Jump coaches told to reach higher
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Asian trainers are being urged to improve their coaching knowledge in the bid to improve the region's athletic performance in international events, including in the four major jumping disciplines.
"The main problem in athletic development in some Asian countries, including Indonesia, is that the coaches have little knowledge about the coaching techniques," Ralph Mouch Bahani, an athletic expert with the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), told The Jakarta Post here on Tuesday.
Bahani, currently based in Singapore, is in Jakarta as a lecturer at a two-week course on jumping disciplines in the Coaches Education and Certification System (CECS), hosted by the Regional Development Center (RDC) at Madya stadium in South Jakarta.
RDC is an IAAF affiliate with the task of supervising athletic development in several designated countries, mostly in South and Southeast Asia. RDC Jakarta has 19 Asian members.
Twelve jump coaches from Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Laos are taking part.
Indonesia's lone representative, national junior team high jump coach I Katut Gde Widiana, withdrew due to a family emergency.
Jumping disciplines consist of the high jump, long jump, triple jump and pole vault.
"Jump is an athletic discipline with complexities. And that requires the coaches to be able to tackle those complexities," Bahani said.
Although acknowledging that an athlete's build was a factor in achievement, he said more important was the guidance of their coaches.
"Physical talent constitutes only a small percentage," Bahani said.
"Athletes with less physical talent can be trained into good ones if guided properly. It depends on the coaches."
RDC director Ria Lumintuarso, another lecturer in the course, said being a good coach entailed the ability to formulate a comprehensive training program for their athletes.
"After the course, we will monitor them to ensure that they apply their knowledge in their respective federations," Ria said.
Meanwhile, coach Sri Purwidiati said that her athletes still encountered difficulties in reaching optimum acceleration before their jump.
"They slow down instead of increasing the acceleration when heading for the jump board," said Sri, who coaches long jump, high jump and triple jump.
One of her triple jump athletes is Junaedi, whose national best mark of 15.69 meters is still far behind the 17.35 of Thai record holder Natapon Namkunha. In contrast, the world record is 18.29 by Britain's Jonathan Edwards.