Human-interest issues in sports 'wins viewers'

By Yogita Tahil Ramani

JAKARTA (JP): Monica Desideria imagined herself walking down the Lebak Bulus soccer stadium in South Jakarta in a lavender wedding gown by famous sports designer Abba.

She changed her mind and decided on another outrageous idea; a wedding on the sandy soccer field of the Senayan sports stadium in Central Jakarta, complete with traditional keroncong (traditional music) and kerak telor (a kind of omelet) vendors in Javanese attire.

But her father reminded her of his conservatism and Monica, ANteve's sports presenter who is getting married this Sunday (Nov. 1), finally worked out a compromise with him.

"I told him that as long as it was outdoors and spectacular in its own way, then fine with me," the 34-year-old woman said.

Monica, of West Javanese, Ambon and Dutch descent, said she settled for a traditional wedding in her hometown of Bandung. The wedding will take place in an open park inside the beautiful century old Bumi Sangkuriang building.

"It's outdoors and spectacular. What more could a woman ask for?" she said.

Monica, presenter of Lensa Olahraga, a sports show televised daily at 11:30 p.m., has recently received a nomination for best sports presenter at the Asian Television Awards 1998.

Indeed, Monica is not only the presenter of Lensa Olahraga. She is also a reporter and producer of ANteve's Sunday sports show, Majalah Olahraga, which has received back-to-back nominations in the best sports program category.

The soft-spoken woman known for her polite mannerism, is in no way soft in terms of adventure. Monica and Majalah Olahraga received the nominations for an episode shot on a mountainous region of Sukabumi, West Java, where she presented the show hanging on ropes tied from one end of a mountain to another.

"I was about 10 meters above the ground and went across on the ropes, military style, while reporting," she said gleefully.

"I did fall once, but they had a safety net. The point is, it's good for mental and physical training."

She added that the episode revolved around executives who were paid by their respective companies to take up outbound sports. "They were told to make tents from their clothes alone and told to stay in the wilderness all night long ... I believe nature has the tendency of getting one's fears and true leadership skills out."

The woman who presents various segments, from those on celebrities and veteran sportsmen to disabled athletes on Majalah Olahraga, said one of the most trying ones was when she did an episode on the then 70-year-old Sudomo, former coordinating minister for political affairs and security, during his scuba- diving trip.

"All day long, we were on the ship and rain was beating down on us, but Pak Domo (as he is fondly called) scuba-dove," Monica said.

Monica enjoys producing for the Sunday sports show because she gets to work on a lot of human-interest stories which she digs out during field reporting; the kinds, she said, that evade male reporters and presenters.

"On disabled athletes, we have done stories on their everyday lives, the places they lived in ... sometimes under bridges. In the segment called Pernik (Little Things), we have things that are not commonly thought of," she said.

Monica, who holds a bachelors degree in mass communications from Parahyangan University of Bandung, gave the instances of tidbits that athletes carry in their wallets or the unthinkable hobbies that athletes have.

"There are athletes who have hobbies of collecting refrigerator magnets by the hundreds, with several different messages on them."

It was this uniqueness in her that won the hearts of the ANteve management in 1995. The woman, who as a kid nurtured her interest for human-oriented stories in sports, used to be a big fan of boxing and badminton.

"Dad was a fan of sports in general but my personal favorites were Rudy Hartono and Muhammad Ali. They have the most expressive faces ... I used to go crazy over Muhammad Ali's knock-outs," she said. But as a kid she could never get the hang of sports such as soccer.

"Where lies the sense of having so many men running after one ball? I used to run to the TV only when they scored a goal, otherwise, no way. I used to find soccer ludicrous," Monica said.

As luck would have it, Monica started off presenting just the sport she had no interest in; the Liga Dunhill soccer matches in 1995. She added, to her knowledge she was the only woman sports presenter for soccer matches then.

"After I came, Diana Novita showed up for the sports program on TVRI (the state-run TV station). More sports programs started featuring women presenters after that," she said.

Lensa Olahraga began on Oct. 16, 1995. Two years later, on March 9, Majalah Olahraga began its broadcast.

"Having a woman presenter in a man's world is a totally different ball game. A male presenter may only attract hardcore sports fans, who are mostly males."

She added that a female presenter could even attract males who were not interested in sports. Monica, one of two women in the ANteve 25-member sports team, added that she was quite proud of her gender, saying that only women had the power to get into a human-interest story head-on without getting pushed out.

The diehard fan of boxing matches who begins work at 10 p.m. and ends at 4 a.m. said there were more times than not when she did not get enough sleep.

"I go live at 11:30 p.m. for Lensa Olahraga and pack up by 3:30 a.m. But say I have to report at 5:30 a.m., I might as well wait till 5:30 a.m. Otherwise, I might miss out on a story for sleep," she said.

"Like the case was for (politician) Amien Rais. We had to catch him at 4:30 a.m. the other day for our Bugar Bintang (Sports With Celebrities) segment of Majalah Olahraga. We did."

Monica is quite excited about getting married. Her fiancee, Alex Haryono, is a city planner. Monica, who claims not to be able to recall their first meeting, narrated her fiancee's version of it.

She said that Alex had told her that it was instant love at "first voice" when he heard her sing for the church choir at a Bandung church. Years later, his mother tried to set him up with another girl and he adamantly refused, until he found out that she was the same singing girl from the church choir.

"Very sinetron-like. Thank God it worked," she said.

"Anyway, I am not leaving sports broadcasting even after marriage ... won't leave it for anything," she laughed.