Nearly 30 years ago, Quang Nhat Manh was considered an odd person when he borrowed money to establish a sport club providing free training for young people with disabilities. With enthusiasm and compassion, Manh and his wife helped sports players with disabilities to be successful in national and international tournaments.
Nearly 30 years ago, Quang Nhat Manh was considered an odd person when he borrowed money to establish a sport club providing free training for young people with disabilities. With enthusiasm and compassion, Manh and his wife helped sports players with disabilities to be successful in national and international tournaments.
Creating sports playgrounds for young people
In 1987, after Manh got married, Manh’s parents gave him an area of land of over 400m2 in front of Vinh Hai Market (Nha Trang City) so that he could start up in business. He could have earned a good income if he did business such as opening a parking lot for market-goers. However, he and his wife, Hue, borrowed money to establish bodybuilding club and open swimming classes.
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At that time, not many people in Khanh Hoa, especially the ones living in the northern area of Nha Trang, practiced bodybuilding and swimming because of a lot of difficulties in daily life. In order to begin sports movement, Manh came to Thuy San University (now known as Nha Trang University) to invite students to practice sports at this club for free of charge. Manh and his wife taught their students to swim at sea because there was no any swimming pool in Nha Trang at that time. Gradually, the swimming classes were expanded from tens to hundreds of learners. More and more people came to practice sports at Manh’s club. Manh and his wife formed a swimming team to take part in the province’s sea swimming contests and won almost all medals in these tournaments.
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Khanh Hoa Province’s Vietnam Youth Federation associated with Manh to establish Vinh Hai Youth Club, which became an effective model to gather the youth and was a typical example of public contribution in physical exercise and sports.
Developing parasports
While Manh’s club was operating quite well, the storm in 1992 caused heavy damages to the club’s facilities. He borrowed money again to rebuild the club and even planned to create sports playground for young people with disabilities. He travelled throughout Nha Trang City to recruit young people with disabilities who liked sports and provided them free training. At that time, parasports were still new to people in the province; even the province’s sports sector had no plan for it. Therefore, almost no one believed in the success of Manh’s work.
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During the first days practicing at Manh’s club, players namely Chau Hoang Tuyet Loan and Dinh Thi Nga couldn’t afford a wheelchair. Manh and his wife offered them money to take motorbike taxi from their places to the club and provided them nutritious food so that they could be healthy to practice weightlifting. Additionally, Manh searched for training documents for athletes with disabilities in order to discover the strength of each player and choose appropriate sports for them. He also repaired training equipment to suit each player’s condition.
After only about a year of practice, the athletes in Manh’s club gradually proved their competence. Around 20 years ago, weightlifting athletes Chau Hoang Tuyet Loan, Dinh Thi Nga, and Nguyen Van Hung were unbeaten at the domestic tournaments for many years in a row. Athletes Nguyen Phi Thuan and Tran Viet Van won medals in tennis and table tennis. After that, Chau Hoang Tuyet Loan, Dinh Thi Nga, Nguyen Van Hung, and some athletes, who joined the club later, became the key athletes of the national parasports teams. They gained gold medals and silver medals at ASEAN, Asian and other international para games. With their enthusiasm and love, Manh and his wife helped the young people with disabilities to shine in the national and international sports playgrounds.
Manh’s club was considered the largest and most successful non-public establishment for people with disabilities in the country at that time. Manh was also honored as one of the three excellent sports coaches for people with disabilities in the country in 2008 and was appointed to coach the national weightlifting team at Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. Chau Hoang Tuyet Loan and Dinh Thi Nga were also named among five best athletes with disabilities in 2008.
As said by athlete Dinh Thi Nga, all the players practicing at Vinh Hai Youth Club consider the club as their second home. They have been supported with love from Manh and his wife. They no longer feel a complex about their fate and have been confident to prove themselves to the world.
As a fate
Unfortunately, the area of land where Manh set up his club was located in the area intended for the expansion of Vinh Hai Market. Manh felt sorry that there was no place for the young people with disabilities to practice sports. His wife, who had been sharing joys and sorrows with Manh for many years, was also tired; however, she wasn’t happy seeing his husband being sad about the close of the club. Therefore, she and her husband used all their capital to establish a new club on the area of land leased from the State. The new club, MH Sport, was named after Manh and his wife as an expression for his gratitude to the love and sympathy of his lifelong companion. MH Sport gradually became a familiar place for sports lovers and people with disabilities in the northern area of Nha Trang.
In June 2022, MH Sport open free swimming classes for children with disabilities. Besides swimming, depending on their interest and forte, the children can practice weightlifting, athletics, table tennis, etc. for free of charge.
Coach Quang Nhat Manh and his MH Sport have made many contributions to Nha Trang’s sports movement; offered free sports classes and created useful playgrounds for people with disabilities. Many talent were discovered and trained at the club and contributed to the achievements of Khanh Hoa Province’s sport teams and national sports teams. Since the beginning of 2022, MH Sport has associated with SOS Nha Trang Children’s Village to open sports playgrounds for children, discover and offer free training to the children to prepare for the upcoming national swimming contest on drowning saving skills for teenagers and children held in Hai Phong City.
Hong Dang
Translated by H.N
