New Delhi: The Indian Army will soon hire more foreign coaches to train its sporting enthusiasts after its contingent won four gold, one silver and three bronze medals at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Colonel Dev Raj Gill, commandant of the Army Sports Institute (ASI), told ThePrint that the force is looking for more foreign coaches outside the four who are already training their players.
In these Commonwealth Games, the winners from the Army were: Naib Subedar Jeremy Lalrinnunga (Gold) and Havildar Achinta Shuli (Gold) in Weightlifting, Subedar Deepak Punia (Gold) and Wrestling Constable Deepak Nehra (Bronze), Subedar Amit Panghal (Gold). ) and Subedar Mohammad Husamuddin (Bronze) in Boxing and Naib Subedar Avinash Sable (Silver) in Athletics and Subedar Sandeep Kumar (Bronze).
“This time, 18 of our players participated and eight of them got medals. Few remember it less,” said a proud Colonel Gill, adding that these medals were the result of a carefully planned and sustained “Mission Olympic Program” by the Indian Army, which was conceived and implemented in 2001.
After the team returned to India, Army Chief General Manoj Pandey and senior officials met the team on Wednesday and awarded them a citation and a cash incentive. Medal winners will also get out-of-turn promotion as per the extant policy.
Recruitment of children of 8 to 14 years in Army Sports Wing
Col Gill said that there are three areas of recruitment in ASI, including Boys Sports Company. In this category, the Army covers children in the age group of 8 to 14 years in the current seven disciplines.
“The idea is to catch them young. This is mainly done through talent scouting. We have an officer, two junior commissioned officers and a whole team of many coaches looking for talent. They go to different schools, competitions … under 14, under 12,” he said.
He said: “We have some standards and whoever clears it – and medical – joins in. This boys’ sports company acts as a conveyor belt for us. It’s like a supply chain.”
The ASI has a sanctioned strength of 210 boys and the annual recruitment is based on ‘wasset’ or boys who have moved to the senior category, he said.
Col Gill also said that the boys had stayed at his institute and the army had borne all the expenses.
“They train with me… sleep and study with me. We have teachers for them. We have personality classes. We have introduced the mental strength training aspect,” he said.
more areas of recruitment
Another scope for recruitment was the visits of talent-finding teams to various national sporting events.
“If we see a bright prospect, we enlist him,” Gill said.
The third scope was through the Army’s ‘sports challenge’, or various inter-Army competitions.
He added that anyone who joined the ASI “only breathed, talked and played”. These soldiers are kept away from real soldiers and transfers.
How is the training organized?
The Commandant explained that the ASI has a full-fledged long-term athlete development programme.
“It has five pillars. The first is the athlete himself, he is the center of gravity for all, the coach, his training, leadership and performance.
“We put a lot of emphasis on it. I have hired foreign coaches for them. I have four foreign coaches.’
Col Gill said that any sportsperson from the Army who made it to the national competitions was invited by the government’s National Sports Federation to participate in the camps.
“He trains with the Federation. We also train these people in collaboration with the national body. We also send them abroad,” he said.
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