New Delhi: Hockey India in its endeavour to produce and nurture young talent in hockey, today announced the launch of its online academy platform which gives a huge boost to the coaches who are responsible towards the development of young talent from the grass-roots level.

The initiative coined as Hockey India On-line Academy platform is a comprehensive programme designed and created by Hockey India. This Online Hockey Academy platform is aimed at helping the coaches sitting in different parts of the country to learn the new tricks, strategies and development in the game and they in turn can inculcate in the daily learning routing of the young brigades.

The On-line Hockey Academy also helps keep the coaches abreast with the latest techniques of coaching and who in turn can work towards ensuring that the players adapt to these technical aspects.

Speaking on the occasion, Hockey India Secretary General Mohd. Mushtaq Ahmad said, “It is a proud moment for Hockey India today as we take another step forward in order to foster and motivate the young talents of hockey to learn and adapt to the modern styles of hockey. This initiative is focused at helping the coaches to learn about the latest developments and introduce the same to their respective unit. Also, it’s a known fact, newer and innovative ways of learning will make the players start thinking on the field and in the process cull out one’s own way of playing, which will help him / her grow and get ready for the on-field challenges”.

Speaking on the initiative, Director High Performance, Mr. Roelant Oltmans said, “We realized that the online world is no more limited to a few and everyone is sitting and learning online. While efforts are being put in to physically keep the coaches aware of the development in the game internationally. This online academy platform showcases every facet of the game from the right way to hold the hockey stick to what is the right posture when one wants to hit that perfect penalty corner. The videos even show moments from different matches which help to understand how players react under pressure and the immediate strategies that the team follows on the field”.

The Hockey India On-line Academy platform goes LIVE from 17 December 2014 and can be visited on www.hioap.org