Margao
Athletics they say is the mother of all sports but if you check the number of Goa government coaches engaged in coaching young athletes across the state, the number is not enough to take care of the needs of the state and the focus seems to be more on the city talent while neglecting the rural youths.
Talk to any of the Goan Athletic Association officials and they would agree in private that six athletic coaches for the state is too small a number and all of them are based in the major towns of the state.
Of the two premier government frontal organizations - Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) and Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs ( DYSA), which aim to carry the state coaching agenda forward - have just six coaches on their rolls. A sharp contrast to a large number of coaches working under SAG in different disciplines.
Of the six coaches five work with SAG and one works with DSYA.
Mind you all the six are based in around the major towns and none in the rural areas, which the hotbed of talent and the hunger to perform and excel abounds.
Last year’s National Games showed that the far-flung areas of Goa abound in talent. You do not have to go far to find out the ground realities.
Two persons who have worked with the grassroots talents are the two physical education teachers Ranjan Mathew, a Physical Education teacher at Government College Quepem and Savio Leitao, Physical education teacher at Mallikarjun College in Canacona.
Both of them have worked for over three decades with the rural and tribal youths and they will both at lengths to tell some of the success stories on the sporting front and working with the rural talent.
More needs to be done for the rural talent they will argue and the need to reach out to the talent and groom and take to the national level. But their voice has been lost in the wilderness.
But one athletic coach who has been tirelessly working day in and day out, rain or shine has been Patrick Soares.
A Fatorda resident, Patrick is coaching at PJN Stadium, Fatorda outdoor complex and trains children both in the morning as well as in the evening sessions.
Two other coaches, Devi Gaonkar and Digamber Narvekar coaching at Athletic Stadium, Bambolim, while Digamber also coaches at Agassaim school during morning sessions.
In Ponda, you have Snehal Parwar coaching at Ponda Govt sports Complex while Karishma Narvekar coaches at Sharada English High School, Miramar.
P. D. Shashi Kumar, Athletic coach attached with DSYA coaches at Peddem, Mapusa athletic track to complete the SAG and DSYA coaches’ circle.
Deseiree Pereira is another level 2 coach who also has her private training at Athletic Stadium Bambolim and she also coaches at Don Bosco college and GERA School.
The Goan Athletics Association, the parent body controlling the sports in the state is entrusted with the responsibility of selecting the athletes for the national championship and they make sure the selected athletes undergo 21 days coaching at different venues.
