Coaches are the ones constantly providing advice, life lessons and imparting priceless experience acquired through their own journey. They shy away from the limelight, allowing their athletes to bask in the glory and achievements and truly are the unsung heroes.

In the spirit of Coach Appreciation month, Singapore Gymnastics (SG) would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to all the coaches who have worked tirelessly with their athletes in their pursuit of sporting excellence. In particular, we wish to feature and honour four coaches who not only do their best working with athletes, they have also stepped up to take lead in the development of coaching excellence in their own sporting disciplines. We caught up with these coach developers to share a couple words which would hopefully inspire more coaches to becoming community leaders.

Let us join in the effort to salute these amazing people for their tireless contribution, passion and commitment in shaping our athletes as well as coaches for the future, and ultimately, shaping a sporting Singapore! #cheer4coaches 

Nabilah Jufrie

Nabilah has over 20 years worth of Gymnastics experience under her belt; being in the Singapore National Team from 2001-2011 and coaching since 2008. She continues to be involved in Singapore Gymnastics as a mentor and an international judge. As a gymnast, Nabilah has represented and won medals for Singapore in numerous international competition. She has made history and was even featured in Singapore's Book of Records by being part of the team that bagged the gold for SEA Games 2005.

Nabilah's passion did not stop at being an athlete but continued on as a coach and is now Director at GIM Sports. She is passionate about making the children a priority, whether are they training competitively or recreationally, as a coach her motto is to give as best of a training as she can so that they not only reap the many benefits of the sport but more importantly enjoy the sport. Now as a Learning Facilitator too, she continues to bring this passion and philosophy to working with fellow young coaches in the coach education sphere. 

Q: How do you think coaching development changed from when you first started out as a young coach?
NJ: I feel like coaching was a lot harder when I started out because there were very few coach education opportunities in Singapore. Because of that, I’m always seeking out and attending workshops to keep myself current and inspired to coach better. Compared to how information and knowledge gets distributed from before, social media and YouTube have really taken off and it is literally a wealth of gymnastics information, skills and drills swimming in cyberspace now.

The fact that a lot of the information now is all digital and online, makes it more accessible for coaches now but coaches need to know how to filter the good from the bad. Education is key - be it going for courses, workshops or asking for advice from senior coaches, mentors and field experts. Having good foundations and a basic understanding of sport science I feel will also aid coaches to filter what they see in the internet, question its validity and not just following blindly. 

Q: It is wonderful to hear your quest for knowledge never stops! What about frequenting workshops that inspires you?
NJ: Going to workshops either locally or overseas, it’s always a pleasure to meet people with the same enthusiasm and/or peers from different corners of the world, get assistance to expert advice. All these bits and pieces of information from different sources accumulates and helps me build a deeper and richer understanding into topics i'm not specialised in, say for example artistry. And for personal interest I really want to know more about it, get better at coaching it and sharing about it. Plus I’m always excited about continued learning so yea.. not stopping anytime soon~
 

Q: To wrap up, any message you would like to share with fellow coaches in the spirit of coach appreciation?
NJ: Because of my own training background, it was naturally easier for me to teach competitive but I’m glad I started out as a recreational coach first because that gave me the foundation of coaching and experience of working with children of all abilities and take it step by step. Just be patient with their journey and have fun coaching :) 

On that note, from us at SG we want to send a massive shout and appreciate all the coaches who are constantly moving themselves forward. Your endeavours in personal development as coaches and judges will no doubt benefit all the athletes under your charge and continue to progress our sport collectively.

Coach appreciation month is still ongoing and everyone is welcomed to join us in expressing appreciation to your coaches with the #SGThankYouCoach and #cheer4Coaches campaign so keep the shout outs coming!