UNIVERSITAS INDONESIA-THE CENTRAL KONI: COLLABORATION TO IMPROVE SPORTS QUALITY AND PRODUCE OUTSTANDING ATHLETES IN THE WORLD
Depok, February 28, 2023. The National Sports Grand Design (DBON) has set a target that Indonesia will be ranked in the top five at the 2044 Olympics. This target is expected to be realized partly thanks to the support of Sports Science from universities. Universitas Indonesia (UI) took the initiative to contribute to the world of sports in the country based on the expertise of its academics. For this reason, UI and the Central National Sports Committee of Indonesia (KONI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two parties yesterday (Monday, 27/02) at KONI, Senayan, Jakarta.
UI Rector Prof. Ari Kuncoro, S.E., M.A., Ph.D said that sport plays an important and strategic role, especially after the second world war. He sees the important role of psychology, health, and science as strategy games in sports.
“What we need to see is how we can improve exercise, psychology, health, and also science in one entity called a strategy game. For example, the Miracle on Ice. In 1980, there was an Olympic final in ice hockey. There are countries from the Western bloc that always lost, lost 10 times and won only 3 times. In this situation, apart from training and fulfilling nutrition, it was also shown how psychologists succeeded in instilling confidence in their team so that victory could be achieved,” said Prof. Ari. “Without a strategy, it will be difficult to win sports, so these are actually mind games,” he said.
According to the UI Rector, sport is a symbol of a country’s strength and its representation of scientific and technological developments. He touched on the role of psychology: good scientific application can bring a hopeless team to win.
From the perspective of the Central KONI, the quality of Indonesian sports training is determined to be improved in order to produce outstanding athletes at the global level. “We agreed on how UI should provide support to the Central KONI to improve the quality of sports training for athletes so that in the future, Indonesian athletes can meet the expectations of the Indonesian people. So far, we have been adequate, but we still have to work harder,” said Marciano.
He is optimistic that the support from Universitas Indonesia for KONI will have a positive impact on making sports better in the future. “With this collaboration, let us reorganize character building and mentally prepare the athletes with the support of a sports psychologist,” said Marciano.
The MoU signed by the two parties will later cover several points, including the implementation of education, research, and community service; collaborative research and resource development; implementation of scientific activities, scientific studies, seminars, and workshops; training, improvement, and competency development of human resources; and other mutually agreed activities.
This MoU was then written down in a cooperation agreement signed by several faculties. For field learning practices, research, and community service in the fields of nutrition and occupational safety and health (OSH), the collaboration was carried out by the Faculty of Public Health (FKM) UI and KONI. For that particular partnership, the cooperation agreement was signed by Dean of FKM UI dr. Mondastri Korib Sudaryo, M.S., D.Sc., and Secretary General, Drs. Tb. Lukman Djajadikusuma, MEMOS.
In the future, the collaboration between the two will include education, training, and mentoring programs to develop expertise in the field of sports nutrition in Indonesia; research to develop knowledge in the field of sports nutrition; development and testing of nutritional techniques, methods, and procedures to improve sports performance and achievements in Indonesia; as well as the development of competence and sports nutrition practice standards in Indonesia.
In addition, the development, research, and application of OSH in sports are carried out which include the implementation of the OSH Management System for athletes and sports managers; the implementation of the safety and security of sports facilities and infrastructure (buildings, offices, equipment, fields, etc.) in accordance with applicable regulations; the implementation of crowd management in every match activity; the implementation of crisis or emergency prevention and rescue of spectators, athletes, and crew for match activities; as well as the development of innovations and media and information in the field of nutrition and OSH related to sports.
On that occasion, UI and KONI also signed a cooperation agreement with the Sports Psychology Association (IPO), which was represented by Dean of the Faculty of Psychology UI Dr. Bagus Takwin, M.Hum., Psikolog; KONI Secretary General Drs. Tb. Lukman Djajadikusuma, MEMOS; and Chairperson of the IPO Dr. Lilik Sudarwati A., S.Psi., M.H. This collaboration includes the opening and development of Master’s Program in Applied Psychology with a Specialization in Sports Psychology; training related to sports psychology; as well as research related to sports psychology and practice aimed at improving sports performance and achievements in Indonesia.
Prof. Ari hopes that the collaboration between UI, KONI, and IPO can become a new chapter in improving sports in Indonesia. “We are very proud if we can contribute to Indonesia’s achievements in the field of sports. Through this collaboration, we have human resources who are researchers in the field of sports, psychologists, nutritionists, engineers, scientists, and statisticians to make a real contribution to the use of science and technology for all athletes and related parties under the auspices of KONI,” said Prof. Ari.
On this occasion, executives and officials from the UI party were also present: Vice Chancellor for Human Resources and Assets UI Prof. Dr. Ir. Dedi Priadi, DEA; Director of Cooperation UI Dr. Toto Pranoto; Director of Research and Development UI Munawar Khalil, S.Si., M.Eng.Sc., Ph.D.; Director of the Directorate of Community Service and Empowerment UI Agung Waluyo, S.Kp., M.Sc., Ph.D.; Head of Public Relations and Public Information Disclosure Bureau UI Dra. Amelita Lusia, M.Si.; Vice Dean for Resources, Ventures, and General Administration, Faculty of Psychology, Dra. Herta Napitupulu, M.M., Psikolog; as well as other officials. Meanwhile, executives from KONI who attended the occasion were Deputy Chairpersons, Deputy Secretary Generals, and Heads of Division.
