Coaches, the forgotten men behind the athletes

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)