Ragunan school grooms national athletes

Ragunan school grooms national athletes

By Arif Suryobuwono

JAKARTA (JP): Plants need special treatment to grow. Talented
Indonesian athletes get that special treatment at Ragunan.

Harvest time is an endless season for the 18-year-old Ragunan
school. World badminton queen Susi Susanti, men's doubles Ricky
Subagja and Rexy Mainaky, world women's singles number 27 Yayuk
Basuki and ten young soccer players now in their second year in
Italy are on the long list of crops raised in Ragunan.

The Ragunan Junior and Senior High School, to which the
government recently promised Rp 11 billion (US$5.4 million) for
renovation, is not just a sports school.

Ragunan school, built on a 13.5-hectare lot by former Jakarta
governor Ali Sadikin after he visited a similar school in Mexico
in 1972, is reserved for promising teenage athletes from all over
Indonesia.

They live in the school's dormitory and train between 6 to
7.30 a.m. and from 3 to 6 p.m. every school day. In between, from
8.30 a.m. to 1.10 p.m. or to 11.30 a.m. on Fridays, they attend
normal classes.

If the athletes are preparing for an important sports event
like the Asian Games, the teachers go to them and teach them from
7 to 11 p.m. If they miss an exam they can sit a make up test.

To get into the school, students must be recommended by their
provincial sport organization. The recommendation must then be
approved by the respective sports governing body before going to
the Sports Directorate of the Ministry of Education and Culture
for final approval.

"Students who get the final approval must demonstrate that
they are as good as what is said in their recommendation
letters," Kussairi, the school's principal, said.

They then have to pass a health test and academic test. "The
result of their academic test must be no less than 5.5 out of
10," he added.

At present, 124 students have been accepted that way. Another
37 athletes being groomed at national training centers were
automatically admitted to the school.

There are an additional 40 students sent to the school by the
city administration, which owns the land, and 35 others sent by
city construction company Jaya Raya, which financed the
construction, Kussairi said.

Free of charge

Students attend the school for free. They receive Rp 15,000 a
month for pocket money. "But we get Rp 13,000 because every month
we pay Rp 500 to the student body, a laundry fee of Rp 500 and Rp
1,000 for an organized trip," said Dina Natalia, 16, one of the
best volleyball players from Cirebon, West Java.

Nuni Sugiani, 16, who won the junior women's single and
women's doubles at last year's National Table Tennis
Championships, said that she is often very sleepy during lessons.
"Sometimes, if my eyes are very heavy I skip class and go to
bed," Nuni said.

Nuni said at first she found it difficult to keep up with the
lessons but gradually managed to follow them. "We have to be in
bed at 10 p.m. with all lights off except on Saturday's night,"
Nuni added.

"The girls are not allowed to go out on holidays without
permission from their dormitory supervisors, but we boys are
quite free to go without asking permission," said Rommy
Oktavianus Maramis.

Rommy, 19, got into the school on his aunt's recommendation.
His aunt, Corry Kawilarang, is a coach at the school. He finished
third in a badminton championship held in his hometown of Manado,
North Sulawesi, in 1990.

Food

Each student gets a light breakfast consisting of an omelet, a
glass of milk and bread before having a heavier rice-based meal.
At night they get a glass of milk and a piece of cake.

Mrs. Tjuk Sugiarto, who supervises the school's mess hall,
said she had to plan the menu around the budget and could not
meet typical western dietary standards.

Not all the athletes like her food. Dina and Rommy said they
get bored with it and sometimes eat outside.

Herman Pulalo, a soccer player from Irian Jaya who is now
playing for the Semen Padang soccer club, at first wouldn't eat
the Javanese food served by Mrs. Sugiarto.

"He would only eat rice after soaking it with milk," Mrs.
Sugiarto recalled, "perhaps because his staple food was sago."

Mrs. Sugiarto said her meals contained protein (10 to 20
percent), carbohydrates (50 to 55 percent), fat (30 to 35
percent) and had about 3,000 to 3,500 calories.

Anton Anovel Harun, who has been working for a year as an
assistant tennis coach, said he the small monthly take-home pay
of Rp 200,000 ($98.5) is a problem.

Since he is not married, he gets room and board and can keep
his salary relatively intact. The school also allows him to work
as a secretary on a part-time basis for a Christian foundation in
Bogor.

Anton said he had planned to leave the school after working
there for just three months because of the small salary. He
didn't leave because "my pupils begged me not to leave. I
remembered how they came to me instead to their dormitory
supervisors when they got ill. Their love made me stay."