Memorable career of Nghe An female sepak takraw coach

Coming to Sepak Takraw from football

In October 2023, at the National Sepak Takraw Championship held at home, in the Nghe An women's Sepak Takraw team, in addition to outstanding young faces such as Nguyen Thi My, Nguyen Thi Mo, Tran Hong Nhung, Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh, Dao Thi Kim Oanh, Truong Thanh Thao, Ho Thi Mai Phuong, there are also two veteran faces, Nguyen Thi Quyen and Nguyen Thi Hoa.

Notably, Nguyen Thi Quyen is the oldest athlete in the tournament (36 years old) and the only one who is both an athlete and a coach in this tournament.

Born in 1988 in Nghi Xa commune (Nghi Loc), Nguyen Thi Quyen was very fond of sports since childhood. In junior high school, Quyen was selected to participate in the Phu Dong Sports Festival at the district and provincial levels in both shuttlecock kicking and soccer and won third prize in the Phu Dong Sports Festival in the shuttlecock kicking category.

In early 2004, in the middle of 10th grade, while competing in the Phu Dong Provincial Sports Festival soccer tournament at Vinh Stadium, with her quick and skillful movements, Quyen caught the eye of Coach Hoang Huu Nghia - Head of Sepak Takraw Department of Nghe An Sports Training and Coaching Center (now Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center). After a soccer match, Coach Nghia met Quyen to talk and suggested that Quyen try Sepak Takraw. After nearly a month of learning about this sport, Nguyen Thi Quyen agreed to become an athlete at Nghe An Sports Training and Coaching Center.

Among the Nghe An Sepak Takraw athletes at that time, Quyen was the athlete who came to Sepak Takraw the latest. While her friends all practiced at the Center from grades 7-9, it was not until the end of grade 10 that Quyen began to get acquainted with Sepak Takraw. “Therefore, I had to try 2 or 3 times harder than my friends and many times I had to cry because of the exercises that made my legs hurt,” Nguyen Thi Quyen confided.

However, with her special athletic talent, Nguyen Thi Quyen quickly overcame the challenges to assert her position in the Nghe An Sepak Takraw team. After 2 months of hard training, Quyen was selected to participate in the National Youth Sepak Takraw Championship. A year later, Quyen was selected to participate in the National Sepak Takraw Championship and won a Bronze Medal in the team event.

That first medal encouraged Quyen to continuously improve and become one of the most outstanding athletes of Nghe An female sepak takraw since the beginning of the 21st century. With the advantage of fast, strong serves, along with accurate passes, in 20 years of competing in sepak takraw, Quyen has won on average 2-3 Gold Medals each year in domestic tournaments in the following categories: 2-person team, 4-person team, 3-person team, 4-person team and doubles team.

Times of being unfairly treated in international tournaments

In 2008, when she was just 20 years old, Nguyen Thi Quyen was called up to the national team. The first tournament Quyen participated in was the Asian Beach Sepak Takraw Championship and the girl from Nghe An and her teammates won a Silver Medal. From then until 2019, she continuously became a pillar of the National Women's Sepak Takraw team competing in international tournaments such as SEA Games, ASIAD, Asian Beach Championship, World Championship and won dozens of medals of all kinds.

In Nguyen Thi Quyen's international career, the most memorable milestone was the Gold Medal at the 2016 World Sepak Takraw Championship in the 4-team category, after defeating the Indonesian team in the final. But on the other hand, few people know that Nguyen Thi Quyen's international career was also associated with unfair treatment and humiliating defeats.

First, at the 2013 SEA Games held in Myanmar, in the final match of the team event, Nguyen Thi Quyen and her senior Nguyen Hai Thao met the host team. In this match, the lack of impartiality of the referees made Nguyen Hai Thao and Nguyen Thi Quyen somewhat depressed. There were many situations where the two Myanmar athletes made mistakes but the referees in charge of the final match ignored it, despite the two Vietnamese sepak takraw players as well as the coaching staff protesting.

Not only the referee, when the score in the second half was 19-17 in favor of Vietnam, the electronic board was unexpectedly entered with an incorrect score and caused the final match to be interrupted for a few minutes so that the referee could request a correction. As soon as the match continued, Myanmar scored three points in a row and ended the match at 22-20, thereby securing a 2-0 victory.

Five years later, at the 2018 ASIAD, in the Bronze Medal match for the 3rd team against the Korean team, Nguyen Thi Quyen competed with teammates Hoang Thi Hoa and Dang Thi My Linh. Despite being behind, Vietnam tied 1-1 in the second set. In the decisive third set, the scoreboard was faulty when it continuously jumped two points for Korea (16-11 and 17-11), even though the team only scored one point. After more than 10 minutes of arguing, the main referee disqualified coach Tran Thi Vui, causing Nguyen Thi Quyen and her teammates to play in frustration and lose 1-2.

From 2024, Nguyen Thi Quyen will focus entirely on coaching. She started studying coaching at university in 2009 and graduated in 2013. However, due to her full focus on her competitive career, especially her duties for the national team, it was not until January 2022 that she officially became a coach at the Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center.

The presence of Nguyen Thi Quyen on the coaching bench has brought a new breath of life to the Nghe An Sepak Takraw team. Having lived, trained, and competed with the athletes who are now her students for many years, Nguyen Thi Quyen understands and easily approaches them, always encouraging and helping them to have the best training methods.

Not only veteran athletes like Nguyen Thi Hoa, Nguyen Thi Mo, Nguyen Thi My, Tran Thi Hong Nhung, Ngo Thi Ngoc Quynh... but also new athletes 16-17 years old like Truong Thanh Thao, Dao Thi Kim Oanh also consider "Miss Quyen" as a friend.

Nguyen Thi Quyen, who has won many achievements in domestic and international competitions, is now trying to use all her passion and enthusiasm to impart her experience and motivation to compete to the younger generations of athletes, so that Nghe An Sepak Takraw can maintain its top position in the country.