Hockey India, SAI to conduct online coaches development sessions

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

These online 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 CDS will be classified into two coaching sessions -- Level 'Basic' coaching sessions and Level 'Intermediate' coaching sessions.

The Level 'Basic' coaching sessions will be conducted by Erik Wonink (coach, Indian junior women's hockey 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 '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).

Expressing his delight at the joint initiative, Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad, President Hockey India, said, "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."

Sandip Pradhan, Director General, SAI, 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."