For the sake of becoming world weightlifting stars, young weightlifters are willing to sacrifice their playing time and use it to train hard instead. They don’t even complain about the lack of equipment. It is this determination that will mould them into great weightlifters.
The young weightlifters are currently putting their competitive mentality to the test at the Satria Remaja II Open National Championship in Yogyakarta from 1-6 November. The young lifters, who are mostly from underprivileged families, come from several different regions, using various strategies to get to the competition.
“My father was forced to sell a goat to send me to Yogyakarta. Father said I have to perform well,” said Muhammad Rizki, 15, a City Club lifter from Cimaung, Bandung regency, West Java, Thursday.
The money from the goat sale was used to pay for, among other things, the Rp 450,000 cost of staying for three days in Yogyakarta during the competition. For Rizki’s father, who works as a farmer, such an amount of money is considerable and can only be gained by selling a goat.
Rizki became interested in weightlifting because of his friends who were already training at the time. Rizki, who is a grade III student at SMP Darmayanti junior high school, Cimaung, is trained by former national lifter Siti Aisah, 48. He trains six times a week, without having to pay for training.
However, training equipment such as a singlet, belt, plaster and knee wrap must come from Rizki himself. He earned the money to buy his equipment by helping his neighbors load goods or getting water from the river after school. In a day, he would earn Rp 2,000-Rp 10,000. The money would be saved up to buy training equipment.
Siti Aisah said the children that train at City Club are mostly from underprivileged families in Cimaung. Their parents work as farmers, porters in markets and laundresses.
Their income is only around Rp 20,000 a day. Because of their financial situation, many of their children drop out of school. Many of the girls get married after graduating from elementary or junior high school. The boys, meanwhile, fall into drugs.
Driven by the wish for these children to have a better life, Siti Aisah started City Club. “I was thinking about how I can produce the next Sri Wahyuni (2016 Olympics silver medalist in the 48 kilogram class). I hope these children can be successful,” said Siti, who was a bronze medal winner in the 48 kilogram class at the 1988 World Championships.
Lack of facilities
Most of the children performing in Yogyakarta have trained since they were seven or eight years old. Even though their posture is small, they have a lot of energy and enthusiasm to be the best lifter.
Muhammad Fauzan Bilal, 9, said his desire to become a world champion has prompted him to train hard. “The biggest challenge is managing time. Play has to be put off because I have to train,” he said.
Yesterday, Bilal took part in a competition in the pre-youth category (for children aged 10-13) in the 38 kilogram class. Bilal did his lift wearing the shirt, shorts and shoes that he wears to school. Although he did not win, Bilal was happy to have gained competition experience.
Amel Candra, 10, who competed in the 48 kilogram class of the pre-youth category, has also been working hard in training. She started off training using wood and then light weights, before using heavier weights. In the competition, Amel won two gold medals and one silver medal. “I feel proud. The hard training has paid off,” she said.
The young lifters train with limited facilities. At City Club, they use pipes and cement as weights. A single set of equipment is used by 20 children in training.
When the children’s abilities improved, and they started to lift more weights, people living next door to the training area would sometimes complain about their walls shaking because of weights being dropped to the ground. “Our neighbors are angry because the weightlifting causes their pans to fall,” Siti Aisah said.
The lack of facilities problem is also faced by Bina Satria Club in Pacitan, East Java. The club works together with schools to offer weightlifting as an extracurricular activity, which has garnered a lot of interest. In training, the children use equipment donated by the Youth and Sports Ministry and the Indonesian Weightlifting and Bodybuilding Association.
Youth and Sport Ministry secretary Gatot S. Dewa Broto said weightlifting needs to be given more attention because it has become Indonesia’s source of achievement in the Olympics and world championships. “What has been saving the face of Indonesia at international competitions is the weightlifting event,” Gatot said.