Despite a good past, the future is uncertain for Jalandhar hockey academy due to COVID-19
Jalandhar’s Surjit Hockey Academy in Punjab has an excellent record in churning out great hockey players. In fact, their record of producing star players who went on to become Olympians is impeccable.
From having three academy players in men’s hockey team for the 2016 Rio Olympics, the number has increased to six for Tokyo.
Academy coach Avtar Singh had an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda. This is what he had to say:
“It’s the result of academy’s long-term development programme. There were 17 players from Punjab in the national camp, 13 of them from Surjit Hockey Academy. We are happy that six of them will play in Japan”
Avtar Singh is a former national level player himself. He took over the reign of chief coach at the Surjit Hockey Academy in 2008. He has one goalkeeping coach and an assistant coach to support him.
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The academy was setup in early 1990’s and is run by the Punjab government.
India's star forwards Akashdeep Singh, Manpreet Singh and Mandeep Singh were the three players from the academy who represented India at the Rio Olympics.
“The number has gone up to six in 2021. Indians skipper Manpreet Singh. Harmanpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Hardik Singh, Dilpreet Singh and Shamsher Singh are all products of the academy,” added the coach.
The academy's long-term plan includes improving basic skills as well as focusing on the concept of playing modern hockey.
“Individual skills and overall development are the two important areas we have been working on. This gives a chance to each individual to play at different positions during the match,” revealed the hockey coach.
Avtar Singh said there are over 100 players in all three age groups at the academy.
“We have a three different development programs at the academy, u-14, u-17 and u-19. The players at the academy are provided accommodation, meals and kit,” he added.
According to Avtar Singh, good practice matches in Jalandhar help the players to develop faster than hockey stars from other parts of the country.
“There are overall 20 local hockey teams including eight departmental teams in Jalandhar. The local competition gives opportunity to showcase talent as well as to improve skills,” said the coach.
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Why the Surjit Hockey Academy is facing a tough time
Despite being the feeding ground of the Indian team, the academy only has one turf that was laid in 2009.
“It’s 10 years old. The hockey pitch needs to be replaced,” added the coach.
Despite being so important to the success of Indian hockey, the academy is facing a difficult time at the moment due to COVID-19. The coaching department of the academy might have to rework their future development plans in accordance with the social distancing rules.
“Due to the pandemic, no practice could take place in 2020. A second wave of the virus has disrupted half of the 2021 season. The budding players haven’t done any good training,” said the coach.
The worrying factor for the coach is that those in the under-14 group have moved up to the next age group without learning the fundamentals. The case will be similar for all subsequent age groups. Avtar Singh is hopeful that they can train harder and recover the lost time when things get back to normal.
“Hope we can recover the lost ground when proper training resume,” said Avtar Singh.
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