SARIDI: Shooting Para Sport Talent Scout

KOMPAS/ADRIAN FAJRIANSYAH

Saridi

His face was always pleasant. A cheerful, unpretentious smile flashed across his face whenever he passed, met or spoke to someone. He also liked cracking jokes and was friendly with everyone.

This is the impression the man with curly hair, brown skin and a height of 172 centimeters leaves behind. Saridi is a member of the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus) Kartosuro 22nd Battalion Group 2 in Solo, Central Java. However, he is no ordinary soldier. Saridi is a coach as well as a talent scout for Paralympic shooting athletes.

The first coach of Indonesia’s Paralympic shooting team since 2015, Saridi has two jobs: he coaches and also scouts new athletes. Before 2015, Indonesia had no shooting para sport athletes.

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Saridi

As a talent scout forming the national team, Saridi depends only on his “eagle eyes” to see the potentials of prospective athletes. He must also use his gift of persuasion to convince that individual to become a full-time athlete. In fact, many people with disabilities lack confidence. Also, shooting sports is still uncommon among the public.

“Those I approach are ordinary people, not athletes. They have also never heard of shooting sports, and have never seen or held a firearm. If I wasn’t able to convince them, I might not have the athletes we do now,” said the father of three in early October, during an interview on the sidelines of the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta.

Taking aim

Aside from being an active Kopassus member, Saridi is also a shooting athlete. He participated in and won a number of national shooting championships. However, his life changed when he was appointed as Indonesia’s shooting para coach to compete in the 2015 Singapore Para Games.

At that time, Saridi had not heard of shooting para sports and Indonesia had no athletes in the sport. “But, as a soldier in the military [TNI], we never refuse an assignment, especially if it is in the state’s interest. So I took the assignment, even though I was later confused,” he laughed.

After accepting his appointment, Saridi did not start coaching immediately. His first mission was to find athletes. That was when Saridi embarked on his journey to look for potential shooting para athletes. In carrying out his task, he could find athletes anywhere, even on the road and at the shooting range. Most of the time, he found athletes accidentally.

One of his heroic stories was when he scouted Tri Yanti. Saridi discovered the 10-meter women’s shooting athlete SH1 (lower limb impairment) at the Manahan Shooting Range in Solo, where Saridi used to train and coach in late 2017. Tri was then a worker who replaced the bullets at the range.

Although she worked at a shooting range, Tri had never held a gun. In fact, she was afraid of the sound of gunfire. That was why, when she was asked to shoot, she hesitated. However, because Saridi continued to persuade her, the woman from Boyolali, Central Java, finally became willing to try and work seriously to become a shooting athlete.

In another story, Saridi accidentally found an athlete in mid-2017 when he drove past a soccer field in Purwosari, Blora, and a stray ball headed towards his car. He stopped and saw a teenage boy with one leg chasing the ball.

Saridi thought the disabled youth could be trained to become a shooting athlete. He got out and approached the teen, Ahmad Ridwan, who would later become a national shooting para athlete in the SH1 classification.

After conversing with him briefly, Saridi took Ridwan home to his parents, who turned out to be Saridi\'s neighbors. Saridi met Ridwan\'s parents and asked their permission to take Ridwan to Solo.

“Rather than being unemployed, I decided to join. After a month in Solo, I was invited to practice shooting. At first, I was hesitant. But Pak Saridi always reassured me and motivated me, so I became confident about becoming an athlete,” said Ridwan.

Although he understands the methods and techniques of shooting, Saridi had no coaching experience, especially training disabled athletes. However, he did not give up, and provided as much training as he could. He was determined to learn and become a good and proper coach to his athletes.

Saridi is a passionate learner. He found out about the world of shooting para sports and coaching techniques. One of his main sources was the Google search engine. Because many English-language materials existed, he used Google Translate to translate the materials or sought help from his colleagues.

Not satisfied with the material, Saridi emailed the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) and requested their help in finding a module for coaching shooting para athletes.

“Coaching normal athletes and disabled athletes is very different. When coaching normal athletes, the instructions and direction can be the same [for all athletes]. When coaching disabled athletes, the direction must fit the athlete’s needs, because every athlete has different limitations,” Saridi said.

Indeed, para sports has not received enough attention in Indonesia. In fact, limited venues were available for coaching disabled athletes, including shooting athletes. However, Saridi was undeterred by the situation, and he remained as persistent as possible.

Saridi never tired of coaching, even though his athletes could practice only at a static shooting range and, at times, there was no ammunition (bullets). “I told the [students] that this was part of the mental challenges. We must not be defeated by limitations. In fact, we would be more proud if we are able to make achievements despite the limitations,” he said.

In the end, the outcome did not belie these limitations. Of the 11 shooting para athletes in the 2018 Asian Para Games, only Bolo Triyanto qualified for the 10-meter air rifle prone SH2 (upper limb impairment) final, while the other athletes failed to qualify.

However, Saridi is still not discouraged and instead, continues to encourage his athletes.

“Most of our athletes practiced only 8-9 months. However, they actually performed at their maximal level and their average scores increased when compared to [their scores] during training. “If [they] can receive better attention, have a better training area and take part more often in international competitions, they would definitely do better than now," Saridi said proudly.

Saridi

Born: Blora, Central Java, Feb. 4, 1978 Wife: Siti Rohana, 39 Children: Muhammad Raihan, 14; Naila Ramandani Rosadi, 8; Sumirating Nabil Rosadi, 3