Talent Alone Is Not Enough: Government Seeks to Fix Fragmented Athlete Development

The journey from a talented child to a world-class athlete is far longer than simply discovering potential. Between them lies a chain of coaching, competition, trainers, facilities, sports science, funding, and decisions on where an athlete should be directed. If one link in this chain breaks, a talent can be halted before reaching the top.

This is the issue the government is now attempting to address through the National Talent Management (MTN) programme. The Presidential Staff Office (KSP) has reminded all parties not to become too comfortable with the label of Indonesia being a ‘talent pool’. KSP Main Expert Lindsey Afsari Puteri stated that talent alone is not enough, and the biggest challenge is not the absence of potential, but rather the trajectory of development.

Speaking at the Road to Talent Fest 2026 for Sports at the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas in Jakarta on Thursday, officials mapped out several persistent issues. These include fragmented sports data, a lack of synchronisation in coaching between institutions, uneven access to competitions across regions, suboptimal application of sports science, and career uncertainty for athletes after their competitive period. The government insists that the development chain must not break midway.