Samuel Siew
Samuel Siew (Chinese: 蕭天恩; pinyin: xiāo tiān ēn) is a Malaysian professional football coach and coach educator originally from Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Based in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, he is one of the most accomplished and admired grassroots football coaches in Malaysia. Samuel holds an English FA International Coaching Licence, is a certified Premier Skills Coach Educator and a qualified Asian Football Confederation (AFC) 'C' Licence Coach. Samuel is also the founder of Dream Village Football Academy based in Subang Jaya, Selangor, a football academy which has reached over 500 children in the Klang Valley through its weekly programmes  and soccer clinics. In February 2018, Samuel was appointed Head of Grassroots at Football Association of Malaysia to pioneer its grassroots development work on a national level through football. Biography. Early life and career. As a child growing up in the small town of Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Samuel loved playing football. From the age of 7, he dreamt of becoming a footballer. He picked up basketball and squash, too, but it was the team effort in football that brought him out to the field every evening. He is a strong supporter of Manchester United FC and the player he admired  most while growing up was David Beckham. In 2006, Samuel moved to Selangor to attend college at INTI International University & Colleges in Subang Jaya. While studying for a computer science diploma in Network Security, it was there that his football career began. Throughout college, Samuel was captain and player of WAJA FC, a district-level football club. Together with a friend, he also founded Elastico FC, a semi-professional futsal club based in Subang Jaya for boys under-18. As captain and head coach, he led the team of 30 to train weekly, leading the club to play its first official  friendly match in November 2010. Throughout his football coaching career, Samuel launched a total of five community football and futsal programs, reaching more than 500 children living in government low-cost flats in the Klang Valley such as Kampung Muhibbah, Kampung Pandan and Angsana in USJ1. Youth Coaching. Asian Youth Ambassadors (2010–2013). As a college student, Samuel was actively involved with football coaching through community projects run by Asian Youth Ambassadors, a non-governmental organization based in Subang Jaya. One of his first roles was to serve as a futsal tournament referee in PPR Kampung Muhibbah, a lower-income housing  estate in Puchong, Selangor. It was his experience at Kampung Muhibbah that inspired him to take coaching beyond the community and onto a professional level. Upon graduating from college in 2010, Samuel worked full-time as Sports Coordinator with Asian Youth Ambassadors. He was responsible for coordinating weekly futsal programmes for underprivileged youths, teaching football skills as well as developing their character and confidence. Throughout his community work, it was Samuel's belief that impacting young lives is the key to breaking the poverty cycle. In 2011, Samuel participated in Premier Skills, a community coaching course conducted by the English  Premier League and the British Council. At the end of the initiative in 2013, he was awarded the Premier Skills Coach Educator certification. That same year, his grassroots work also brought him to Pekanbaru, Indonesia to conduct soccer clinics for 150 children. Dream Village Football Academy (2014–2017). By the end of 2013, Sam’s work with the grassroots community in Malaysia had caught the attention of The Football Association (FA) in England. In 2014, he received a full scholarship to train at St George's Park National Football Centre in Staffordshire, England to obtain the FA's International Licence. Samuel  was one of two fully sponsored participants from Southeast Asia, training alongside international coaches from 17 other countries. That same year, he came back to Malaysia to establish Dream Village Football Academy (DVFA), a social enterprise and football academy aimed at "nurturing the dreams of young players" for boys and girls under the age of 16. As co-founder, Head Coach and Technical Director, Samuel's vision for the academy was to develop children and youths in a holistic manner and to nurture local football talents focusing on skills, character and personality. Throughout his time at DVFA, Samuel trained more  than 150 volunteer coaches and reached out to more than 500 children. In 2015, he also led a women’s coaching course in Bandar Sunway, Selangor for 22 aspiring women coaches in Malaysia. Organized by the Premier Skills initiative, the community coaching course aimed to train new coaches and strive for gender equality in football. In 2017, DVFA under Samuel’s leadership also partnered with German football club Borussia Dortmund (BVB), a top-tier Bundesliga club to organize a 5-day BVB Evonik Soccer Camp, teaching 34 youths aged between 7-14 the ways of the German Cup champions. The  camp is part of an effort to forge closer ties between Malaysian football and German football. The DFB-Pokal German Cup was accompanied by the special visit of Football legend and 1990 FIFA World Cup Winner Karl-Heinz Riedle, who inspired the youths with his story. Football Association of Malaysia (2018–present). In February 2018, Samuel was appointed Head of Grassroots at Football Association of Malaysia. In his new role, he will pioneer grassroots development work in Malaysia through football. Media. Since coming to the forefront as a national grassroots football coach, Samuel has appeared on BFM89.9, an independent business  radio station in Malaysia to talk about Dream Village Football Academy (DVFA). In the interview, he elaborated on DVFA's business model of being a profitable social enterprise and its efforts to reach out to marginalized youths. Samuel’s story was also published in the National Newspapers such as China Press newspaper and theSundaily newspaper. Awards. In 2017, Samuel was awarded Malaysia’s Top 10 Most Empowering Young Community Champion 2017 at the Humanitarian Conference 2017 organized by U-Schos. The award aims to recognise young Malaysians who have empowered the under-served community and improving their livelihoods. Samuel Siew