Hockey India, SAI collaborate to conduct online coaches development sessions

In a bid to make use of the lockdown period, Hockey India and Sports Authority of India (SAI), on Saturday announced the introduction of the 21-day online Coaches Development Sessions (CDS), as part of SAI's MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) workshop for coaches, which was launched by SAI on April 16.

These education sessions will be aimed at providing high-level knowledge to hockey coaches around the country through video conferencing. Since these coaches are present at various levels, the Coaches Development Sessions will be classified into two Coaching Sessions - Level 'Basic' coaching sessions and Level 'Intermediate' coaching sessions, and will be conducted by Hockey India's foreign national team coaches, scientific advisors and director, high performance.

The Level 'Basic' coaching sessions will be conducted by Erik Wonink (coach, Indian junior women's team), and will feature candidates who are non SAI-accredited hockey coaches. These Coaches have been given the opportunity to get enrolled for the Sessions regardless of their qualification and will be registered by Hockey India on the Hockey India online academy platform. The Level 'Basic' coaching sessions will be held from Monday to Friday between 9 am - 10 am IST.

The Level 'Intermediate' coaching sessions will be conducted by Graham Reid (chief coach, Indian men's team), Sjoerd Marijne (chief coach, Indian women's team), Chris Ciriello (Analytical coach, Indian men's team), Janneke Schopman (Analytical Coach, Indian women's team), Robin Arkell (Scientific Advisor, Indian men's team) and Wayne Lombard (Scientific Advisor, Indian women's team).

The candidates for these sessions will include SAI-accredited coaches who have successfully passed the Hockey India Level '1' Certification (or above). The Level 'Intermediate' coaching sessions will be held from Monday to Friday between 14:30 pm - 15:30 pm IST.

Expressing his delight at the joint initiative by Hockey India and Sports Authority of India, Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad, president Hockey India, said, "With the world having come to a standstill due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hockey India along with SAI, is delighted to be making use of this lockdown period to good effect by conducting these sessions for Hockey Coaches around the country in order for them to gain high-level knowledge from our Foreign Coaches, Scientific Advisors and Director, High Performance. These Coaching sessions shall be conducted over video conferencing and reiterates Hockey India's policy of ensuring that the functionality of our National Federation is unhindered."

Speaking about the initiative Sandip Pradhan, Director General, Sports Authority of India, said, "This is the first time that an online workshop for coaches of this magnitude is taking place. In a conscious effort to use this lean period to upgrade the knowledge of coaches, Sports Authority of India has collaborated with 16 NSFs, including Hockey India, to devise online coaching opportunities for our coaches from around the country. On Day 1 of the online workshop, 4700 coaches participated and the numbers are growing every day. I am really happy that Hockey India devised the online curriculum within such a short time. Through these regular online classes conducted by Hockey India's Foreign Coaches, Scientific Advisors and Director, High Performance, I believe our Coaches will get essential insights and a fresh perspective of ways to train their athletes better."

( With inputs from ANI )