President Prabowo Affirms to Strengthen Disability Sports and Long-Term Athlete Development

President Prabowo meets with Minister of Youth and Sports Erick Thohir and Indonesia national football team coach John Herdman in Hambalang, West Java province, Friday (06/19). (Photo by: BPMI of Presidential Secretariat)

President Prabowo Subianto affirmed his commitment to strengthening inclusive and sustainable national sports development. This was conveyed by Minister of Youth and Sports Erick Thohir along with Indonesia national football team coach John Herdman after they met with President Prabowo at his private residence in Hambalang, West Java province, on Friday (06/19).

During the meeting, Erick reported on several priority programs of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, including enhanced development of disability sports, as the President’s current special concern. Erick said one of the programs reported to the Head of State was the development of training certification for people with disabilities so they have the opportunity to become coaches and contribute to national sports development.

“Mr. President certainly cares deeply about disability sports. So, one of the programs we have been continuously promoting is how the disabled community in Indonesia, which totals nearly 23.9 million or 25.9 million, enjoys sports. That’s almost 11 percent. This means the President wants to encourage to pay attention to these disabled people. One of the programs we have, as I mentioned to the President, is a coaching certification program for them,” said Erick.

Besides disability sports, the Head of State, Erick said, also highlighted the importance of long-term national sports development. On the occasion, Erick conveyed the need for policy supports to ensure the sustainability of the national training center.

“This relates to budget policy because the national training center cannot be budgeted annually; it must be multi-year budgeting. So, Mr. President agrees to the plan because this aims to prepare our athletes’ future for Olympics, SEA Games, and Asian Games. As we know that recently, so many of our athletes are starting to demonstrate their achievements,” Erick said.

President Prabowo, Erick added, expressed his supports for funding schemes and policies that allow for sustainable athlete development. This support is considered crucial given the growing number of Indonesian athletes demonstrating achievements in various sports and having the potential to bring honor to the nation on the global stage.

“Mr. President is pushing for this, so preparations for SEA Games, Asian Games, and Olympics must be fully implemented. Moreover, the President has already allocated a good, even promising bonus, around Rp1 billion in which bonus for Asian Games and Olympics will certainly be even better,” he stated.

As part of this long-term strategy, Erick also outlined plans to establish a National Sports Academy that will identify and nurture sports talent from an early age, from elementary school to high school.

“Mr. President is also pushing for a centralized Sports Academy, starting at elementary school, junior high school, and senior high school. This will allow future athletes to be trained from the ages of 8 to 10. These were all I reported earlier, and I outlined the plan to build the Sports Academy,” he added.

In addition to early childhood development, Erick also said that the Government is also continuing to review the athlete pension scheme as part of efforts to improve the protection and welfare of athletes after they complete their service in the sport. “The President asked about the athlete pension fund. We are still working on it,” Erick concluded.  (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (JAS/AW)