Australian Sports Award Skills Up Indonesian Coaches

The Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI), through funding from the Australia-Indonesia Institute’s (AII) 2010 Allan Taylor Sports Award, opened a five day Australian Strength and Conditioning Association (ASCA) course for 25 Indonesian coaches at Universitas Negeri Jakarta yesterday.

The course, which will improve the skills and qualifications of Indonesian coaches, is being run by Australian Dr Greg Wilson, the current Physical Consultant for KOI and an ASCA Level 3 Strength and Conditioning coach. The course will focus on speed, strength, endurance and flexibility development, recovery and nutrition for elite athletes.

Participants, who are from a range of different sporting organisations and areas of Indonesia, will be required to attend the full course, complete substantial practical components and produce an article on the topic for publication. Upon successful completion of the course, participants will be recognised by ASCA as accredited Strength and Conditioning coaches though the Australian Sports Commission. More information on the course is available at the ASCA website www.strengthandconditioning.org.

“This course will further enhance sports development and cooperation between Indonesia and Australia and is another example of the positive initiatives being undertaken to build bridges and develop stronger people-to-people links. There are already moves in place to explore the possibility of more regular sports training programs between our two countries leading to further cooperation and exchanges in the future,” said KOI Secretary General Arie Ariotedjo.

The Allan Taylor Sports Award is sponsored through the Australia-Indonesia Institute and provides an annual opportunity for organisations to apply for funding for further development of sports in Indonesia. It commemorates the enormous contribution made by the late Mr Allan Taylor AM (former Australian Ambassador to Indonesia and Chair of the Australia-Indonesia Institute) to the bilateral relationship. Mr Taylor was a keen sportsperson so the award aims to foster cooperation between Australia and Indonesia in the sporting sector and recognise significant contributions to the development of sport in Indonesia. More details on the award are available at http://www.dfat.gov.au/aii.

Established in 1989 by the Australian Government to promote bilateral people-to-people links, the Australia-Indonesia Institute also supports a large number of projects in education the arts, music, youth, civil society, inter-faith, Australian Studies and media.

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