Pay attention to young athletes

(Baonghean) - Nghe An has two centers for training high-performance athletes, the Sports Training and Coaching Center and the SLNA Club. Both units have many generations of talented athletes, including many young athletes, creating a source of successors for generations of high-performance athletes in the future. In order for these talented athletes to become sports talents, in addition to training regimens, the units also pay great attention to management, education, and creating healthy cultural and spiritual activities for the athletes.

Nghe An Sports Training and Coaching Center is currently managing 292 high-performance athletes. Of these, 89 are teenagers and children, 3/4 of whom are living at the center. To pursue their sports careers, many athletes from the districts had to leave their families and live independently at the center since they were 9-10 years old. Mr. Nguyen Van Hue - Head of Training Department and Wushu Coach said: "The center is not only a place to train their talents but also a home, a big family for the children - where they eat, live, practice and play". Chess athlete La Thi Thu Trang from Huu Kiem commune (Ky Son), entered the center in August 2013 when she was just over 9 years old. Because her house is far away, she only comes back once a month. Trang confided: “At first, living far away from my family, I was very confused and missed my parents. But after a few months, I found living and practicing very comfortable. The teachers, seniors and friends here are all friendly and enthusiastic, so I don’t miss home as much as before.”

Young athletes compete in shuttlecock kicking at the Provincial Sports Festival.

Young athletes, especially those living far from their families, have immature awareness and a wide operating environment due to frequent participation in tournaments and training trips, so they are easily influenced by each other. If their awareness is poor or they lack courage, they can easily fall. To enhance moral education and lifestyle for young athletes, the center has established an athlete management department to manage the athletes' accommodation, daily activities and training; the staff of the department also pay more attention to young athletes, regularly encouraging, reminding, and correcting them in their daily activities as well as in their training. In addition, every month, the center organizes cultural activities and seriously reviews athletes who violate the rules in their daily activities and training. Thanks to that, in recent years, no young athletes have violated discipline and had to be sent back to their hometowns; all student athletes have achieved good conduct.

In addition to managing and educating athletes, the Sports Training and Coaching Center also pays attention to the cultural and spiritual activities of the children. On occasions such as International Children's Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Lunar New Year, the center organizes meetings and parties to create a joyful and exciting atmosphere for the athletes after days of intense training and competition. On the occasion of the Children's Festival (June 1) every year, the young athletes are able to participate in a party with the children of the center's staff and employees. In addition to candy and art performances, a competition that the young athletes enthusiastically participate in and cheer for, creating hearty laughter, is to demonstrate their "talents" in subjects that are not their forte, such as petanque athletes performing sepak takraw, swimmers performing sepak takraw, chess performing martial arts, etc. In addition, young athletes with good achievements in studying and competing are awarded. In the 2013-2014 school year, more than 50 young athletes of the center achieved the title of advanced student or higher, of which 9 were excellent students. In addition, many young athletes achieved high results in tournaments for young people (under 18 years old). Typical examples include Vo Xuan Hai (born in 2000) winning a gold medal at the National Boxing Youth Championship in 2013; Tran Thi Diem Quynh (2001), Nguyen Thi Ha Phuong (born in 2006) winning a gold medal at the Central Region Youth Chess Tournament in 2014; Luong Thi Giang (born in 1999) winning a bronze medal at the 2014 Youth Diving Championship, Nguyen Thi Thuy (born in 1999) - bronze medal in iron ball at the 7th Provincial Sports Festival...

Another sports unit that is also managing a large number of young athletes is SLNA Club. The club currently has 99 players of teenage and child age in 3 age groups U11, U13 and U15 (born 1999 - 2003). Like the athletes at the Sports Training and Coaching Center, most of the young players have to live away from home and concentrate on activities at the club. To manage the young athletes well, the club has increased the team of managers, regularly checking and reminding the players about eating, living, and studying culture; launching a movement to compete in studying and training between U classes. In recent years, the number of young players who are advanced students or above has increased. In the 2013 - 2014 school year, 61/99 students achieved the title of advanced students, of which 3 were excellent students. Player Tran Quoc Thanh (born 2001) from Tan Ky district confided: “In the first days of joining the club, many of my friends and I cried because we missed home. Many friends were playing around, but every time they received a phone call from their parents, they would hide somewhere else, talking and crying at the same time. However, with the teachers' encouragement and help in daily activities and training, we became closer and more active in practicing football as well as trying hard in studying. On the occasion of International Children's Day last year, our uncles, aunts, and teachers organized many fun activities such as picking democratic flowers, juggling balls to music, karaoke singing competitions, etc.”

Hopefully, in the coming time, high-performance sports units will continue to pay more attention and care to young athletes, have more diverse and rich cultural and spiritual activities to create a joyful and exciting atmosphere for athletes, helping them to be more excited in training and competing to bring more glory to the province's sports.

Article and photos:Minh Quan