Being foreign isn't always a good thing!

(Baonghean.vn) - In sports, the use of foreign coaches is nothing new in our country. Because if we want our sports to develop and keep up with the progress of the world, we need highly qualified experts from countries with developed sports systems. However, knowing how to use foreign coaches appropriately is a whole other issue.

To prepare for the gold medal campaign at the recent 17th Asian Games, the karate team decided to replace veteran coach Le Cong with an Iranian coach to lead the national karate team. This unexpected change of coach caused a stir in public opinion for a while. At the time, many argued that changing coaches at this time was inappropriate, because Vietnamese karate was heading in the right direction, and importantly, coach Le Cong, besides his recognized expertise, was also a father figure and older brother figure, understanding the psychology of each athlete in the team very well, knowing their strengths and weaknesses before each competition. While a foreign coach might have superior expertise, understanding the psychology of domestic athletes would be a significant challenge due to language barriers and lifestyle differences. However, with the determination to improve karate's performance, the General Department of Sports and Physical Training still decided to replace the head coach of the karate team. And ultimately, from three consecutive gold medals for Vietnamese karate at the 2002, 2006, and 2010 Asian Games, at the 2014 Asian Games, karate athletes could only bring home one silver and one bronze medal. This is clearly a failure, and those involved in the sport need to seriously consider and review the situation…

Coach Le Cong (in the blue shirt) during a meeting with Karate coaches from Nghe An.

Meanwhile, in football, after losing our ticket to the 2015 World Cup to Thailand on home soil, we decided to replace coach Tran Van Phat (from China) with coach Mai Duc Chung. And at the 17th Asian Games, Coach Chung "the bus driver" achieved a miracle, leading our women's national team to become one of the four strongest teams in Asia. Many people believe that in terms of expertise, Coach Chung may not be as good as Coach Tran Van Phat, but there is one thing that foreign coaches cannot match: his understanding of people and his empathy for the players. With the same players, the same athletes, Coach Chung "the bus driver" knew how to inspire them to give their all in every match, leading women's football to achieve a miracle for the first time at the 17th Asian Games.

The Vietnamese women's national team has performed well under coach Mai Duc Chung.

The fundamental reason for employing foreign coaches stems from the need to improve athletes' performance, which is true, but the timing and the specific sport are crucial. While domestic coaches possess strengths such as understanding and grasping athletes' psychology, they still have limitations in terms of professional expertise (due to a lack of up-to-date knowledge and the Vietnamese sports environment). Furthermore, significant issues often arise regarding favoritism or bias when foreign coaches take on national teams. Given our current level of sports development, many disciplines should consider inviting foreign coaches as professional advisors rather than as head coaches.

Duc Dung