This year’s National Sports Day should have served as a wake up call for Indonesia to pay more attention to sports development for children and youth. The commemoration that falls every Sept. 9 — this year’s celebration is slated for Sept. 21 due to the Idul Fitri holidays — is special because Indonesia and the world have begun to hold special events for young athletes.
About 3,500 young athletes aged between 14 and 18 competed at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games from Aug. 14 to 26 in Singapore. From the medal tally, it was obvious that China had taken its sports development program very seriously, topping the overall medals table with 30 gold medals from 201 on offer.
Indonesia, which sent just 14 athletes, tied in 84th place with only one medal — a bronze for badminton. That result was below neighbors Thailand, which finished 11th with three golds and three silvers, and hosts Singapore, which collected a silver and two bronzes.
In a response to the result, Indonesia’s Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng came up with the idea to hold the inaugural Youth National Games. The Games will also serve as a selection for the 2014 Youth Olympics in China.
The minister argued that Indonesia should start focusing on grooming young athletes to compete not only at the Youth Olympics but also in regional and international events at senior levels such as the Southeast Asian Games, the Asian Games and the Olympics. To support the goal, Andi said, the government has set up the mainstay athlete unit of the high-performance Indonesian Gold Program (PRIMA).
However, the program will need long-term commitment and investment. In Soccernomics, co-written by sports economist Stefan Szymanski and sports writer Simon Kuper, Szymanski estimated that a child would need at least 10,000 practice hours, equal to 13 years, and US$15,000 in funds to excel in soccer.
Despite the goal of PRIMA, the government’s commitment must be questioned especially in terms of financing. Although Andi said the government had allocated Rp 200 billion (US$21 million) this year alone, financial constraints have delayed the training program for the Asian Games in November by four months.
Financing is not the only issue in Indonesia. Lack of supply of young talent is another issue. Sports are often secondary to a child’s daily activities because the education system demands them to focus more on their academic skills such as mastering foreign languages and mathematics.
In the United States, as explained in the SportParent book published by the American Sport Education Program, parents are encouraged to introduce sports to their children from an early age, especially before five years of age — dubbed the golden age.
According to the book, by playing sports, children can learn values such as appreciating an active lifestyle, working in a team, developing social skills, managing success and disappointment, practicing good sportsmanship and most importantly learning to respect others.
If the government is serious in improving Indonesia’s position in world arenas, it needs to invest in financing and grooming young talents. Sports cannot be separated from the education system and society.
All stakeholders should allow children to get more involved in physical activities so that they can excel in one or two sports. Then, Indonesia would not face a talent scarcity.
