Vietnam's 10 years IAPLC history would send shivers down our spines! Take a look at the record of their top scapers in IAPLC for the past 10 years, only 1 year (2015) they failed to register a Top7 individual ranking, this is a record only the immortal Japanese can match!! Not to mention that Vietnamese scapers produced 3 Grand Champions in the last 10 years (2009, 2011, 2013), similarly, they shared this crazy record with only Japan!! One more ridiculous record they have - from all the top5 scapers in last 10 years, only 2 were out of top100 ranking, which mean 96% (48/50) of their top5 scaper are within the top100 ranking!!! What a team!!
One of the reason for this incredible achievement behind Vietnam's aquascaping history is that they have in their team, 2 of the most decorated and talented aquascapers in the IAPLC history, their undisputed leaders. These 2 world renown aquascapers not only become the backbones of the Vietnamese team that provide stability and assurance, their leadership presence in the team also give their young scapers sense of direction, support and hope! If you are familiar with Vietnamese aquascaping scenes, you would know that their 2 world-class leaders are not only the mentors and teachers to the younger members, but also as big brothers and motivators.
However, in a team event, Vietnam's achievement is not limited to the contribution of their leaders. If you dig deeper into Vietnam's IAPLC history, you would notice that Vietnam is one of the very few countries capable of surprising the world with relatively "unknown" young scapers that break into top7 ranking out of nowhere!! 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and as recent as 2018, Vietnam produced top7 scapers from fresh faces, young scapers that were unheard of in the past. This situation only tells us one thing: Vietnam boosts many diamonds in the rough that are waiting to be discovered, this is a country full of raw talents!!
Vietnam has a diversified aquascaping style, but they are more commonly being regarded as a "rock" country rather than wood! Out of their top layouts so far, perhaps 70-80% are layouts predominantly with rocks. Their 2 leaders also have quite different styles, both are fantastic with rocks, but one is more towards NA while the other is more modern and futuristic. We do notice that the younger generation of Vietnamese scapers are more skewed towards using woods but the trend is not clear yet!
Strength and Weakness
Due to the strong leadership in the team, we can feel the unity of the Vietnamese scapers! Their leaders has provided strong supports and guidances for their young blood and this is quite evident in the proactive approach of the Vietnamese aquascaping group. Vietnam is never known for having high number of IAPLC participants, in the last 10 years, Vietnamese participants are stabilized at around 40, not a high number but we do always observe quality layouts coming out from this country! Another strong point of Vietnam is the group of their young talents - as mentioned earlier they have the ability to surprise everybody, maybe even themselves , in the world competition. If this is happening once or twice, it may just be pure luck or coincident.
But this situation has happened 5 times in the last 10 years (a newcomers from Vietnam entering Top7), we believe this is no longer just luck but it demonstrate the pure talent of this Vietnamese team.
However, we do also see the longevity issue of the young Vietnamese scapers. Apart from their veteran leaders, not many young scapers that used to grace the top7/top27 are currently still in the competitive scene - they risen very fast and faded equally fast. Perhaps due to the lure of the commercial world or simply losing interest in this hobby, we are not sure. Imagine if Vietnam can retain all of their top young talents in the past and continue to produce more young blood now, how strong can they be? A "scary" thought to all their rival nations.
Author: IAPLC Nations Challenge
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