No Continuity Academy

Bangalore8217;s NCA has the mod-cons but what it lacks is a follow-up and monitoring system The wooden placard, neatly displayed at the en...

Bangalore8217;s NCA has the mod-cons but what it lacks is a follow-up and monitoring system

The wooden placard, neatly displayed at the entrance, sums up the credo of the National Cricket Academy: 8216;8216;It8217;s tight. We can8217;t draw. We can8217;t lose. So let8217;s win.8217;8217; An admirable statement of intent for an institution, now five years old, that has acted as a springboard for several aspiring and established cricketers.

Indeed, on the face of it the country8217;s premier cricket centre seems to be on par with any other academy in the world. Certainly it has state-of-the-art facilities 8212; gymnasium, bowling machines, video analysis, indoor nets 8212; and some of the biggest and finest cricketing minds of this country involved from time to time. But is it a winning venture? Some believe that, given its facilities, the NCA should have taken Indian cricket to a different level altogether and five years is a reasonable time to reach there. Yet the supply line to Team India appears erratic, unstable. Quality is not always assured.

The main problem with the NCA is lack of continuity. Almost six out of every ten playing competitive cricket, at various age levels, have had a taste of NCA at some or the other stage during their careers. That8217;s a lot of resources, time and coaching expertise expended 8212; but is it all wasted once the boy leaves the NCA?

A cricketer8217;s progress is not monitored, something that prompted head coach Balwinder Singh Sandhu to return fuming from Bangalore last week 8212; he had no report on the progress of the youngsters he was dealing with. Where, for example, are wicketkeeper Pradeep Chawla and pacemen Nitin Aggarwal? They all represented India in age groups over the past few years and entered the NCA. Today, they are nowhere 8212; their talent has, presumably, fizzled out because of a lack of follow-up work.

Praveen Amre, NCA coach and junior selector, accepts that continuity is a hindrance and has requested the NCA to look into it. 8216;8216;When asked for my suggestions, I emphasised that there needs to be continuity all along and that boys need to be attached with the academy for longer spells.8217;8217; Not possible, says NCA chief Brijesh Patel. 8216;8216;There are some problems that prevent us from keeping our boys longer. Education is a major problem. The scene here is not like abroad where you can leave your education and join it later.8217;8217;

A related problem is the fact that those who leave the NCA don8217;t find comparable standards in their next port of call 8212; the local leagues. One example of this is in the fitness regimen. The NCA works for just five months a year, and there8217;s no applied procedure to monitor that the boys maintain the level of fitness and endurance they learn in those five months. 8216;8216;We teach them a work ethic they can maintain through the season8217;8217;, says Dr Kinjal Suratwala, trainer cum physio, but obviously that8217;s not enough.

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8216;8216;We are working on the problem8217;8217;, says Patel. 8216;8216;This year we plan a follow-up camp, but only for a core group. Once we have qualified coaches and support staff, we can overcome this problem of lack of monitoring and continuity. NCA coaches can then interact with state coaches and address this problem.8217;8217; Yet the overall opinion seems to be positive. 8216;8216;I think it8217;s going in the right direction8217;8217;, asserts Patel. 8216;8216;It was supposed to be an agency to tap and develop all youngsters into better cricketers and that8217;s what it has been doing over the five years.8217;8217;

Dilip Vengsarkar, India8217;s chief talent scout, believes that the present system is the best. 8216;8216;It8217;s still a finishing school for youngsters. And if it can act as a feeder system to a broad base of youngsters what8217;s the harm?8217;8217; A lot of the problems will be sorted out once the NCA shifts from its present premises in the heart of the city to a 15-acre site in nearby Uloor village.

8216;8216;Once we are there, we can sort out the logistical problems like schooling and education of boys8217;8217;, says Col KR Nair, the administrative manager NCA. Maybe that is when India8217;s bench will start getting stronger. Wait for it.

THE SUNDRIES

	nbsp;	FOUNDED: 2000 BATCH STRENGTH: 25 TERM DURATION: U-15 and U-17 camp goes on for six weeks, U-19 and U-22 for four weeks WHO GETS IN: They are picked on the basis of their performances in the BCCI inter-state age-group tournaments. The U-15, U-17, U-22 batches are picked by the junior selection committee on the recommendation of regional TRDOs. The U-19 batch is picked on basis of their performances in the Col Hemu Adhikari tournament. STAFF STRENGTH: Four coaches, a trainer, a physio and a visiting sports psychologist. BUDGET: Started with a budget of 1.74 crores, currently invests Rs 3 crore excluding the TRDW activities. ALUMNI PLAYERS: Yuvraj Singh, Mohd Kaif, S Sriram, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Hemang Badani, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Kaarthick, Parthiv Patel to name a few.	nbsp;