lot of time, money and energy training the team.

"From not knowing how to play until they made it to the state level, in fact, it was the coach who earnestly looked for a place to practice," he said at a press conference at his home today.

Halim added that his child also did not consider the action to be a rude one that left an emotional impact.

Coach apologised

Earlier, it was reported that state youth development, sports and NGO executive councillor VP Shanmugam said the coach had met the students’ parents to apologise for his actions.

It was also reported that the coach's fate will be determined tomorrow and that the coach and the two players involved would be called to testify in a session attended by representatives of the Youth and Sports Ministry, the National Sports Council and the Malacca Amateur Volleyball Association.

The Education Ministry also held a meeting yesterday with the parents of two players.

Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said the meeting was aimed at getting feedback from the parents of the students involved in the incident.

“We met the student's parents to get feedback and we will not tolerate violence, especially against students," she said.

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