Coaches, the forgotten men behind the athletes

JAKARTA (JP): When Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan managed to beat Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung of South Korea in Olympic competition, a man sitting on the side of the court felt really relieved. Few knew the identity of the man who ran onto the court and hugged both the players.

He is Herry Imam Pierngadi, the men's doubles coach, who managed to step out of the shadow of the great Christian Hadinata at the Olympic Games in Sydney on Sept. 21.

At that time, Herry also outshown the well-known South Korean coach, Kim Moon-soo, by leading his players to the honored position atop the podium and the hoisting of the red-and-white flag.

His colleague, Agus Dwi Santoso, was not as fortunate. Agus had to share the bitter pill as men's singles Hendrawan bowed out to Ji Xinpeng of China, adding to the considerable of credits of Chinese coach Tong Sin Fu, formerly Indonesian team coach.

Agus' bitter pill was also swallowed by mixed doubles coach, Richard Mainaky, who had to recognize the formidable talent of Chinese head coach Li Yongbo as a former player and coach. Indonesia's Tri Kusharjanto and Minarti Timur were unable to match the Chinese duo, Zhang Jun and Gao Ling, on the required day.

Unfortunately, few people realize the extreme stress and energy required to prepare athletes for the Quadrennial Games. And most are unaware that the coaches received improper treatment.

During the ceremony awarding cash bonuses to the medal winners on Oct. 7, jointly aired by TVRI, TPI and ANteve, none of the coaches were called to the stage for recognition.

Nobody realized the pain beneath until it exploded Monday when the medalists and coaches received cash rewards from Forever Young Indonesia.

"This is the first time people called me a coach ... This is the first time I can step out of Christian's shadow. I might not be successful as a player but I proved that I'm a good coach," Herry burst into tears while making his speech.

"I feel very happy knowing that you recognize my role as coach. We never expect any rewards, just a little respect, to be recognized as the champions' coach."

Agus also failed to hide his emotions saying it was great to know that they were all treated special because of their hard work.

"All this time, we only received invitations printed with our names. But none of them even ever introduced us as coaches. We have always been sidekicks. This is the first time we have recognition as coaches," said Agus, wiping his tears.

Richard tried a little humor saying: "All this time I have never felt like I had worked. When you asked me to come forward and give a speech, I finally felt I have worked as a coach."

Herry said coaches carried heavy responsibilities on their shoulders as they were the scapegoats whenever the athletes failed.

"When we failed in the 1999 World Championships in Copenhagen, we were blamed by everybody. We were questioned about our training programs, we had to attend meetings until 3 a.m. Some people even urged the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) to replace us," he said.

"But when the athletes win, even the National Sports Council (KONI) officials don't recognize us as the persons helping them win."

"If only we had been top players, maybe people would not blame us when we failed. Since we were nobody as players, people put the blame on us," Agus said.

Richard said: "All we need is recognition as coach."

The three coaches expected proper treatment as coaches and not just lip service. (yan)