Sports ministry introduces new course to help elite athletes become coaches

Talking about the ‘Special Capacity Building Course’, sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, “I see a lack of elite Indian coaches. This course will enable the former Indian sportspersons who are doing clerical jobs and other office jobs at the PSUs and ministries. We can bring all these sports persons as not only coaches but also as referees and technical officials. All of these guys will be trained by experts from the NIS, Patiala.”

Former All England champion and renowned badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, in a recent interview to The Indian Express, had highlighted the lack of respect at the workplace for former athletes who have sports quota jobs and said helping them upskill was the need of the hour. “Education and sport have to go together, and skilling and exit opportunities for athletes are very important to equip them for life ahead…we are not fitting into corporate roles and office jobs without skilling. I know so many bright top level players but it’s not easy…,” Gopichand had said.

The course has been designed and developed for current and former elite sports persons who are currently employed and serving in various central government or autonomous organizations under central government or central public sector undertakings.

Any athlete who has won a medal or participated in multi-sporting events like Olympics, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games will be eligible for the course. Apart from those, National Games medalists, national champions and medalists of Youth Olympics and World Championships will also be eligible for the course.

The course will comprise four certification levels; foundation, pre-intermediate, intermediate and advanced certificate. Each level can be completed within two years and has a hybrid version and an online version. Each certification level consists of 10 credits for a total of 40.

The ‘Special Capacity Building Course’ will cover modern coaching, sports science, yogasana and leadership with the aim to ‘enhance professional skills’ The participants will have foreign exposure tours to learn from international experts.