Good ol’ days: Mental trainer Frederick Tan giving a talk to the singles shuttlers.
PETALING JAYA: Sport psychologists can help athletes achieve their goals and dreams but the job is far from easy. Just ask Frederick Tan.
After all, he has worked with the Malaysian athletes and coaches for the last 34 years.
Also fondly known as Fred, he has officially retired but tend to respond for national duty whenever he is called up and said he had stayed true to his job out of his love for people.
“I just love working with people. I find it satisfying to deal with athletes or coaches from different sporting disciplines regardless of race,” said the 68-year-old. His tenure as the mental performance coach with the Road to Gold has ended after the Paris Olympic Games in August but he looks back at his role as rewarding.
“I believe in the joy of building good relationships which can lead to better friendship and leave a positive impact.
“It’s through this trust process that we can help athletes avoid burnout, which can lead them quitting their sport without really knowing their potential.
While it is a joy to help athletes overcome their fears, anxiety and mental stress, Fred said it took a lot of time and sacrifices.
“I’m not the ordinary 9am-5pm person. I’ve to be creative and fun with my ways when dealing with athletes, and there is no time specification,” said Fred, who is currently residing in Perth.
“One has to have a lot passion in doing this job.
“I chose to stay in Bukit Jalil with the athletes at one stage because you are able to bond with them better,” said Fred, who enjoyed his best time when he was under the National Sports Institute (NSI) chief operating officer Datuk Dr Ramlan Aziz for 10 years.
“I can also be there for the athletes whenever they needed help, even after office hour or late at night.
“Athletes from different sports will come to see me at night and I would always welcome them.”
Thanks to his vast experience and trust that he had build with the athletes and coaches over the years, he was able to handle when the athletes are at their lowest pit.
“Through true experience sharing, I remember having athletes even knocking at my apartment door at 10pm, just a week before leaving for Barcelona Olympics,” he said.
“One athlete came to see me at 2am, thinking of giving up and I had to console for almost one and half hours. In another incident, an athlete came and just cried because the athlete was not able to go for Asian Games due to illness.
“And there are just many more when all the athletes wanted was some encouragement and someone to listen to their plight.
Fred has worked with many top performance coaches too like badminton’s Datuk Misbun Sidek, Rexy Mainaky, Datuk Tey Seu Bock, Tan Bin Shen, Hoon Thien How, Pang Cheh Chang, Jeffer Rosobin; bowling’s Holloway Cheah; hockey’s Sarjit Singh, Tai Beng Hai; and others from basketball, volleyball and karate.
“With good working relationships with these coaches, I was able to assist quite a numbers of our Malaysian top athletes in terms of mental toughness to compete in high-level tournaments like World Championships, Asian Games, SEA Games, Commonwealth Games and the Olympics.”
Fred said having a good sport psychologists is important to prepare athletes to be courageous on the ‘battlefield.’ And he added that he had learnt from the best.
“I want to thank all my mentors for their guidance and support,” added Fred.
Among those mentors include Lars Eric Unestahl (Sweden), Mitchel Gagne and Peter Usher (Canada), Peter Terry (Australia) and Malaysians – Teoh Heng Teong, Datuk Zaiton Othman, and Jackson Lim.
