VietNamNet Bridge – Three months ago, the Vietnamese national swimming team was praised to the sky for its great success at the Southeast Asian Games 2011. The team is now in a mess, in the unprecedentedly long training course (six months, starting from January) in the USA, for the most talented swimmers.

The undercurrent at the national swimming team

One month ago, Vietnam’s top swimmer Hoang Quy Phuoc cheerfully set himself a goal: breaking the A standard of Olympic in the US. But now, this goal has been far-away.

The highly expected training course in the USA is a big failure.

According information from sources in the US, Hoang Quy Phuoc has gained weight and his record has remarkably reduced. Swimmers were disappointed of the training conditions at Bolles, which is a private high school. Though the team has moved to a new place, inner conflicts have not been solved yet.

According to the latest report by swimming coach Dang Anh Tuan from Jacksonville, Florida, the whole team’s practice result at the Bolles school was very bad. At this site, Vietnamese athletes did not have a chance to practice with special programs. They were allowed to practice based on the major lesson plan on six afternoons a week. In the morning, they were permitted to do warm-up exercises on three days: Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

In addition, Vietnamese swimmers did not have a specialized coach, nor physical practice program. After one month, all of them gained weight while their physical strength reduced. Vietnamese coaches asked the school to increase practice time for Vietnamese athletes but they were refused.

Initially, Vietnamese coaches were allowed to supervise and instruct swimmers at swimming-pools. As of February 5, they have not permitted to be present at the swimming-pool owing to the new rules of the US Department of Education: only coaches who have work permits are allowed to be involved in training activities. The only job of Vietnamese coaches was taking their students to the school.

Vietnamese athletes also complained that are not good at English, so they could not understand their American coaches.

In early February, the team left the Bolles school to attend the St.Augustine Swimming Club, where they can practice ten times a week, with the assistance of a physical trainer – Lee Lawrence, who was the chief coach of the US naval training center.

The club’s chief coach Frank Hollemen acted as a guarantee for Vietnamese coaches to be involved in training activities at swimming pool and be interpreters for athletes.

The team, with only seven members, including two coaches (Dang Anh Tuan and Nguyen Tan Quang) and five athletes (Nguyen Thi Anh Vien, Vo Thai Nguyen, Pham Thanh Nguyen, Nguyen Thi Kim Tuyen, and Quy Phuoc), have inner conflicts.

Before the trip, Danang, where manages swimmer Hoang Quy Phuoc, asked the Vietnam Aquatic Sports Association to allow coach Nguyen Tan Quang, who has trained Phuoc for several years, to join the training course. Danang authorities argued that Phuoc’s talent may be affected if he is trained by a new coach who does not understand Phuoc’s weak and strong points.

Last year, Vietnamese top track-and-field athletes Vu Thi Huong and Truong Thanh Hang experienced a training course in Germany without their familiar coaches and suffered failure, though they had just been very successful at the SEA Games 2011.

After a long controversy, coach Tan Quang was added to the team. In the US, the team was divided into two sides. Coach Anh Tuan took care of four athletes while coach Tan Quang looked after Quy Phuoc.

Coach Anh Tuan has relatives in the US so he borrowed a four-seat car to take his students to Bolles school while Quang and Phuoc went to school by public means of transport. When the team moved to the new site, which is very far from their hotel, Tuan has borrowed a seven-set car to serve the whole team.

According to Dang Ho Tam, a Vietnamese American who has assisted the team from the beginning, the swimming team faced a lot of difficulties in the US.

The General Department of Sports and Physical Training and Danang authorities are waiting for a report from the chief of the swimming division, Dinh Viet Hung, about the training course in the US and the conflict inside the swimming team.

If the training course is ineffective, Hoang Quy Phuoc may return to Vietnam to practice in Danang before seeking a suitable site.

S. Tung