New Delhi

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to conduct advanced one-day online workshops to update the knowledge of the Indian coaches, Ravinder Chaudhry, secretary of AFI said on Wednesday.

“The online workshops will be conducted by foreign experts from across the globe from the first week of January next,” Chaudhry added. “The main goal is to strengthen the ecosystem at the grassroots level in the country.”

The registration for the one-day online workshops will be open from December 10, the AFI secretary added.

Loren Seagrave of USA and Jonas Dodoo from England will conduct workshops in sprints and hurdles. The main topic will be the latest methodology of speed training.

Klaus Bartonietz, former coach of India’s double Olympic Games medalist Neeraj Chopra, and Don Babbitt of USA will conduct a one-day online workshop on throws (biomechanic and technical model of throws).

The workshop on middle and long distance  (latest method of endurance training for high performance) will be conducted by Gunter Lange (Germany) and Scott Simmons (USA).

Georgian Valeri Obidko will conduct a seminar on jumps (biomechanic and technical model of jumps).

Seminars on strength and conditioning, and general training methodology will also be conducted.  “The AFI will charge a nominal fee of Rs 1000 per candidate to attend the online advanced workshops,” Chaudhry added.

To improve the coaching ecosystem in the country the AFI started Coaches Education Programme in early 2018. “The programme included an AFI Pre Level 1 coaching course. World Athletics Level 1 and Level 2 specialised courses with an aim to have 40,000 coaches by 2036,” the AFI secretary explained. “Till date there are more than 1,000 Level 1 coaches in the country.”