The event, in which contingents from all provinces of Indonesia will participate, will take place from June 12 to 15, and each contingent will be reinforced by young people aged 15 to 22.
Deputy III for Sports Culture of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Raden Isnanta said that Potradnas’ goal is to preserve and develop the original Indonesian sports that constitute the nation’s culture.
“Today, the hobby of young people is to play online game. Nothing is simpler than holding on, no need to move a lot. This is not good for young people physically and mentally. Apart from that, it is also about dispersing society through traditional sports,” Isnanta said in a written statement received in Jakarta on Sunday.
The five types of traditional sports that will be practiced at Potradnas IX 2023 are hadang, stilts, blowgun, long trumpet and spinning top. The names of these traditional sports may vary depending on locations in Indonesia.
Hadang is a traditional game played in teams. This game is more popular under the name Gobak Sodor.
The total number of players in a team was eight people. These eight people were then divided into five main players and three reserve players.
The mission of the face-to-face game is to move opposing players who are blocking the way from the front line to the back line, back to the front line. This game is played for 2 x 15 minutes, and the winning team is determined by the highest number of points obtained. Players who successfully reach the back line get a point, and players who also successfully return from the back line to the front line also get a point.
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The next game is stilts. Stilts are played using two bamboo sticks on which the player can rest. In this game, players on stilts will quickly compete to reach the destination point.
The third traditional game is the blowgun. In the past, the blowgun was better known to Indonesians as a hunting tool, but has now become a traditional game. Wands are played by blowing on the wands at a predetermined distance to hit the target.
Next comes the long terompah, or what in some parts of Indonesia is called the bakiak run. In this game, each team will be given a pair of long trumpets that can be carried by three or more people at the same time. Competitors will race quickly to the finish line carrying the trumpet.
The final game is a spinning top. The popularity of gassing among young people may have declined alongside the growing popularity of online games using gadgets. However, the game of maximizing a top’s ability to spin on its axis still has fans and is being studied seriously by a number of groups.
Although at first glance it seems easy, for people who are not used to playing it, spinning a top will be a challenge in itself. Because to master throwing techniques, you need to understand the basic techniques.
In the previous National Potrdnas event in Belitung Regency in 2021, West Java and Banten provinces became overall co-champions after both achieving two victories. At that time, West Java province won the stilt and catapult sports, while Banten won the traditional beam and arrow races. Another winner was the Central Kalimantan province which won the blowgun sport.
