The Sports Authority of India will conduct online education programme and lectures to keep its coaches engaged during the lockdown period in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. The SAI on Tuesday also started a two-day special online session for female athletes of its Bangalore and Patiala centres on female physiology with special focus on different phases of menstrual cycle.
The coach education programme, to be done via Zoom, will be like a refresher course. Coaches from swimming, judo and volleyball will have their one-hour session on Wednesday while the programmes on athletics, fencing, weightlifting and boxing will be held on Thursday.
The two-day session for female athletes will be conducted by Dr Poornima Raman Ngomdir (PT), who is a sports physiotherapist and head of sports sciences with Olympic Gold Quest.
The online session, which is titled ‘Encouraging and supporting Female Athletes’, is being held to address the physical challenges faced by female athletes and aimed at understanding exactly how they can optimise their performance during that time.
The first session was held on Tuesday with the senior women’s hockey team members stationed at SAI Bangalore and the second session will be held on Wednesday with female athletes currently training in SAI Patiala.
Nearly 100 female athletes and support staff are expected to be part of these two sessions with special care being taken that no male members are present during these meetings so that the participants don’t feel uncomfortable talking about the matter.
“With this session I am aiming to teach them how to fuel their system during different phases of the menstrual cycle and how to utilise it as an advantage rather than thinking of the hormonal changes as a disadvantage,” Dr Poornima said in a SAI statement.
“The current time there is a lot of dilemma and ambiguity going around, especially for the athletes because their future is very unsure looking at the next couple of months.
“At these times, such online sessions are good because this way the athletes and their support can keep themselves updated with what is happening,” she added.
The SAI has also lined up sports science lectures as part the of coach development programme during the lockdown period.
Eminent speakers from top institutes of the country will deliver online lectures on topics relating to physiology, bio chemistry, strength and conditioning, physiotherapy and injury prevention, sports medicine, nutrition, sports psychology, bio mechanics and doping.
“As far as I know, the SAI is using this period of Covid-19 to conduct this refresher course for the coaches. This is a welcome move. As a coach, it is always good to have additional knowledge,” national cycling coach RK Sharma told PTI.
Indian athletics high performance director Volker Herrmann will be one of those who will conduct the sessions.
With PTI Inputs