New Delhi: The ambitious High Performance Programme of Hockey India (HI) is all set to go live from next month with the launch of its website, a one of a kind interactive platform for coaches and players of the country.
The website will be launched in three-phased manner with the basic level launch scheduled for next month, intermediate level by October and the elite level by December end.
The website will be on the lines of International Hockey Federation's (FIH) Hockey Academy's portal and will aim to deliver a simplified education framework for the development of coaches and players from grass roots to a high performance level.
The website, a brainchild of Hockey India's High Performance Director and Dutch legend Roelant Oltmans, will not be open to public and can only be accessed by different academies under Hockey India and its coaches and players.
"It's a part of our talent development programme. Through this programme we want to develop the skill patterns, technical patterns of young boys and girls in the country.
The website will be an interactive platform which will have all necessary details about the game of hockey -- tactical, technical, physical and mental aspects," Oltmans told PTI in an exclusive chat.
"To make the programme more effective we are searching for a number of hockey academies in the country to allign with and follow our programme," he said.
"There are different areas if you talk about development and -- one is development of athletes and the other is development of coaches. Just like players, this website will have better coach development programme as well," the Dutchman added.
The contents of the website, developed by a professional firm, will be out of bounds for general public.
"It is almost ready. We are now just depending on the technicians to ensure us that it is tactically perfect and everything is secured properly," Oltmans said.
"Access will be limited to academies who is under this programme and follow our principles," he said.
Oltmans said in a bid to strengthen the grassroot levels of Indian hockey, once the powerhouse of the game with eight Olympic gold medals to its credit, HI was in the process of appointing High Performance Managers for different zones of the country who will follow the programme.
"Just like Vasudevan Baskaran (High Performance Manager of South Zone) we will appoint High Performance Managers in different regions of the country who will follow this programme," he said.
Olympic gold medallist and former coach of the senior men's team Baskaran, took charge as South Zone High Performance Manager earlier this month with an aim to find fresh talent across the country. He will be implementing HI's development programme for men and women at the grassroots level, including school, college and district level hockey.
According to sources in HI, two more High Performance Managers -- for Central and North zones -- have been finalised and will be appointed this month.
Oltmans said the International Hockey Federation (FIH)'s has extended full support to the programme.
"We are working in co-operation with FIH on coaches progarmme, but we are working ourselves on the academy programme. But the FIH has assured us all help," he said.
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