Sports council rethinks scheduling<\/p>\n
BANDUNG (JP): The National Sports Council's research and
\ndevelopment department is looking at ways to reschedule national
\nsports events and national training schedules to help athletes.<\/p>\n
For many years, the council has staged the National Games in
\nSeptember at the start of the school semester.<\/p>\n
Indra Djati Sidi, the council's head of research and
\ndevelopment, told The Jakarta Post recently that some
\norganizations had problems gathering athletes for events because
\nof random event scheduling.<\/p>\n
"Ideally, national training must last one month. Here we have
\none year training," he said, adding that athletes were getting
\nbored with their programs which they had abandoned their jobs and
\nstudies for.<\/p>\n
"Imagine an athlete who leaves work and only counts on his
\nallowance as an athlete from the council. Its a big sacrifice,"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Many athletes, who are still at high school or university,
\nwill think twice before leaving their courses to join national
\ntraining because of clashing schedules between studies and
\ntraining.<\/p>\n
"The Summer Olympic Games is always staged during the holiday
\nseason. The NCAA basketball competitions in the United States
\nalways take place on weekends. Professional athletes can play on
\nwork days but in the evening," he said.<\/p>\n
Indra said athletes had to choose an alternative. They could
\nquit work or they could choose not compete in an event and miss
\ntheir peak.<\/p>\n
"People should understand that sport and athletes'
\nachievements are important. But they are yet to show their
\nappreciation of sport," he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia must be satisfied with its limited budget for sport.<\/p>\n
"Our national coaches, who have adequate academic training and
\nmethods, are few in number. They don't even have facilities,"
\nIndra said.<\/p>\n
Indra said that hiring foreign coaches might be a solution.
\nBut many sports organizations could not afford them.<\/p>\n
He said local talent scouting was inefficient.<\/p>\n
"Our talent scouting program is only for national training.
\nBut the fatal factor is that old athletes, who joined the
\nNational and SEA Games, still dominate training. The regeneration
\nprogram has not gone smoothly."<\/p>\n
Indra said there were three key programs in national sports
\ndevelopment: training for the SEA Games, Asian Games and Golden
\nGaruda mega-project.<\/p>\n
"If all goes well, we hope that in 10 years we can see more
\nyoung talent in all provinces," he said, adding that good
\nscheduling could guarantee the training programs' success. (ahy)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sports-council-rethinks-scheduling-1447893297",
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