Dak Lak: Professionalizing grassroots sports tournaments

In 2025, the Dak Lak Traditional Athletics Tournament had a breakthrough in organization, when all athletes were equipped with bibs (registration numbers) with electronic chips. Applying this modern technology for the first time to the tournament has greatly supported the referee force on duty.

Accordingly, these "assistants" not only help referees monitor the entire competition process of athletes, starting time, and finishing time accurately, but also help shorten the organization time.

The 2025 provincial traditional cross-country race is organized professionally and methodically.

Specifically, before the chip was applied, in addition to the referees needing to mobilize maximum force, organizing each event, it was very time-consuming; but now, all events only start 15 minutes apart, the organizers only need to monitor the bib numbers, which show the time and competition content of the athletes to know the exact results, even in the case of many athletes finishing at the same time. Therefore, the tournament took place in more than 2 hours, 3 hours shorter than before.

Meanwhile, the Dak Lak Province 7-a-side Football Championship (D.League) is taking place, demonstrating the professional organization of the Organizing Committee. In addition to ensuring medical care, security, and highly qualified referees, this is also a rare grassroots tournament where TN Media team has arranged modern equipment and means to record images and broadcast live on Facebook Tay Nguyen Football (Tay Nguyen Football Community), attracting up to 70,000 viewers. The fact that the matches are livestreamed on Facebook and Youtube with thousands of viewers is a "commitment" that helps the Organizing Committee minimize errors, making the tournament more professional and attractive, avoiding lawsuits related to expertise.

The organizing committee of the Dak Lak Province 7-a-side Football Championship arranged stands for spectators to watch the matches.

According to the Department of Sports Management (Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism), in order to make the amateur tournament more professional, in addition to applying modern technology, the prerequisite factor is the preparation, development and promulgation of tournament regulations. Mr. Vo Dinh Doai, Head of the Department of Sports Management, likened the tournament regulations to a "golden ring" that binds all athletes to the framework, strictly complying with the regulations and discipline during the competition. It is also a "mirror" reflecting the tournament organization work of the Organizing Committee itself. Therefore, the more specific, detailed and strict the tournament regulations are researched and developed, the higher the chance of the tournament being successful and professional, and the quality of the tournament is improved.

Of course, it is impossible to demand that grassroots tournaments have all the professional elements like large-scale tournaments within the competition system of sports federations. However, if we are satisfied with the "migration" nature and stop at the "migration" nature, it will be difficult to gradually improve and professionalize a tournament.

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/dak-lak-chuyen-nghiep-hoa-cac-giai-the-thao-phong-trao-20250324150448033.htm