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There is a shortage of
Trainers in sports
Arun Das has trained India
Junior and Senior athletes under Amateur Athletics
Federation of India, and has been a Senior Coach
(Athletics) at NSNIS, Patiala. Scores of athletes
who have made India proud at the international levels
like Anuradha Biswal, Rachita Panda, Hemant Patel,
Anil Minz etc. are mostly groomed by him. India Senior’s
Hockey captain Dilip Tirkey trains under him for
physical conditioning. Arun Das has been recommended
for ‘Dronacharya Award’ twice by the
Directorate of Sports, India. He says India is in
acute shortage of committed and quality trainers
in sports. |
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I was playing well representing my state Orissa and
my university many times at the national level. A senior
friend of mine who was working as a coach in a state
team counselled me that I should be acting wise to take
up a BPED course at NSNIS, Patiala and become a coach
in athletics. I weighed my senior friend’s counselling.
Some 25 years back, the salary of a coach was almost
equal to that of a class II officer. Not bad, I thought.
Because, Sports as a full time career was, still to arrive
on the scene. I already had the qualifications (4-5 times
represented at the national events and a graduation degree)
to apply for a course. Among 12 candidates who came from
all over India for the selection camp at Patiala, I stood
second.
But, time has taken quite a turn-around. People now are really thinking
of charting their career path in Sports. So the significance of the role
of a coach has multiplied.
I started my career as the junior India coach with the Amateur Athletics
Federation of India. Afterwards, I was selected many times to coach the
national senior team. Later on, coming back to work in Orissa, I have
been coaching athletes as well as players from other sports fields.
Athletes such as Anuradha Biswal (India’s best bet in Olympics
for 100 mtrs hurdles and 4 x100 metres Relay), Susama Behera (SAF medal
winner and national record holder, 1998 and medal winner, 1991-02, Javeline),
S. Oram (400 meter hurdles, Junior Asiad Silver , Senior National Gold
In 800 mtrs), Babu Marandi (Junior Asiad Silver, Junior World 800 mtrs),
Hemant Patel (SAF Gold in long jump-thrice), B. Singh (under 20 yr SAF,
long jump), Farooq Ali (junior Asiad Silver 400 mtrs), Anil Minz (senior
national Gold 1996-02, 800 mtrs and gold in World Police Games Meet,
Canada, 1999) and Rachita Panda have trained and grown under my coaching.
It gives you the sense of complete satisfaction viewing athletes (players)
stick to commitment, perform well and never forget to show due respect
to their coaches.
I’ve also worked as a senior coach in Athletics at NSNIS, Patiala.
To be a professional coach, you must have played at least at state (3
times for a +2 candidate)/national level (for a graduate candidate).
There are BPED, MPED and other short-term diploma courses offered by
NSNIS at Patiala which now have branches in Bangalore, Kolkata and Tripura.
In India, though people have become more aware of the charm and benefits
of a career in sports, the concept of a career in coaching has not sunk
in well. Coaches themselves have to come up with innovative ideas to
keep themselves appointed. But, I don’t think that time is far
away when individual sportspersons/athletes/corporate-sports teams/educational
institutions will vie for hiring committed coaches as is the case in
world’s
leading sports-faring countries. |
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Be
in sports.
Be an envoy of
your country.
Anuradha Biswal is one of
the best known athletes of the country who has broken
her own national record in 100 mtrs hurdles 8 times,
won silvers and bronzes in Asian Track and Field
Events, competed in Sydney Olympics and the pivot
of our 4 x 100 relay team and best bet in 100 mtrs
hurdles at international events. She also works as
an executive in NALCO. Given a choice, she would
any day prefer to chart a career in sports only,
says she. For, sportspersons are a country’s
best mascots.
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Hardly anybody could have guessed where I was heading
for when I first walked down the sprints-tracks of SAIL
stadium at Rourkela as a toddler. But, my father (who
himself was a state level volley ball player) seemed
to have his intuitions right as he continued to take
me to the stadium while going for his practice. When
at Std-V, I won my first medal (a bronze) in sprints
in my life’s first event in Inter-Steel Plant competitions.
I started my full-fledged career in sports by enrolling
myself in the SAI Summer Coaching Camp during that time.
My father is the one who identified my talents in hurdles.
I changed to hurdles and trained under Panchanan Gantayat
and later under Arun Das who have groomed me to become
a hurdler. In 1987 at my first national competition i.e.
Junior National Meet, Jalandhar, I created a record in
100 metres hurdles. In that year, for the first time
I ran with the legendary P. T. Usha at senior level.
It is important that a youngster’s talent is identified early.
So that he/she can be put under proper training and right kind of guidance.
Directorate of Sports sends coaches to village level sports competitions
to identify talent according to different age groups for various sports/athletics.
And SAI also selects talents at district levels. All these talents are
required to stay in DOS and SAI sports hostels which are there in a number
of districts. The hostellers are provided free boarding, diet, medical
facility, sports kit and coaching in their respective disciplines. The
best part of staying in these hostels is that you are allowed to carry
on with your studies. They get exposed to higher standards of coaching
and opportunity to compete in national and international arena.
Students can appear for trial sessions at SAI hostels
and get better facilities and coaching. AIAAF calls talents
from these hostels. I myself am a product of SAI sports
hostel (Rourkela and then Cuttack).
But parental or family support is most essential at every stage of a
sportsperson’s career. In my case, both my father and my mother
and later, my husband Paramananda Routray (who coaches me now) have been
great supports to my career.
At the international level, the player not only creates an individual
identity, but also his/her country’s identity. They contribute
to national pride and can play vital roles in building up/strengthening
country-to-country relationships.
Outstanding sportspersons get picked up by public and private corporates
and government departments as executives. If one is good in writing,
he/she can write columns in newspapers/magazines. Apart from these, one
gets enough time to carry on with one’s higher studies which aids
to one’s existing job in a company or alternatively, can help in
finding a satisfying job after one’s sporting life. I have earned
my graduation and post graduation degrees along with my sporting career
(pursuing LLM).
At present, I’m training under my Ukrainian Coach Yuri Alexander
for half the time in a year and preparing for the selection to the pre-Olympic
training camp in the USA.
I think a life in sports contributes a lot to one’s
personal and mental discipline which is central to success
in any spheres of our activity. |
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