Part 3: Investment is spread out, lacking attention and close attention

(Baonghean) -With an abundant "supply" and athletes of good qualities, but with unprofessional practices and lack of close attention, Nghe An is wasting its sports potential...

>>Part 2: What is the ranking for Nghe An sports?

With a wide area, each locality in our province has its own traditional sports and strengths, which are favorable for organizing sports movements, investing in opening amateur talent classes, and selecting athletes, such as: football, sepak takraw, shuttlecock kicking, chess in Vinh City, Thai Hoa Town, Quynh Luu, Do Luong, Nghia Dan, Tan Ky, Dien Chau; martial arts: Cua Lo Town, Tan Ky, Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Nghi Loc; volleyball: Hung Nguyen, Nghia Dan, Nghi Loc, Dien Chau, Tuong Duong, Quy Hop; swimming, diving: Cua Lo Town, Quynh Luu, Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong, Hung Nguyen; petanque: Vinh City, Dien Chau, Tuong Duong; weightlifting: Dien Chau, Nghi Loc, Quynh Luu, Yen Thanh, Thanh Chuong; athletics: Dien Chau, Nghi Loc, Quynh Luu, Yen Thanh, Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan; Wrestling: Nam Dan, Yen Thanh, Quy Chau, Quynh Luu, Dien Chau... Every year, the whole province also organizes dozens of provincial sports tournaments for many sports, many ages, creating opportunities for district athletes to compete in talent and also an opportunity to select potential athletes for the provincial team. However, at these tournaments, the organization is still too sketchy, athletes are sent to participate in the tournament as an opportunity to go to Vinh city to have fun, the Organizing Committee tries to shorten the time to save money, so there are stories of reporters following the invitation to report the closing ceremony when the tournament has ended a few days before. Due to poor propaganda, fans and audiences do not know when the tournament will take place to watch and cheer, so these tournaments always take place in a very quiet state. At these tournaments, people also rarely see coaches and coaching boards of the teams coming to watch and select talents for the provincial team.

The provincial Karate Championship only has athletes and… referees participating.

Meanwhile, at the Provincial Sports Training Center, there are also about 300 athletes regularly participating in training; the budget for training, coaching athletes, and participating in competitions in 2012 is more than 19 billion VND; the nutritional regime for athletes at all levels has been adjusted according to the Central's document and in accordance with market reality, regarding wages is 30,000 - 80,000 VND/day/athlete, 90,000 - 120,000 VND/day/coach; the regular nutritional regime has increased from 90,000 - 150,000 VND/person/day, the nutritional regime for participating in competitions has increased from 120,000 - 200,000 VND/person/day...

With that foundation and investment, Nghe An sports should have achieved more achievements and not been lagging behind many other localities like in the past.

According to our research, the main reasons why Nghe An's high-performance sports are not commensurate with its current potential are: The system for selecting talented athletes in Nghe An does not have clear regulations, but is still based on the feelings and perceptions of the coaches in that sport. Therefore, there are potential athletes like Nguyen Thi Huyen (karate) - who has won consecutive gold medals at provincial championships but is not selected, while the head coach of this sport has 2 children in the team. The athlete selection is not good, the training work is even sadder because there are coaches who work as part-timers, have never had significant achievements in competition and are not fully qualified but are still selected as head coaches of the sport. The management of athletes and coaches is still loose, leading to athletes and coaches having to end their careers because of violating the law (Coach Vuong Thanh Le, athlete Nguyen Thi Huong Tra...). Many athletes when called up to the national team lack training and supervision, so their performance declines and they are sent back to their hometowns...

Besides, in the condition that the budget is not abundant, it should have focused on investing the most in sports and athletes with the potential to win medals at the National Sports Festival, to be included in the national team to participate in continental competitions, but the Nghe An Sports Department has invested widely, maintaining hundreds of athletes and dozens of sports (16 official sports, 2 experimental sports) at the Provincial Sports Training and Coaching Center. Along with that, every year, the work of checking and evaluating the quality of training, the quality of athletes and coaches is not focused.

Talking about the lack of attention and closeness of the leaders of the sports industry, a coach compared: "We are like a child that was born and then left to... "live or die". A typical example of this situation is that the Nghe An Martial Arts Federation, since its establishment (2000), has only held one congress and then operated at a low level. After a period of existence, the province's men's volleyball team was disbanded in 2006; in 2008, the shooting team was also disbanded; the women's volleyball team made its mark when it consecutively reached the finals of the national A1 volleyball tournament in 2003 and 2004, but immediately after that, the Department of Sports and Physical Training issued a decision to disband and was re-established in 2008...

Talking about the fact that sports achievements are not commensurate with their potential, Mr. Pham Minh Son, former Deputy Director of Vinh City Sports Center - Head of Nghe An Karate Team from 1991 to 1997, gave evidence: Previously, karate in Nghe An developed very strongly, there were times like at the 1995 National Championship, our athletes won 3 silver medals, 4 bronze medals, at that time the karate movements in Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh did not exist, their coaches had to go to Nghe An to study and practice. However, up to now, Ha Tinh has athletes Vo Manh Tuan, Nguyen Van Su winning gold medals at SEA Games, Thanh Hoa has Bui Thi Ngan winning gold medals at SEA Games and silver medals at Asia... while Nghe An karate athletes are still just... potential, even their expertise is much lower than before. This is also the general situation of the sports that are being trained and coached at the Provincial Sports Training and Coaching Center today, because except for football, up to now Nghe An still does not have any other key sport that can compete on par with other provinces and cities in the country, not to mention the international arena.

Discussing the issue of "wasting Nghe An's sports potential" with Le Cong - Head Coach of the Vietnam Karate Team, he said: As a coach who has worked for many years in the national team, I see that Nghe An has many athletes with good qualities and potential, but to develop that potential, those working in sports need to be united and look in the same direction. Coaches need to be more attentive and concerned with athletes. Regarding athlete selection, it is necessary to organize tournaments at the local level and then select potential athletes to bring back for training. In training, we also need to learn more. Coaches must be able to "inspire passion" into athletes, so that each athlete has the will to strive their best.

If we want sports to develop, we must also promote the socialization of sports to combine state investment and sponsorship from "philanthropists".

Article and photos: Duc Dung