RI sports turn to overseas training
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Sending athletes overseas for training is an option many sports organizations are forced to resort to, given the poor development programs at home, according to a sports official.
The Indonesian Swimming Association (PRSI) and the Indonesian Gymnastics Association (Persani), are two sports organizations planning to send athletes abroad in a bid to improve their performance in preparation for upcoming regional games.
The PRSI will be dispatching 11 swimmers to the United States and one to Australia, while Persani will send 10 gymnasts to Romania for a two-year training program.
Asep Sulaeman, Persani secretary-general, said the costly overseas program was imperative, given the discouraging development program at home.
"We should think of hiring foreign sports consultants to help design a blueprint for gymnastics development.
"A consultant is necessary to work out a training and development infrastructure for the sport. We need to implement regular gymnastic meets, set up training and professional development programs for coaches as well as athletes," he said.
The 10 gymnasts, shortlisted from the recent National Games in Palembang, will depart to Romania later this month. The training program is expected to improve their abilities in meeting the country's medal target in future tournaments, particularly in the 2005 South East Asian (SEA) Games.
"Well, we have to admit that we do not have a concept for gymnastics development yet, so our achievements have not been good," he said.
Inadequate gymnastics facilities, poor pre-competition practice schedules, and a lack of regular meets, coaching development programs and professional evaluation schemes are among those problems that needed a holistic solution, he said.
"As we will face the SEA Games next year, the Asian Games in 2006 and another SEA Games in 2007, we have no choice but to send our gymnasts overseas to be trained so they can match their rivals from neighboring countries," he said.
Indonesia grabbed two gymnastics golds in the 2003 SEA Games in Vietnam, contributing the bulk of the country's gold tally.
The gymnasts are also expected to share new techniques and skills with fellow athletes when they return.
Meanwhile, PRSI secretary-general Abdurrahim Napitupulu said as the organization was unable to provide optimum development and training programs to its athletes at home, sending their swimmers to overseas training camps was necessary.
"We have clubs and provincial PRSI chapters. We also have regular meets, but not enough," he said.
In the 2003 SEA Games, Indonesia grabbed only one gold in swimming.