The story of a good goalkeeper training teacher at Song Lam Nghe An

But then, Le Manh Hung still fulfilled his dream of contributing to his hometown team, in another position: Goalkeeper coach.

Coach Le Manh Hung and members of the U17 SLNA coaching staff. Photo: NVCC

"Taking a detour" to make the dream come true

Born in 1983 in Bong Khe commune (Con Cuong), as a child, Le Manh Hung was a big fan of Song Lam Nghe An football team and always dreamed of becoming a player for the team.

In 1996, at the age of 13, carrying that burning dream, Hung packed his bags and went to Vinh city to participate in the youth player selection course of the Club.Lam River Nghe AnBut the highland teenager soon received bad news when the coaches criticized him for being too small to be selected.

However, Le Manh Hung could not give up his passion for football, so every afternoon he still played football with older boys. In 1998, in grade 10, Hung was recruited by his physical education teacher at Con Cuong High School to join the school's football team to participate in the district football tournament and the Phu Dong Provincial Sports Festival as a goalkeeper.

With quick reflexes in the goal, Hung contributed to the school's football team winning first prize in the district football tournament for 3 consecutive years (1999, 2000 and 2001), and third prize in the Phu Dong Provincial Sports Festival for high school boys' football in 2000.

After graduating from high school, Hung registered his first choice to the Faculty of Physical Education, Vinh University, and his second choice to the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports, Hong Bang University. Passing his first choice and also being admitted to his second choice, martial arts, Hung hesitated between studying in Vinh city to be closer to home or going to Ho Chi Minh city with many new things waiting for him.

After that, Hung decided to start his student years in the city named after Uncle Ho. To continue pursuing his passion for football, Hung transferred to this major. At Hong Bang University, Hung actively participated in the union movements, sports activities, and was then selected to join the school's football team to participate in the Ho Chi Minh City Student Football Tournament and the National Student Football Tournament.

Playing as a goalkeeper, Hung and his teammates helped the Hong Bang University team win the Ho Chi Minh City Student Football Championship in 2003, 2004, 2006, and the National Student Football Championship in 2005.

In early 2006, when the National U17 Football Tournament was held at Thanh Long Sports Center (Ho Chi Minh City), Hung came to watch and cheer for the U17 Song Lam Nghe An team (the team won the Championship). Here, Hung met Mr. Nguyen Dinh Nghia - Deputy Executive Director and Goalkeeper Coach Nguyen Xuan Thuy of Song Lam Nghe An Club.

And the final year student boldly applied to practice at Song Lam Nghe An Football Club. During his 3-month internship at Song Lam Nghe An Club as a goalkeeper coach, Hung made a good impression on the team's leaders and coaches. After graduating from university, with the help and support of Song Lam Nghe An Club's leaders, Hung applied to the team and was accepted as a coach at the club's youth training department in August 2007 and has held the position of goalkeeper coach for Song Lam Nghe An youth teams to this day.

From being a school goalkeeper, a student, to becoming a Goalkeeper Coach of a famous football club like Song Lam Nghe An, that was a lucky and honorable thing for me. Finally, my dream of joining Song Lam Nghe An Club has come true, although I had to go through a roundabout way.

Le Manh Hung - Goalkeeper Coach, Song Lam Nghe An Football Club

Devote yourself to provincial football

According to Le Manh Hung, the training of young players has its own characteristics. Most of the young players of Song Lam Nghe An come from the districts and live together; in addition to coaching football for the children on the field, the teachers also manage the children's living and studying, providing vocational training and instructing them on morality, manners, lifestyle...

Coach Le Manh Hung with the 2022 National U15 Championship trophy. Photo: NVCC.

In the work of goalkeeper training, because the number of students is smaller than other coaches, the coach needs to be closer to the students, grasp their personalities, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and understand their family circumstances to share all issues about life, activities, and study, and encourage them with their parents in all matters so that they can try their best to practice.

Besides, regularly exchange and listen to friends and colleagues share about training, read books and newspapers about training, watch exercises online, to gain experience for yourself, research good exercises, good ideas, filter them to suit the exercises to train athletes to improve every day...

Hung also said that in more than 15 years of coaching goalkeepers, he has "accumulated" many memories, many happy and many sad. But there are 2 joys in life that he always remembers, that is in 2008 when he won the National U17 Championship - the first championship trophy as a Goalkeeper Coach.

“At that time, I was an assistant to Coach Nguyen Thanh Cong. The team had a group of talented players such as Hoang Thinh, Phi Son, The Nhat, Dinh Bao... and especially goalkeeper Tran Nguyen Manh - the player who won the title of Best Goalkeeper of the tournament,” Hung said.

Another memorable memory of Le Manh Hung was in 2011, during a practice session on Vinh field, looking at the athletics team of the Sports Training Center (now Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center) practicing on the pitch, Hung was impressed by the height and long arm span of an athlete named Tran Van Tien.

Coach Le Manh Hung with goalkeepers Nguyen Canh Tiep (No. 1), Chu Van Tan (No. 6) of the U19 SLNA team in 2022. Photo: NVCC.

He called Tien back and said: "Do you want to wear the Song Lam Nghe An shirt?" and received a nod from this athlete. After that, Le Manh Hung proposed to the management of the goalkeeper Tran Van Tien team, and then witnessed his student gradually mature to become the goalkeeper of the Song Lam Nghe An team 1.

“In national youth tournaments, in the semi-finals and finals where the winner and loser are decided by penalty kicks, when my students successfully block the opponent's kicks, I am very happy and proud.

After most of those tournaments, my students won the title of best goalkeeper of the tournament such as Tran Nguyen Manh (U21 Tournament in 2013), Nguyen Canh Tiep (U15 Tournament in 2018, U17 in 2020), Chu Van Tan (National Sports Festival in 2022), Nguyen Van Ba ​​(U13 Tournament in 2014)...", Le Manh Hung shared.

With his achievements in youth football training, Le Manh Hung received Certificates of Merit from the Provincial People's Committee in 2008, 2012, 2018, 2022, 2023.

“Every time I am rewarded and honored, I feel proud because my efforts are recognized. But what I feel most proud of is that over the past 15 years I have devoted myself to the football team I have admired since I was a child, to coaching and having many excellent students who have contributed a lot to the province as well as the country.

However, I am still worried that I have missed out on some talents in remote areas of the province that I have not been able to reach. Our province still has many difficulties, the financial resources of Song Lam Nghe An Club for many years have not been as abundant as many other clubs, so the treatment for young players is still low, leading to many talented players choosing to join other youth training "furnaces"... - the goalkeeper coach said with regret.

Coach Le Manh Hung (third from left) referees the Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Football Tournament. Photo: NVCC.

Being an energetic person, in addition to his job as a goalkeeper coach at Song Lam Nghe An Club, Le Manh Hung also participates in organizing and running grassroots football tournaments, refereeing football matches of the Phu Dong Provincial Sports Festival, Youth - Children Football Tournament of Nghe An Newspaper Cup...

"No matter what position I hold, I always want to devote all my passion and capacity to the development of provincial football, especially in youth football training," Le Manh Hung confided./.