The beginning of the IPL created a stir in the sports fraternity. But it’s still a long wait before they can resume their activities.
Image: Siora photography/Unsplash
Sports coaches and support staff have been among the worst-hit professionals during the COVID-19 forced lockdown with "virtually no income" for the past three months.
The nationwide lockdown, that was imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus, started on March 25. Since then, all sporting action was brought to a halt. Though restrictions have been relaxed gradually, the coaching community and support staffs have had to bear the brunt of the lockdown financially.
With no relief in sight in the near future, many trainers are now reinventing their gigs to keep their students engaged and also to promote physical fitness. “The physical trainers and fitness coaches who worked indoors have switched to online sessions and are able to keep afloat in terms of engagement with students. But those who were providing training in sports the suffering continues,” says Sharad Suryavanshi, secretary of Nagpur District Athletic Association.
Building stamina
With athletes requiring high level of practice and fitness, the coaches are now conducting online sessions in which they talk to students about their weakness and how to build on their strength and improve over all performance. The athletes are also being advised to tone their bodies through massages and shuddhi kriya. “We are telling them to do these ayurvedic treatments at home and build their stamina through regular exercises,” says Suryavanshi.
With grounds and pools closed, training for sports like cricket, swimming, volleyball and even table tennis and badminton, which can be played indoors is not happening. Coaches whose only profession was to provide training in these sports are jobless and finding it very difficult to cope. Many of them run academies which employ assistant coaches too who chip in on part time basis.
Even the physical training teacher employed by schools are finding the going tough as private schools are unable to pay them their salaries. “Now we too have decided to hold PT classes on Zoom in which we are making the students do suryanamaskar and other fitness exercises,” says Padmakar Charmode, a senior Physcial Training teacher at R.S. Mundle High School. Tournaments which give a PT teacher his true identity have not happened this year and there is no likelihood of them taking place during this academic session. “We asked municipal commissioner to allow some games on the sports fields but were denied. Also the parents are still weary of sending their children for sports practice,” informs Charmode who now says that teachers like him are planning to begin sports practice with a small group while observing social distancing.
No urgency
A full time coach for a sport like badminton earns around Rs 60,000 per month through two sessions held morning and evening, which come to nearly 10 hours of coaching every day. In Nagpur there are around 50 to 60 coaches who run sports academies with the help of assistant coaches working part time. In bigger cities like Mumbai the number of coaches could be more than 200 and most make upwards of Rs 1 lakh per month. “But these numbers are still not big enough to put pressure on government to restart sports activities,” says Jayendra Dhole a badminton coach.
A fortnight back around 300 sports coaches from all over Maharashtra had given a signed representation to chief minister and prime minister asking for financial help for the coaching community to help them tide over these difficult times. They also approached the state minister of sports Sunil Kedar to address their plight. “Though some states are opening up sports activities, Maharashtra is still not ready to do so. Only six persons are allowed at the moment and the full social distancing protocol has to be followed. This makes training difficult,” says Dhole and adds that sports is not a priority at the moment with the government and so there is no urgency to resume these activities.
There is a long wait before we can see action on sports grounds. But till then players, government agencies and society will have to come out in support of the coaches to help them sustain themselves and their academies.
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