Sustainable athlete development, proper training facilities and qualified coaches are the key requirements for achievements in sports.
These are the three weaknesses in sports development in Indonesia. It is not difficult to find athletes with superior potential. However, we are weak at developing these potentials sustainably. What development there is, is inconsistent and sporadic.
It is the same problem with training facilities. It is not easy to find good and proper training facilities for athletes who are projected to win medals in the Asian Games, let alone the Olympics. At best, the sports infrastructure is limited.
The problem is also same with coaching. There are countless foreign coaches in Indonesia, and can be found in almost all sports. But we only have world-class coaches in certain sports like badminton.
Many factors were behind the loss, including that many of our players are older than the Malaysian players.
As we mark National Sports Day on 9 Sept., we must contemplate why it is so difficult to improve our achievements in sports. During the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier on Thursday (5/9/2019) at Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Sports Stadium, Indonesia was defeated 2-3 by its sworn enemy, Malaysia. Many factors were behind the loss, including that many of our players are older than the Malaysian players.
Almost all players were exhausted by the second half, and defender Ricky Saputra was injured. Alberto “Beto” Goncalves is 38 years old. These facts show that our players lag behind Malaysian players physically and there is a lack of regeneration, even though soccer – aside from badminton – is a popular and highly marketable sport in Indonesia.
The stands are packed at almost all soccer matches in Indonesia, both local and national.
We have not made achievements that we can be proud of in even the most popular sports. We have nothing to say about the less popular sports, considering our lack of achievements in these sports at Asian competitions.
We are lucky to have athletes like runner Lalu Muhammad Zohri, who has made a new national record in the men’s 100 meters. We also have weightlifter Eko Yuli Irawan, 30, who can still compete on the world stage, despite his age.
To escape this loop of going nowhere, we must first identify the problems in our sports. In fact, we once had a development roadmap for sports achievement that was led by the Satlak Prima, the gold medal program task force. Do we want to continue with this sports development strategy or create a new one?
We have been too complacent for too long with our athletes’ talents and supporters’ enthusiasm. It is time for us to come up with a realistic game plan for our sports achievements.