Kiki Siregar
A police boot camp complete with shooting lessons may not seem like a natural training ground for sportsmanship, but Indonesia’s sepak takraw team is hoping military-style discipline will help them achieve sporting glory.
The sport, which combines elements of football and volleyball, is native to Southeast Asia but the region’s biggest country has long lagged behind its smaller neighbours in the battle for dominance.
Now the country’s top players have taken the unusual step of “embedding” with an elite police unit on Sumatra island, where a crack team of officers are helping the 15 male and female athletes get into shape.
“This is the perfect place for them to train,” Indonesian sepak takraw chief Asnawi Rahman said about the decision to send the team to Jambi in mid-March, ahead of the Southeast Asian Games in August.
The players are training with the Mobile Brigade, the police’s special operations unit which is involved in counter-terrorism and riot control.
While the officers can offer little in the way of sepak takraw expertise, the team can pick up skills such as firing weapons, which the experts in the game believe helps to focus the players’ minds.
The centuries-old sport was originally played with a grapefruit-sized ball fashioned from straps of rattan with 12 holes.
It was traditionally played with two teams of three facing each other on a court about the same size as a badminton court, with a raised net. Players kick and head the ball over the net, but aren’t allowed to touch it with their hands or arms.
Nowadays a synthetic fibre ball has replaced the old type and the sport has developed a range of categories with different sizes of teams.
There will be several different categories at the forthcoming Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, and Indonesia will compete in three. But the country faces an uphill struggle.
In recent years Thailand has dominated the sport at regional tournaments, while Myanmar has also been gaining ground.
Rahman says the government needs to do more to support sepak takraw by increasing funding for equipment, uniforms, and venues.
Rahman chose Jambi, his hometown, as the location as it is quiet and has few distractions. But the arrangement involves significant personal sacrifice for the players, who are forced to live a hermit-like existence for the five months they are at the base. — AFP
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