Former Indian hockey players undertake coaching programme

Over 100 candidates from various parts of the country have enrolled for the course.

A host of former Indian international players, which include Dr AB Subbaiah (Arjuna Awardee), Sabu Varkey (Olympian), Davinder Kumar (1998 Senior World Cup), Virender Singh (1997 Junior World Cup Silver Medalist), Dipika Murty (2006 World Cup) and Deepika (Arjuna Awardee, Olympian), have enrolled for the Hockey India Coaching Education Pathway Level '1' Coaching Course 2021.

The course is being organized in New Delhi from 29 January 2021 to 1 February 2021 and will be conducted in Bhubaneswar from 3 February 2021 to 6 February 2021. It will see over 100 candidates from various parts of the country undertaking the course. This the first coaching course being conducted on-ground since the Covid-19 pandemic began in March last year. Each of the candidates undertaking the course has to submit a negative COVID RT-PCR test report with the test taken within 72 hours of arrival at the venue of the course.

All candidates have been divided into four batches. The first batch is undertaking the coaching course from 29 January 2021 to 30 January 2021, while the second batch will undertake the course from 31 January 2021 to 1 February 2021 in the capital city. The third batch will undertake the course in Bhubaneswar on 3 February 2021 and 4 February 2021, while the final batch will undertake the course on 5 February 2021 and 6 February 2021 in the same city.

Only those candidates, who have successfully passed the Hockey India Coaching Education Pathway Level 'Basic' Coaching Course, have been eligible to take part in the Level '1' coaching course. The basic course has been regularly conducted on an online platform in the last six months. Hockey India is planning to conduct more basic coaching courses in the upcoming months, encouraging many aspiring coaches to take up the course.

Speaking on participating in the course, Arjuna Awardee AB Subbaiah said, "The Coaching Education Pathway is a very good program. I recommend all the young aspiring coaches of India, who want to pick up coaching seriously, to undergo the course. This is where one can learn all the modern techniques from the very experienced national coaches as well as former players, who have undergone FIH level coaching courses." 

Olympian and Arjuna Awardee Deepika said that she has learned how to utilize her experience as a player to coach young players at the grassroots level. "I have learned a lot through the Coaching Education Pathway. I have learned how to utilize my experience and passion to coach players at the grassroots level," said Deepika.

Each of the candidates' competencies will be assessed and only those candidates who successfully complete the Level ‘1’ Coaching Course on the basis of the assessment criteria, will be provided with the necessary certification. 

Since the launch of the Coaching Education Pathway in 2019, over 700 coaches from across India have benefitted from the programme which is a simplified education structure that consists of a combination of web-based modules and face-to-face interactive courses, underpinned by a competency-based assessment process, which helps the coaches in progressing to higher levels.  

HICEP aims to help in developing coaches from the grassroots level into world-class coaches of the high performance/international level. Once a candidate progresses from the Coaching Education Pathway Levels, they are then eligible to enrol for the FIH Academy Level 1 Course, and so on.