Bangalore to be India’s hockey centre?

BANGALORE: Sports Authority of India, Bangalore will be the hockey centre of India if a proposal by chief coach Michael Nobbs is accepted and acted upon by the union sports ministry. Nobbs, who presented his vision for Indian hockey before he took over as the chief coach, had insisted on developing one centre in the country which would take care of the needs of the game and house international teams for short training stints.

“Just like the hockey centre of the Australian Institute of Sports is in Perth, we would like to have the Indian institute of hockey in Bangalore, where the men’s, women’s, the development and junior teams can train. We would also want such a centre to have the best of equipment as we don’t have to lug around ball machines, radar guns and the goalkeeping equipment that we use,” Nobbs pointed out.

“We can also use the facilities here to train coaches. This will be the centre where information about the game is disseminated. We can send out videos to different areas in the country about various skills being practiced. The coaches, in turn, go back and teach others what they learnt here.”

Nobbs also said Bangalore could be projected as a preferred destination for international teams to stop over on the way to big tournaments. “They can use the facility for practice games and test matches. The weather here is excellent throughout the year and so other teams will not have a problem coming to Bangalore,” said Nobbs.

According to the Australian, very few changes are required at SAI Bangalore to make it happen. “We need to change the turf, a couple of change rooms, a media tower to videograph games and a small patch of artificial turf for shooting practice.

The rest of it – the dope testing and medical facilities, the sports science back-up – is excellent. We can also seek exercise physiologist David John’s help in fine-tuning a few of these aspects,” he said. It is learnt that the proposal will be submitted to Hockey India, SAI and the sports ministry.

Woman psychologist to work with hockey team

Dr Chaitanya Sridhar, a former Sports Authority of India (SAI) employee and a well-known sports psychologist, will begin work with the national hockey campers in Bangalore on a trial basis from Thursday.

Sridhar met chief coach Michael Nobbs and the players in Bangalore last week and going by indications, her appointment is a mere formality. “We are thinking of bringing in a sports psychologist. Bangalore-based Dr Chaitanya Sridhar, who studied at the University of Western Australia, approached us last week and made a presentation,” Nobbs said. “We have decided to give her an opportunity on trial basis and she will be working in the national camps.”