A few trainers hired by SAI after local sports council pays no heed
Vikas Sharma
Already struggling to retain the budding sportspersons who continue to migrate to other states/Union Territories for better career opportunities, now coaches too are opting for the similar option, thereby ringing alarm bells for the authorities in J&K.
Sources said the main reason behind this was the lack of efforts by the sports authorities in J&K to recruit coaches in different disciplines. Some of the coaches who have pursued specialised diploma from the prestigious Netaji Subhash Chander National Institutes of Sports in different disciplines were already working at various training centres of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) across the country.
They said recently the SAI had recruited 141 coaches on contract basis at its different regional centres after the successful completion of a training programme. A few of the recruited coaches in different disciplines were from J&K, who were now serving at training centres in different parts of the country.
“For the last 4-5 years, we are going from pillar to post regarding our appointment as coaches in the J&K Sports Council but the autonomous body has done nothing so far. Even the J&K High Court agreed that there is a deficiency of trained coaches in J&K and the authorities concerned are also apprised about it. Finally, we all decided to apply for the SAI,” one of the coaches said.
“Everyone wants to serve in his/her home state/Union Territory to train local budding players but unfortunately, the promotion of sports and adequate availability of trained coaches is a least priority for successive governments in J&K. As a result, both the players as well as coaches are on the receiving end,” the coach added.
Sources said the J&K High Court had asked the authorities to place a projection of ideal number of coaches, which were required in every sport as well as a proper scheme by which the training of such coaches would be affected. The court also termed the availability of total 77 coaches in 28 sports disciplines as inadequate.
“By no stretch of imagination, can this be considered sufficient to meet the needs of the UT of J&K,” the High Court had said. (TNS)
