Hockey India, SAI to conduct online coaches development sessions

Following the disruption of the global sporting calendar due to the novel coronavirus outbeak, to make use of the lockdown period, Hockey India and Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Saturday (April 18) announced the introduction of a 21-day Coaches Development Sessions (CDS).

The initiative is part of SAIs MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) workshop for coaches, which was launched on April 16, aimed at providing high level knowledge to hockey coaches around the country through video conference.

Since these coaches are present at various levels, the coaches development sessions will be classified into two sessions — basic and intermediate — and will be conducted by Hockey India’s foreign national team coaches, scientific advisors, and director, High Performance.

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The basic sessions will be conducted by Erik Wonink (coach, Indian junior womens 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 intermediate sessions will be conducted by Graham Reid (chief coach, Indian men’s team), Sjoerd Marijne (head coach of Indian women’s team), Chris Ciriello (analytical coach, men’s team), Janneke Schopman (analytical coach, women’s team), Robin Arkell (scientific advisor, men’s team) and Wayne Lombard (Scientific Advisor, 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 and basic sessions both will be held from Monday to Friday.

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Hockey India president Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad said, “These sessions will them them gain high-level knowledge from our foreign coaches, scientific advisors and director, High Performance.”

Sandip Pradhan, SAIs director general, 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.”

(With inputs from agencies)