“The HPC has ambitious program to take hockey skills from its existing 10 Ggrassroots Centres and 3 Regional Development Centres (Bhubaneswar, Panposh and Sundergarh) to elite level over the next 3-5 years. The Boys program will have 30 Resident cadets from U-17,’’ sharedOdisha Sports Minister, Tusharkanti Behera.

He said, “We are seeing positive results in the girls and are confident that the HPC will be able to provide similar highly focused and professional training to the boys too. We will evaluate the players individually at the HPC, and match their skills with appropriate training at the world-class facilities here in Bhubaneswar. Training early at a synthetic turf vis-a-vis on Grass pitch grounds will benefit these players immensely.”

“NTHA Odisha will provide advanced level training and exposure to the cadets under a resident program, ensure maximum participation of our cadets in National Sub-Junior and Junior championships,” said Rajiv Seth, Project Director, NTHA O.

Elaborating on the scouting of boy cadets, he said, “Scouting programs and various trials were carried out in Rourkela, North East, Assam, Coorg and other States with promising hockey talents. We have already shortlisted 100 boys for the final selection camp in Bhubaneswar in the age group of U-17 from Odisha and Pan India. We hope to maintain same 60-40% focus from State and pan India unless we have more talent coming in from the state of Odisha, in which case the percentage mix can vary,’’ Seth added.

On the Grassroots Centres, he said, “The Hockey HPC already has 10 Grassroot centres that are operational in Sundargarh and Sambalpur districts. They are divided two categories _ Grassroot Promotion and Grassroot Elite. The former category will be instrumental in giving exposure to the youth of 7-10 years from promotion of hockey point of view and the later will be for youth of 10-14 years as elite talent which can easily be considered for RDC programs.

Exceptional talent can even be picked for the HPC directly. As many as 16 coaches have been appointed at these centres and provided Coaching Education Pathway programs to meet the demands of modern hockey”.

The Hockey HPC, NTHA O was launched by Government of Odisha in a partnership with Tata Steel and Tata Trusts for providing opportunities to grassroots talent to become professional hockey players and excel at National and International platforms. It has partnered with Dutch Olympian Floris Jan Bovelander to provide international level hockey training, along with life skills coaching, at the grassroots level as well as at the HPC at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneshwar.
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TOP: File photo of Talent Scouting Program held at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
RIGHT: File photo of Talent Scouting Trial held in Rourkela.