IO – As a nature lover and former head of the Student Nature Lover (mapala) organization in his university, out-door activities are a normal part of the life of Saugi Ahmad or as he likes to be called “Ogi”. His background is one of the reasons he chose to resign from his job in a bank in Jakarta and build his own business.
Climbing mountains, one of Ogi’s hobbies, is often associated with strength, stamina, and a high level of intelligence. Training is always necessary in order to maintain strong stamina. Meanwhile, intelligence is needed for the non-physical parts of mountain climbing. Exercise is a large part of mountain climbing, and especially for Ogi. His love of exercise became the basis for the establishment of ASCI (Active Sport Club Indonesia) five years ago.
“ASCI was established on Au-gust 17, 2014, and as of now has six sports branches including archery, horseback riding, taekwondo, pen-cak silat, and aikido,” said Ogi, AS-CI’s founder.
The majority of ASCI members are students, private citizens, and even companies. There are no age restric-tions for new members. “We have partnered with a number of schools around Jabodetabek, such as Cita Buana in Jagakarsa, Fajar Hidaya in Sentul City, Insan Kamil School in Bogor, Pondok Pesantren Azzikra in Sentul and also companies in Jakar-ta. There are no age restrictions: we accept members of all ages; as long as they like sports, they can join,” he said.
Ogi explained ASCI’s history and purpose to the Independent Observer. “The goal of establishing ASCI was to join in, create and shape the young-er generation, making them healthy, smart, and highly competent in sports,” explained Ogi.
He added that the first branch of sports in ASCI was archery and until now archery is ASCI’s most popular sport, as proven by its 10 classes a week, consisting of 20-30 members.
“The archery division is perform-ing well and is popular; that is why we give our members the best, start-ing with our certified trainers from the Indonesian Archery Association, a complete set of equipment, to a great arena.”
Ogi, who loves to swim, hopes athletes from ASCI can continue to perform and become champions on a national level in the coming year.
“In ASCI we hope a number of ath-letes under our guidance can perform on a national or even international stage. That is why I and the trainers like targeting those who have poten-tial.”
With the motto “Lets shoot ar-rows”, Ogi and the entire ASCI team invites the public to live healthily and think positively. Archery, according to Ogi, represents both of those qualities and can be applied to everyday life. (Nurhidayat Nasution)