In Cambodia, a wrestling clinic to build a network and self-confidence

By her own description, Karen Perater of the Philippines is petite.

She stands, as she says, 5 feet and precisely 1 inch tall. In terms most of the world would use, 1.55 metres.

“Before going to Cambodia,” for a coaching and refereeing course in advance of the 2022 Southeast Asian Championships in Phnom Penh, “when I was refereeing a big guy, oh,” she said, laughing. “Now, after going to Cambodia, it boosted my confidence. Even if a big guy stares at me, I stare back. With confidence. Inside the mind, I will be the boss.”

In a move to strengthen the sport in the region, United World Wrestling (UWW) – with the support of Olympic Solidarity, the Cambodian Olympic Committee and the Cambodian Wrestling Federation – held a series of events in advance of the Championships, the biggest-ever international senior wrestling tournament in South-East Asia.

In all, about 80 people took part, including athletes, coaches, referees and IT specialists. UWW mentors and top level experts included Zach Errett of the United States, Igor Ligay of Kazakhstan, Vincent Aka of France and Ivory Coast, and Tunisia’s Youssef Bouaziz.

Also attending was the current Cambodian national team coach, Komeil Ghasemi, who – representing Iran – was awarded the gold medal at the London 2012 Games in the men’s freestyle 120kg class. Under Ghasemi, Cambodian wrestlers would go on to win 19 medals at those Championships – three gold, three silver and 13 bronze – their biggest achievement since joining the regional tournament.

“South-East Asia has great potential,” UWW development director Deqa Niamkey said. “It just needs the necessary support to get them started and get going.”

To get going, a week-long training camp before the Championships drew 40 participants from five countries. The focus of the programme was on wrestling techniques, games, conditioning and match preparation.

Then came seminars for coaches, referees and the IT specialists.

The coaching course was divided into both theory and practice, the theory put into practice on the mat: the introduction of technique, improving coaching skills, learning how to give constructive feedback, the varying characteristics that come with different age groups and, critically, the essentials of both anti-doping and athlete safeguarding.

“For a young coach like me,” said 36-year-old Gabriel Yang of Singapore, “it really helped me build my network.”

He added, “I got a better idea of how other national teams train. We shared techniques. How different countries teach. We spent a lot of time on the mat with each other, as coaches. That really helps.”

Singapore sent four coaches, including Yang, who also said, “There’s a big push in Singapore to start developing our own high-performance coaches. Before this, we were reliant on the idea of hiring other people from other countries to bring their expertise.” But he understands the high potential which exists on a national and regional level.

Now, he said, “With these connections, with an increase in competitions, an increase in sharing – it’s how we improve.”

“They worked hard,” Errett said, “and we saw them grow during this course.”

For her part, Perater may not have got any taller, but she surely grew. “It gave a big boost to my career,” she said. It wasn’t just learning rules and regulations, though of course those were essential. More, because she has been coach and referee: “How to be myself, and how to have confidence.” And where did that come from?

“Even though we are all from different countries,” she said, “we communicate through sports.”