PBSI to give coaches a language lesson in upgrading skills
Bruce Emond and Moch. N. Kurniawan The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
National badminton coaches will no longer be able to mutter a few words of English and expect it to pass muster.
The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) is devising a comprehensive plan for coaching standardization, with a major emphasis on improving English-language proficiency so the coaches understand can badminton terminology and communicate.
"It's not enough simply to have talent if we want to compete today," PBSI head of research and development Tan Joe Hok said during a meeting at PBSI's office in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday.
"And not least among the needed skills is English -- we can't use 'Tarzan-speak' to get by."
The problem of language comprehension was underscored at a coaches' workshop during last month's Asian Badminton Confederation junior tournament in Jakarta.
With the materials in English, all of the local coaches failed the final test for regional certification.
With badminton powerhouses China and Korea far ahead of Indonesian in using sports science, PBSI secretary-general MF Siregar said upgrading of skills was needed among all levels of coaches.
"We are facing an extraordinary process of development ... If we don't improve, we will continue to be left behind."
As well as English, the coaches will receive training in nutrition, psychology, sports injuries, doping controls as well as the rules of the sport and the association to improve the performance of their athletes.
Unlike Tan, who went on to study science at Baylor University in Texas after his career in the late 1950s, many coaches are former players with a high school or junior high school education.
Tan said the grounding in the subjects would be thorough but simple enough for laypeople to understand.
"We eventually plan to collect all the materials into a handbook for distribution to our provincial chapters, with coaches able to take part in a certification test," Siregar said.
Retno Kustiyah, a former champion women's doubles player who now coaches at Jaya Raya Club, said the plan would help coaches get more from foreign coaching clinics and English-language materials.
"Anatomy books are written in English. If our coaches understand the books, they would gain more scientific methods to select shuttlers."
Tan said coaches and players needed to overcome their "inferiority complex" to converse in English.
"Perhaps it's part of our colonial legacy, but we still have that mentality that, when we see a Westerner, we suddenly feel a bit reticent if we have to say something in English."
Doping will be another focus of the training, with coaches considered vital in educating their players about avoiding medicine that may contain illegal substances.
At least three Indonesian players -- Hastomo Arbi, Minarti Timur and Sigit Budiarto -- have been sanctioned after testing positive for banned substances in the past 20 years.