Indonesia’s love for soccer may not be in question. Efforts to develop the sport in the country, however, are straining as, at grassroots level, coaches must fight over training grounds, while struggling to create proper
programs.

Johan Wahyudi, a coach and founder of a soccer academy in Lampung, revealed it was not passion that most kids were lacking, but the space to train.

Johan, who founded the academy in 2012, said his village, in Lampung’s capital Metro, had one soccer field that was used for everything — from soccer training to driving lessons and any other events.

“The village administrations sometimes also use the land to hold events such as music concerts and camping sessions,” Johan, the coach of Amor Junior soccer academy, told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

“When the rice planting season comes in, [farmers] herd the buffaloes on the same field,” he added.

Without support from local administrations, Johan said he would receive strong opposition if he tried to convince villagers that the field was solely for soccer training.

The situation is getting tough for Johan and the academy, as the country is holding provincial elections this year and a presidential election next year.

“We have to fight even more for the field because [election candidates] will use it a lot [for campaigning],” he added.

The story that Johan shared is a common experience among soccer coaches in Lampung and Indonesia in general.

A number of coaches from Lampung also revealed similar stories about the lack of proper facilities and infrastructure in their respective villages during the opening round of 2018 Coke Kicks, a soccer training program by Coca Cola Amatil Indonesia (CCAI) and the Asian Soccer Academy (ASA) Foundation, in Margodadi village, South Lampung regency on Saturday.

Responding to such concerns, ASA Foundation master trainer Eko Darmawan suggested that the coaches raise the problem with the local administrations and immediately come to an agreement on the use of the field.

Apart from the infrastructure issues, Eko also noticed that most coaches in the country also had difficulties setting up proper training programs for their respective academies.

“We also found a good number of soccer academies in regions across the nation that only focused on making achievements.

“Some of the clubs even choose to take shortcuts [to victory], such as conducting age fraud,” said Eko, who has been involved with the Coke Kicks program since it was established in 2011.

As part of its efforts to develop soccer at grassroots level, the Coke Kicks program offers training to coaches on how to train children to become good players, while educating them at the same time.

Eko explained one way they mixed basic soccer training with education.

“For example, we ask the kids about their favorite players. And then, we look for those players’ jersey numbers. Afterward, we set up a game that involves a competition and the jersey numbers.

“With this approach, we’re encouraging [the children] to move and think at the same time,” he added.

Since it was established, the Coke Kicks program has reached out to 1,180 coaches, 16,009 children and 763 villages across Indonesia.

This year, the program aims to gather 320 coaches and 2,240 young players from across the nation. After the Lampung opener, the program will go to 10 cities, including Bali, Bekasi in West Java and Padang in West Sumatra.

To maintain the program’s output, the organizers have also provided selected participating coaches with scholarships.

Besides running the program, CCAI and the ASA Foundation also provide balls and training cones for a number of soccer clubs.

CCAI’s public affairs and communications director Lucia Karina said coaches played an important part in preparing young talent to be good players in the future.

“In the hands of their coaches, those kids could be the golden players of the future,” she added.

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