SFA Player Interview: Aisyah Fuad (Gang Bintang)

Apart from my interview with Terence, I have also interviewed Aisyah Fuad, Selangor Floorball Women's League's best defender for Tyttobandy!Co. in 2011. I have known her for almost a year and enjoyed playing with her throughout the men's league in Gang Bintang. From my observation when I see her play in the women's as well as the men's league, she is a calm and hardworking player with the passion to strive for the team's glory. The most notable moment will be Gang Bintang's 7:5 victory over GMI White Knights with Bintang only has 6 players in that game which I believe the victory is credited to Aisyah's persistent and strong defending.

Aisyah (Right) with her "Best Defender" award in Selangor Floorball Women's League 2011 (Source: Facebook)

Interview:

Jethro: Hi Aisyah, first and foremost, thank you for agreeing to this interview. How has it been playing floorball in Malaysia?

Aisyah: Hi Jethro! First of all, thanks for "interviewing" me, it's nice to see SFA takes an interest in the viewpoints of the league players. It has honestly been a great experience for me – from getting lost to finding Puchong as a newcomer to Malaysia to playing in both the women's and men's leagues and most importantly, making awesome friends in Malaysia!

I played in Singapore for several years prior to this and of course, there are some differences but overall it's good to be part of a growing floorball scene in a country where I think there is MUCH more potential to harness.

Jethro: As the women's league will commence in two months' time, what is your view on the number of teams right now and how can SFA approach this issue?

Aisyah: The second season of the women's league has quite a number of changes since last year. As you mentioned, the number of teams is quite limited (I think there is 3 right now, with a 4th pending?). What comes to mind immediately is how much value it will bring to the ladies to play the same teams repeatedly or if we only play twice (home and away), that the ladies will have very limited game-time. A combined team will be great… just like how SFA has been doing it in the past season. In my personal opinion, I see much value when I play with the men's team.

I guess to match the level of the men's league, you would really have to up your fitness, skills and gameplay. It's a double-edged sword – some ladies will be motivated to work harder and others might be discouraged if the disparity in standards is so great. I used to play informal 3 on 3 sessions with mixed teams – I think that helped improve my game by leaps and bounds, so I will endorse this approach. Clearly, SFA has other good reasons to change the rules this season where ladies are not allowed to play in the men's league. But I really hope this will change! At least until we have more teams in the women's league.

Jethro: As you had played for Gang Bintang in the men's league, will you be switching to Gang Bintang for the women's league or remain at Tyttobandy?

Aisyah: I've switched to GB now. I'm really grateful to Tytto though, especially Dorcus and Alvin, for taking me in last season and I wish them all the best!

Jethro: As you are a much seasoned player in the women's league, and most sees you as a threat, how should you advise much inexperienced players to play at a competitive level?

Aisyah: I don't exactly believe they think that! But in any case, being an oldie, I would say that there is no other way to improve except by taking in new challenges. Be it challenging your fitness, clocking in hours on your stickwork/shooting and coming down to UM to play Floorball on Wed ;) It's not whether you can or not, it's how much you want it – so let's not make work, boyfriend/girlfriend/lepak commitments as excuses if you REALLY want to be better. I need to work on this too… since my work commitments are rather erratic but I try!

Jethro: What is your goal/objective for the coming season?

Aisyah: To be fitter and faster than last season, shoot better and thus help GB ladies retain their title :D

Jethro: Who, in your honest opinion, will be the team to watch in the women's league?

Aisyah: Will it be biased if I say Gang Bintang? Seriously though, they did really well last season and showed lots of chemistry on court – it's a joy to watch. So I think they will always be a threat. I think the other two teams, Foxy Blizzards and Tytto are also clocking in serious training times so it won't be a walk in the park. The competition will be really good.

Jethro: What is your suggestion in building floorball for the future in Malaysia?

Aisyah: a. Introduce floorball in schools/colleges/universities – if the young ones are interested right from the start, we will always have a constant pipeline of talent. Malaysia is so much bigger then Singapore in terms of population and having done well in Hockey where there is a parallel skill set, there is just so much potential waiting to explode! But people need to get interested you know?

b. Once you get people interested, how do you sustain their interest? Here, it is so important to have venues and equipment readily available and organising informal hit-around sessions (like what we already have in UM). As we all know, the only place to play floorball is in Puchong which is honestly too far away especially for people living in KL and the northern parts of Selangor (any of you?) to commute down south to Puchong especially on a weekday. The chronic shortage of venue really makes it hard to get any game-time and I guess to some extent, discourages people from playing. In this respect, I understand it is challenging to obtain funds for rental of venues and also to buy new boards (I think we all agree that the Puchong boards nak kena retire dah)… but we need to try. SFA will play the lead role to build this up though if we are all serious about it.

So these are my insignificant thoughts but I do hope you get some "foreigner" insight into the floorball scene of Malaysia!

Jethro: All right, thank you Aisyah for your time!