SINGAPORE — Communication, collaboration among the fraternity, and a back-to-basics approach will be key for Singapore track and field as its athletes look to achieve success beyond the region.

That is what newly appointed Singapore Athletics (SA) technical director Volker Herrmann will set out to do in his new role here with the national sports association.

Speaking to TODAY in a recent interview, the German — who is SA’s first technical director in seven years — stressed that Singapore has all the right ingredients to produce top-rate athletes who can do well on the international stage.

The 32-year-old, a former head coach of the Bavarian state sprint team, had spent time here last October conducting courses and workshops for athletes and coaches, and he was impressed with what he saw.

Pointing to Singapore’s “nearly perfect” sporting infrastructure and the commitment shown by the athletes in the country, Herrmann, who started work at the beginning of this month, said: “The overall impression I have so far is that the athletes are very dedicated and motivated to represent Singapore. The technical level is also quite good, and they are very sensitive to details, which is a key trait to improve their performance.

“You have a very nice stadium directly linked to the gym, you have the Singapore Sports Institute (SSI), so there’s plenty of potential in this area. The only issue is that right now, I think very few coaches and athletes are making full use of this infrastructure.”

While he observed that the level of coaching in Singapore was generally high, Herrmann said it was important for coaches to share their knowledge with their peers.

“The coaches here are very open-minded and willing to learn,” said the German, who is an accredited International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) lecturer for sprints and jumps.

“Some of the coaches already have good knowledge, but we just need to encourage them to share their knowledge and discuss it with others.

“I’m pretty sure if you can increase the communication and collaboration among the different coaches, we can raise the overall level of athletics in Singapore.”

One of the philosophies that Herrmann is looking to instil in the local athletics fraternity is that training is about quality, not quantity.

“There is a huge influence from the Eastern European training system, which places emphasis on a high amount of training,” said Herrmann.

“But the trend now is to focus on the quality of the training, so we need to reduce the volume of training and focus on the technique and intensity of the sessions instead.”

Emphasising the need to pay more attention to fundamentals and avoid early specialisation, the Cologne native added: “Athletics is a late-developer sport where the athletes peak at the ages of 25 to 28. So, one of the important aspects is to ensure there’s a long-term development plan for a budding athlete,” he said.

“If you have the wrong fundamentals, like a lack of coordination, lack of core strength, lack of general endurance, you’ll never be able to make it to world class.

“So we need to ensure that these kids have the appropriate age-related training. It should be joyful, it should impact different parts of the body, the brain, and the central nervous system,” he added.