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Slingshot enthusiasts embrace camaraderie at tournament
Focused: A competitor aims at a target during a slepetan (traditional slingshot) competition in Ciledug, Tangerang, Banten, on Sunday
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ofyan, a 46-year-old resident of Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, felt nervous as he walked into a vacant lot in Paninggilan subdistrict in Tangerang, Banten, to participate in a slepetan (traditional slingshot) competition on Sunday.
His hands were shaky and sweat dripped from his face as he prepared to face off against two other competitors.
He needed to knock down 10 cans in front of him consecutively by slinging amo (iron pellets used as projectiles). However, his nerves got the better of him and he was only able to hit five targets.
“Well, I have competed at several small-scale slepetan competitions before. I have practiced a lot at home, but for some reason the practice didn’t help, as I felt the pressure of being watched by so many people here [at the competition],” Sofyan told The Jakarta Post after his turn.
Sofyan was one of 93 competitors to sign up to compete at the second Jabodetabek (Greater Jakarta) slepetan competition organized by the Jabodetabek Traditional Slingshot Forum. Hailed as the biggest annual slepetan tournament in Greater Jakarta, this year’s event was not only contested by participants from the area but also from Bandung, Banjar and Sukabumi in West Java.
Slepetan competitions have different requirements than regular slingshot competitions. Participants must knock over 10 cans from a distance of 10 meters to win the tournament.
If more than one competitor knocks down all the cans, they must go through another round to determine the winner.
Slepetan tournaments require players to sling projectiles using only caglak (wooden slingshots). In regular slingshot tournaments, competitions aim at round iron targets, commonly called spinners, and players are allowed to use slingshots made of various kinds of materials.
At Sunday’s tournament, the winner was awarded Rp 750,000 (US$53.57), while the runner-up received Rp 500,000. However, Sofyan said he was more interested in forming friendships with his fellow competitors than he was in the prize money.
“I’m not too interested in the prize, I’m here to meet people who are also trying to preserve the game, which is part of the Betawi people’s cultural heritage. I’m really happy to be here,” Sofyan said.
Rohmani, a 49-year-old competitor from West Cilandak, South Jakarta, had a similar motivation, saying he was more interested in forming friendships with others who shared the same interest.
However, the competition was also somewhat emotional for him.
Seeing so many people with slingshots in their hands, he said, brought back memories of his childhood, of when he and his friends would fire their slingshots at mangos hanging from trees or play around with children from neighboring areas.
“This competition brings back many good childhood memories,” Rohmani said. “As I’m of Betawi descent and have lived in Jakarta ever since I was born, this competition motivates me to want to help preserve slepetan,” he added.
Rohmani said he had asked fellow players in his slingshot community group, the Benyamin Sueb Slepetan Fans Club, to bring their children to watch the competition, in the hopes they would want to play as well, instead of spending excessive amounts of time playing with electronic gadgets.
“Children can learn many things [by playing with slepetan] such as perseverance, concentration, patience and hard work, which, in my opinion, children do not learn fiddling with smartphones or laptops,” Rohmani said.
Given how slepetan enthusiasts had embraced the competition, Supriadi, the head of the organizing committee, expressed hope the event could become a platform to promote the game to more people.
Once the game had gained enough public exposure, he said slepetan enthusiasts would propose to the National Sports Council (KONI) that the game be included at the National Games (PON) or other official sports tournaments around the country.
He added that the idea was possible as PON already included traditional archery.
He also said that other countries had named slingshot an official sport, noting that a slingshot world cup had even been established, with Italy hosting the first competition in 2018.
“Slepetan is part of Indonesia’s cultural heritage and should be preserved by making it one of the country’s official sports. That’s the initial target we wanted to achieve when we established the competition,” Supriadi said, adding that this year’s event was the second time the competition had been held.
For next year’s competition, he said he expected the competition to be held in a bigger arena so more people could participant, adding that slepetan communities had mushroomed across the country in the last two years. Supriadi also expressed hope the contest could one day be a platform for selecting local slingshot players for international tournaments.
“There’s nothing wrong with dreaming big, and we think of this competition as a stepping stone to achieve that,” Supriadi said. (glh)
