More coaches - a pressing need

By M.C. Raman

CHENNAI, JUNE 13. If one listens to the speeches of politicians at prize distribution functions of sports events one will definitely appreciate their concern for the development of sports in the State.

This `awareness' among the local politicians has increased tremendously after the 1995 SAF Games, which was hosted here when Ms J. Jayalalitha was in power. The present Government has gone one step further by appointing a Sports Minister for the first time.

All these progressive measures sound good and there is an impression that things are moving smoothly for the sports fraternity in Tamil Nadu. But the ground realities are different. There are sports officials who believe that the State's chances in major games like hockey, football, basketball, volleyball as also athletics may be affected in future if the State Government does not act fast and do something about the appointment of new coaches.

The district officials have been complaining that there is a shortage of trainers throughout the State. Even at the last meeting, which the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu convened at the Nehru Stadium, inviting officials of all associations and other experts, the major complaint was the shortage of coaches.

In the last 10 years, the number of districts has gone up to 29. In each district there should be a minimum of five coaches in games in which Tamil Nadu is performing creditably, according to Mr. Ezekiel, General Manager, SDATN. Hockey, athletics, basketball, volleyball and football come in this category. But the coaches say there should be seven. Apart from the five coaches, there should be one more for the most popular sport in that district and any other game in which the district has a strong base - say, like kabaddi.

It is strange that when the number of districts has increased the number of coaches has come down to about 85, who are SDATN appointees, and there are about 45 SAI coaches. Even then the shortage is quite alarming. To cover all the districts there should be another 60 to 70 coaches.

The SDATN officials admit there is a shortage of coaches. ``We have collected all the complaints and information from the last meeting and prepared a report. There is an important meeting with the Sports Minister in July. We hope that these problems will be sorted out then,'' said a top SDATN official.

Why this dwindle in the numerical strength of the trainers? It is alleged that the proposals in the past for the appointment of coaches were shot down by the Finance Ministry. It is being suggested that the State Government could utilise the services of SAI coaches whenever there is need for them here. But the fact is that SAI itself has curtailed its in-take of trainers over the years. Moreover, they are mostly specialist coaches now and they cannot be utilised at the grassroots level.

It was when Mr. A.N. Dyaneswaran was in charge of TN Sports Development Corporation that the State had a full compliment of about 150 coaches. That was 10 years ago. Since then there has been a steady decline in fresh appointments and some of the coaches have been promoted as district officers. But the vacuum has been left uncovered. In the long run this is bound to be bad for sport in the State as a whole.

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Section  : Sport
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