Nguyen Van Tung instructs his students at the family’s wrestling club.

Happy with wrestling learners’ progress

Over the past 30 years since opening this club, he has always said: “in sports, we should not think too much about money”. Pursuing that philosophy, Tung has found many talented wrestlers in the province’s sports sector via free-of-charge training at his club. Under his instruction, these wrestlers have achieved successes in their career and they motivated him to maintain the free-of-charge wrestling classes.

“Like other sports, wrestling, especially traditional wrestling, has its own attractiveness. I want to fuel a passion for wrestling among youths,” he said.

Luckily, Bac Giang’s sports sector has added all-in wrestling and traditional wrestling in the annual competition and signed a contract with Tung as a freelance wrestling instructor who will help select and train wrestling talents for the province.

Thanks to his good reputation, many parents in Viet Yen, Hiep Hoa and Tan Yen district have sent their children to the club. His efforts were paid off as many of them have won high prizes and become parts of national and city wrestling teams, such as Nguyen Van Tuan, Diem Thi Hoa and Bui Van Hoat who won gold medals at national competitions and are playing for the national team; Dinh Dinh Tung who claimed a national gold medal and is now a wrestler of the Hanoi team; and Than Thi Anh who won a gold medal of a Southeast Asia wrestling competition and is playing for the Bac Giang team.

In 2017, the club had 11 members who have been selected for the gifted class of the provincial Sports Training and Competition Centre. At the Bac Giang provincial Sports Festival 2017, instructor Tung’s trainees pocketed four gold, three silver and one bronze medals, making their Viet Yen district come in second at the competition.

A training session at the family’s wrestling club.

Passion inspired

For wrestler Tung, wrestling, especially traditional wrestling, is the quintessence of the forefather that needs to be preserved. In springs, he often goes to wrestling competitions here and there where he learns nice clinch wrestling, throws and takedowns and selects disciples for his club.

He spent nearly 200 million VND (8,900 USD) building a wrestling arena on hundreds of square meters of his garden. At a time when many other wrestling clubs dispersed, Tung’s club remained crowded. At present, around 80 children aged from 9 to 12 are taking on training on the afternoon of Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and even Sundays in Tung’s club.

Apart from contributing a bag of rice husk, they do not pay any fees. Tung and his wife take care of these children as their descendants. Those who stood out and have a passion are oriented to take advanced training for better achievements, which could support them when it comes to a selection for the province’s wrestling team.

During hot summer days, Tung and his wife bought three additional high-capacity fans to serve the children’s training. He and his wife also cooked meals and hosted parties for their trainees whenever they took part in a tournament or a competition for a gifted class.

In last November, at the request of the authority of Quang Chau commune, Tung opened a wrestling course in the locality, which attracted nearly 40 students.

He also inspired his two sons to join in supporting him in training. Tung’s sons also provided training courses of martial arts and athletics at the club.

Tung said he always pays attention to guiding his trainees to do good things in parallel with instructing them how to wrestle, adding that “all of my trainees must follow the club’s regulations and keep good discipline in class.”

He said to reach good achievements, each athlete needs to have good physique through tenacious practice before learning techniques. He is always excited talking about wrestling. He said the demonstration of techniques can tell where a wrestler comes from.

At present, Tung receives a monthly financial support of 1.5 million VND (66 USD) from the sports sector. To earn more money for his life and for nurturing his passion, Tung also provides tractor-renting services, farms rice and vegetables and raises fish.

Nguyen Huong