Human-interest issues in sports 'wins viewers'<\/p>\n
By Yogita Tahil Ramani<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Monica Desideria imagined herself walking down
\nthe Lebak Bulus soccer stadium in South Jakarta in a lavender
\nwedding gown by famous sports designer Abba.<\/p>\n
She changed her mind and decided on another outrageous idea; a
\nwedding on the sandy soccer field of the Senayan sports stadium
\nin Central Jakarta, complete with traditional keroncong
\n(traditional music) and kerak telor (a kind of omelet) vendors in
\nJavanese attire.<\/p>\n
But her father reminded her of his conservatism and Monica,
\nANteve's sports presenter who is getting married this Sunday
\n(Nov. 1), finally worked out a compromise with him.<\/p>\n
\"I told him that as long as it was outdoors and spectacular in
\nits own way, then fine with me,\" the 34-year-old woman said.<\/p>\n
Monica, of West Javanese, Ambon and Dutch descent, said she
\nsettled for a traditional wedding in her hometown of Bandung. The
\nwedding will take place in an open park inside the beautiful
\ncentury old Bumi Sangkuriang building.<\/p>\n
\"It's outdoors and spectacular. What more could a woman ask
\nfor?\" she said.<\/p>\n
Monica, presenter of Lensa Olahraga, a sports show televised
\ndaily at 11:30 p.m., has recently received a nomination for best
\nsports presenter at the Asian Television Awards 1998.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Monica is not only the presenter of Lensa Olahraga.
\nShe is also a reporter and producer of ANteve's Sunday sports
\nshow, Majalah Olahraga, which has received back-to-back
\nnominations in the best sports program category.<\/p>\n
The soft-spoken woman known for her polite mannerism, is in no
\nway soft in terms of adventure. Monica and Majalah Olahraga
\nreceived the nominations for an episode shot on a mountainous
\nregion of Sukabumi, West Java, where she presented the show
\nhanging on ropes tied from one end of a mountain to another.<\/p>\n
\"I was about 10 meters above the ground and went across on the
\nropes, military style, while reporting,\" she said gleefully.<\/p>\n
\"I did fall once, but they had a safety net. The point is,
\nit's good for mental and physical training.\"<\/p>\n
She added that the episode revolved around executives who were
\npaid by their respective companies to take up outbound sports.
\n\"They were told to make tents from their clothes alone and told
\nto stay in the wilderness all night long ... I believe nature has
\nthe tendency of getting one's fears and true leadership skills
\nout.\"<\/p>\n
The woman who presents various segments, from those on
\ncelebrities and veteran sportsmen to disabled athletes on Majalah
\nOlahraga, said one of the most trying ones was when she did an
\nepisode on the then 70-year-old Sudomo, former coordinating
\nminister for political affairs and security, during his scuba-
\ndiving trip.<\/p>\n
\"All day long, we were on the ship and rain was beating down
\non us, but Pak Domo (as he is fondly called) scuba-dove,\" Monica
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Monica enjoys producing for the Sunday sports show because she
\ngets to work on a lot of human-interest stories which she digs
\nout during field reporting; the kinds, she said, that evade male
\nreporters and presenters.<\/p>\n
\"On disabled athletes, we have done stories on their everyday
\nlives, the places they lived in ... sometimes under bridges. In
\nthe segment called Pernik (Little Things), we have things that
\nare not commonly thought of,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Monica, who holds a bachelors degree in mass communications
\nfrom Parahyangan University of Bandung, gave the instances of
\ntidbits that athletes carry in their wallets or the unthinkable
\nhobbies that athletes have.<\/p>\n
\"There are athletes who have hobbies of collecting
\nrefrigerator magnets by the hundreds, with several different
\nmessages on them.\"<\/p>\n
It was this uniqueness in her that won the hearts of the
\nANteve management in 1995. The woman, who as a kid nurtured her
\ninterest for human-oriented stories in sports, used to be a big
\nfan of boxing and badminton.<\/p>\n
\"Dad was a fan of sports in general but my personal favorites
\nwere Rudy Hartono and Muhammad Ali. They have the most expressive
\nfaces ... I used to go crazy over Muhammad Ali's knock-outs,\" she
\nsaid. But as a kid she could never get the hang of sports such as
\nsoccer.<\/p>\n
\"Where lies the sense of having so many men running after one
\nball? I used to run to the TV only when they scored a goal,
\notherwise, no way. I used to find soccer ludicrous,\" Monica said.<\/p>\n
As luck would have it, Monica started off presenting just the
\nsport she had no interest in; the Liga Dunhill soccer matches in
\n1995. She added, to her knowledge she was the only woman sports
\npresenter for soccer matches then.<\/p>\n
\"After I came, Diana Novita showed up for the sports program
\non TVRI (the state-run TV station). More sports programs started
\nfeaturing women presenters after that,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Lensa Olahraga began on Oct. 16, 1995. Two years later, on
\nMarch 9, Majalah Olahraga began its broadcast.<\/p>\n
\"Having a woman presenter in a man's world is a totally
\ndifferent ball game. A male presenter may only attract hardcore
\nsports fans, who are mostly males.\"<\/p>\n
She added that a female presenter could even attract males who
\nwere not interested in sports. Monica, one of two women in the
\nANteve 25-member sports team, added that she was quite proud of
\nher gender, saying that only women had the power to get into a
\nhuman-interest story head-on without getting pushed out.<\/p>\n
The diehard fan of boxing matches who begins work at 10 p.m.
\nand ends at 4 a.m. said there were more times than not when she
\ndid not get enough sleep.<\/p>\n
\"I go live at 11:30 p.m. for Lensa Olahraga and pack up by
\n3:30 a.m. But say I have to report at 5:30 a.m., I might as well
\nwait till 5:30 a.m. Otherwise, I might miss out on a story for
\nsleep,\" she said.<\/p>\n
\"Like the case was for (politician) Amien Rais. We had to
\ncatch him at 4:30 a.m. the other day for our Bugar Bintang
\n(Sports With Celebrities) segment of Majalah Olahraga. We did.\"<\/p>\n
Monica is quite excited about getting married. Her fiancee,
\nAlex Haryono, is a city planner. Monica, who claims not to be
\nable to recall their first meeting, narrated her fiancee's
\nversion of it.<\/p>\n
She said that Alex had told her that it was instant love at
\n\"first voice\" when he heard her sing for the church choir at a
\nBandung church. Years later, his mother tried to set him up with
\nanother girl and he adamantly refused, until he found out that
\nshe was the same singing girl from the church choir.<\/p>\n
\"Very sinetron-like. Thank God it worked,\" she said.<\/p>\n
\"Anyway, I am not leaving sports broadcasting even after
\nmarriage ... won't leave it for anything,\" she laughed.<\/p>",
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