The heartbreaking stories after retirement of many famous athletes once made Vietnamese sports famous for "squeezing the lemon and throwing away the peel". Many heroes who brought glory to the country's sports, when they left the spotlight, had to live in difficult conditions, only able to do jobs with enough income to live on (even having to rely on subsidies due to illness or old age) such as janitors, security guards, cleaners... with situations that made many people cry.
The nature of sports is that the career is short (only about 10-15 years), requiring hard professional training, focusing only on training and competition without time for studying and socializing, making athletes weak in the labor market after retirement. Without good financial accumulation (from the existing family foundation, bonuses, sponsorship contracts), how will athletes manage when starting over at the age of 30 (or even 35, 40), with only a bachelor's degree at most, most of them lacking foreign languages, soft skills, adaptability, agility and timeliness, but having to compete in an increasingly crowded and harsh labor market?
'Little mermaid' Anh Vien finds the right direction, inspiring swimming for the young generation
Photo: Minh Tan
Over the past years, the Government and the sports industry have paid more attention to career guidance, including vocational training and orientation, and preferential job search for athletes after retirement, so that those who are working hard day and night in their sports career can practice and compete with peace of mind.
Decree No. 36/2019/ND-CP of the Government detailing a number of articles of the law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Physical Training and Sports (Law on Physical Training and Sports) clearly states that athletes of national sports teams, sports teams of sectors, provinces and centrally run cities, when they stop working as athletes, if they have a need for vocational training and meet the conditions, will be supported with vocational training according to regulations; Athletes who win medals at the Olympics, ASIAD, SEA Games will be given priority for special recruitment to work at public sports facilities suitable for the job position to be recruited, plus priority points in recruiting workers at sports facilities when they have sufficient qualifications and professional capacity suitable for the requirements of the recruitment position, as well as during the probationary period, they will receive 100% of the salary and allowances of the professional title corresponding to the job position.
Career guidance seminars for athletes are held regularly.
Photo: Vietnam Sports Administration
The sports industry is also making efforts to find a place for athletes to stay after their competitive careers. In 2019, the Department of Sports and Physical Training (now the Vietnam Department of Sports and Physical Training) signed a cooperation agreement with the Vietnam Young Entrepreneurs Association on job creation and start-up support for athletes after they no longer compete, to create a bridge for businesses to provide vocational training and receive athletes.
The Vietnam Sports Administration has also signed cooperation agreements with a number of universities to facilitate scholarships and training for athletes with excellent achievements; coordinate with related units to organize many career orientation seminars for athletes; or training centers are increasingly open to supporting athletes to compete and study part-time so that when they retire, they can own a bachelor's or master's degree. That is the "fishing rod" for sports people to find a new direction.
Career guidance workshops for athletes are necessary activities.
Photo: Vietnam Sports Administration
However, Vietnamese athletes still face many difficulties in finding a living after retirement.
At the question and answer session at the 7th session of the 15th National Assembly (held in June 2024), Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung admitted that the job placement for athletes in the sports industry has not been completely effective, with many shortcomings, because the training level and occupation of athletes have not been converted after the time has expired. At the same time, the converted occupation is not suitable for athletes. When not all athletes are allowed to work as coaches at public service units, but have to find a new path, career guidance must be "personalized", focusing on each individual athlete, instead of doing it in general.
Each athlete has a unique personality, strengths, interests and job needs, but current orientation seminars only present general issues, focusing on a number of popular professions, and have not answered the job search needs of the majority.
Xuan Truong (right cover) is one of the few players who runs his own business while still playing. He is the co-founder of IRC, an injury rehabilitation center with state-of-the-art equipment.
Photo: IRC
According to statistics, only about 15-20% of national athletes can continue their sports career, such as becoming coaches, sports managers, or physical education teachers. The rest have to start new jobs, unrelated to the expertise that these athletes have worked hard to build throughout their careers. In the context of lacking a basic foundation in academic training (currently the sports industry only teaches general occupations, not providing enough specialized knowledge to compete), do athletes have the capacity to pursue different directions such as marketing, economics, business administration, information technology or engineering?
Coach Truong Minh Sang and his wife, Coach Thu Ha, both come from high-class athletes.
Photo: VTV
Deputy Director of the Vietnam Sports Administration Le Thi Hoang Yen also expressed her opinion that the vocational training for athletes is not good enough, leading to the athlete's capacity being difficult to compete in the labor market. At the same time, the orientation stage still has many problems and lacks individuality for each individual. Although many seminars have been organized and amendments and additions to decrees and laws have been made over the years, the sports industry has not been able to provide vocational training for athletes in a specific direction, so that athletes can compete to find jobs in the labor market. As for job search incentives, current jobs are not attractive enough, suitable for athletes to choose to pursue long-term...
(to be continued…)
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chat-vat-tim-dau-ra-185250613090554472.htm
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