How can sports in Nghe An continue to develop?

(Baonghean)Over the years, Nghe An's sports sector has made significant progress in building a mass sports movement, developing a force of high-achieving athletes, improving facilities for training and competition, and training its staff. However, in response to the demands of the increasingly developing movement and to fulfill the province's political objectives, Nghe An's sports sector still has some areas that need to be quickly addressed, namely:

- The mass sports movement has so far developed largely spontaneously, lacking direction and guidance, therefore the quality of the movement is not high.

- The athlete training system has not yet been established and stabilized from the provincial level down to the grassroots. Therefore, it has not been possible to select talented children for focused training, especially in the province's key sports.

- The system for mass sports competitions and high-performance sports is not clearly defined. Currently, it focuses on sports that are easy to attract sponsorship for, such as football and badminton, while other key sports like athletics and swimming still rely mainly on the Ministry of Education and Training through the annual Phu Dong Sports Festival.

- The direction of establishing sports clubs for one or more sports at the grassroots level, especially in communes with a relatively strong sports movement, has not received sufficient attention (although a successful pilot program was implemented in Dien Ky commune, Dien Chau district in 2004, it has not yet been widely replicated).

Given the aforementioned shortcomings, Nghe An's sports sector needs to focus on the following key solutions:

1. Develop documents to guide, direct, and manage the physical education and sports movement in the area according to the direction of the sector and the province.

2. Focus on piloting and expanding the model of grassroots cultural and sports clubs (in villages, hamlets, and communities) for a few sports. Build advanced sports communes.

3. Integrate sports into schools at all levels in two forms: In-class activities (as regulated by the Ministry of Education and Training) and extracurricular activities focusing on the province's leading sports.

4. Establish sports federations and associations to manage activities within the province, similar to the current Martial Arts Federation and Badminton Federation.

5. Advise the province on policies and regulations to attract social funding to support the construction of facilities and the organization of sports competitions for outstanding athletes…

6. Establish two competition systems: A broad grassroots competition system for all ages and skill levels. A competition system serving high-performance sports, primarily for young athletes.

7. Focus on integrating science and technology into training, selection, nutrition, and recovery after training and competition to quickly improve Nghe An's sports achievements to the level of the region and Asia, with some sports winning world medals.

8. Develop a comprehensive long-term sports and physical education plan for the province, from the village, commune, district, and provincial levels, to be submitted to the competent authorities for approval. This plan should include specific targets for mass sports and physical education movements; a system for training and coaching high-performance sports; identification of key sports for investment; and planning for infrastructure, management staff, coaches, and referees at all levels. Attention should be paid to planning from the commune level up to the district and provincial levels.

Nguyen Hoang (Hanoi)