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SEA Games: ‘Rifda, let’s do this again’, practice makes perfect as coach pushes protégé to reach new heights
Beyond dealing with the limited financial support for the national training camp, Eva must also psychologically support her protégé, 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold and silver medalist Rifda Irfanaluthfi.
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Indonesian artistic gymnast Rifda Irfanaluthfi (left) poses with her coach Eva Butar Butar while showing off her medals from the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in the Philippines on Wednesday, Dec. 4,. (JP/Ramadani Saputra)
Scouting for a gymnast with the potential to shine on the world stage is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack.
Making this task ever more difficult, Indonesian gymnastics faces numerous other challenges.
When a coach finds such a talent, they face the even harder challenge of developing the athlete.
This the test gymnast-cum-coach Eva Butar Butar currently faces.
Beyond dealing with the limited financial support for the national training camp, Eva must also psychologically support her protégé, 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold and silver medalist Rifda Irfanaluthfi.
The talented Rifda has the world at her feet. As a human, however, she has had her ups and downs, and has had to bounce back from the disappointment of broken promises.
“Several canceled training sessions dampened her desire to compete. [The government] once promised to sponsor her to undertake a six-month training program in the United States but it was later canceled. It broke her momentum,” Eva said in Manila on Sunday, on the sidelines of the SEA Games in the Philippines.
