Aussie Rules Football in Jakarta

The Jakarta Bintangs Australian Rules Football Club, with the support of the Australian Government and the Australia Indonesia Institute (AII), has launched a new program to develop Aussie Rules Football among school students in Jakarta. Former champion footballer, Chris Bandy from West Australia, is in Jakarta with the Australian Youth Ambassador for Development Program (AYAD) to lead a group of Indonesian coaches to set up regular training sessions and games of Aussie Rules in about 100 schools. This involves over 10,000 children and their teachers in East and South Jakarta.

As Chris said, ‘Every single school that we've been to have asked when we were coming back again. They loved the game and that was the girls too.’

But it is not just the people to people training; funds from AII are being used to provide training materials, equipment and wages for the Indonesian trainers from those schools in the program. This financial support will help to make sure that Chris and the Bintangs can develop a network of local coaches to manage the long-term development of the game. And we mean long term!

Indonesian Aussie Rules football players in Jakarta — get the party started!

Ambassador Farmer and some of the young footballers who presented a football demonstration at the Sports Function held at the Ambassador's residence in Jakarta on May 13th

Papuan 'Curly Angels'

They are called the Papua Curly Angels. They are all female athletes from Papua and all heading to Australia to prepare for PON 2008. Many, many years ago Papua was a leading force in basketball in Indonesia. However it has only been in the last 5 years that they have regained their position as one of the best provinces for basketball and that includes men's basketball (see pic above - all yellow shirts). They are once again participating in the Indonesian National State Championships.

In May this year, the Curly Angels went to Australia to train with the Diamond Valley basketball team in Victoria. Twenty two young Papuan women spent several weeks living with Australian families whilst training and playing games in the Melbourne area. Their ultimate goal is to win gold at PON 2008 and through this trip to Oz they plan to improve their skills and their knowledge of basketball. They told Kang Guru that they also plan to come back to Indonesia with new skills plus new people to people relationships with their host families and fellow basketball players.

Cricket Indonesia with Eki

Eki is 16 years old and already an alumni of Australia. Eki went to school in Australia for ten years when his father received two consecutive Oz scholarships from the Australian government. English wasn't a problem at all for Eki. One of Eki's greatest experiences in school in Australia was the game of cricket. He loved cricket more than all the other sports made available to students (boys and girls) – football, rugby, soccer, swimming, basketball, netball, martial arts, tennis, etc.

Cricket is very important to him now that he is back in Indonesia. Eki is involved with Cricket Indonesia. He plays for the Under 15 National Team. The Jakarta Cricket Association League has 10 teams in places such as Bogor, Bandung, Bintaro and Banten. Last May, Kang Guru met Eki at Cibubur near Jakarta at a training session for young local cricketers. The coaches helping the 50 – 60 young cricket players included trainers from Indonesia, Pakistan and The Netherlands. Several Aussie trainers/coaches from Darwin were there that day providing a series of special training sessions.

PON and the Olympic Games 2008

At the SEA Games last year, 574 Indonesia athletes participated. They came home with 202 medals, including 56 gold, for Indonesia. Also won were 64 silver and 82 bronze medals. In early 2007, KONI (Komite Olahraga Nasional Indonesia) invited Australian sports and training specialists to assist Indonesian coaches and trainers to train Indonesia's top athletes for the SEA Games.

For example, Suryo Agung Wibowo, who won a gold medal at the SEA Games, has received extra training with Rob Ballard, a former Australian Olympic champion sprinter. Suryo won gold in his favorite event, the 100m sprint (see left top)

In 2007, KONI, Komite Olahraga Nasional Indonesia, invited trainers from Australia to assist with their training of Indonesian athletes for the South-east Asian Games held in Thailand in late 2007. These trainers are still in Indonesia assisting with training for the 2008 Olympics and PON 2008.

Eko Yuli Irawan

Another big winner at the SEA Games was weightlifter Eko Yuli Irawan (see left) in the 56 Kg Class. He won gold in Thailand and is on his way to win further medals in Beijing. Kang Guru interviewed several athletes about their careers, their English language skills and the their plans for both PON and the Olympics.

During the Beijing Olympics and PON 2008, Indonesia and the rest of the world will see just how fast and strong Indonesian athletes are. Training has been ongoing for many, many months. Indonesian trainers, plus trainers from other countries including Australia, have been working hard with the athletes. The Aussie trainers have been doing a lot of work with strength and endurance training and even diet and nutrition.

Kang Guru has interviewed all of these Olypmpic and PON athletes (in English) and you can hear them on Kang Guru in July and August 2008.

Sandou and Shenny

Sandou is an Indonesian weightlifting champion. He won a gold medal in the SEA Games in Thailand. He first started lifting weights when he was 14, and just a few years later he was already winning competitions in Indonesia. Sandou enjoys weightlifting because it strengthens his body and makes him feel healthy. Sandou used his excellent English language skills when he spoke with Kang Guru last April in Jakarta. His Olympic target for Beijing is a fourth place medal. Good Luck!

Shenny Ratna Amelia began learning English at primary school in Jakarta and began diving as well. English has been important for Shenny and as she trains and competes in countries such as Australia, Spain, China and the USA. Shenny uses English everyday. Shenny competed in the Sydney Olympics in 2000 in the 10 meter diving platform event. Shenny had two rather odd reasons for taking up diving. Shenny wanted to fly like Superman and she thought diving would help make her grow taller. Well, Shenny never grew taller but in one way she did learn to fly. Through diving, she won a gold medal at the SEA Games in 2007, a gold and a bronze medal in PON 2000 and at PON 2004 Shenny won two gold and two silver. After Beijing is over, Shenny is getting married and finishing her studies to become a sports coach and trainer.