Curriculum redesigning for NSNIS Diploma and strengthening faculty at NCSC among key decisions taken by SAI’s Academic Council

Sports coaching is one of the most important aspects of creating a strong sports ecosystem in the country. To further promote and strengthen sports coaching both at the grassroot and elite level, the 27th Academic Council of the Sports Authority of India has taken some key decisions in its recent council meeting.

The decisions are aimed to promote sporting excellence by strengthening the already existing system at the National Centre for Sports Coaching (NCSC), as well as to provide new skills to coaches in line with the evolving needs of athletes.

The key decisions taken by the council are as under:

1)         In keeping with the evolving structure of the global sports ecosystem and to ensure that Indian coaches are equipped to train athletes as per global standards, the syllabus structure and contents of the premiere course at NSNIS Patiala, Diploma course in Sports Coaching, have been revised after wide consultations with all relevant stakeholders, including the National Sporting Federations of the sporting disciplines.It has also been decided that in view of the Covid Pandemic the first semester of the Diploma course will be held online.

2)         An expert sub-committee has been formed to take steps towards strengthening the quality of the faculty at SAI’s National Institute of Sports in Patiala, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Trivandrum. This expert committee will screen the existing faculty and recommend new and future faculty and guest teachers so that a pool of outstanding experts can be created and course trainees can benefit from the best faculty available in the country, especially in the new online teaching format that has been adopted recently.

3) Taking note of the present Covid-19 situation, a decision was taken to continue the six-week certificate course of the coaches education programme online for grassroot-level and developmental coaches.

Speaking about the decisions, Colonel RS Bishnoi, Senior Executive Director (Academics) said, “The endeavour of the council has been to upgrade the current academic system in SAI to align the existing course to the evolving sports ecosystem. Getting the best faculty from across the country for the Diploma in Sports Coaching programme is also a key decision that has been taken. These are decisions that will go a long way in ensuring that sports coaching education in India creates sporting excellence at all levels.”