The Punjab state sports department is coming up with an ambitious project to take sports to beginners at the village level to prop up a new generation of athletes.
According to the New Sports Policy 2023, the department has taken up an aim of setting up 1,000 sports nurseries across the state for children in the age group of 7-12 years.
“There are around 13,000 villages in Punjab, and we are looking to provide a nursery on a cluster basis to every 10-12 villages so that children can have access to proper sports facilities and coaching close to their homes,” said Punjab sports department deputy director, Parminder Singh Sidhu.
As of now, Sidhu said, only the children in urban centres and those with resources can avail of coaching and facilities, but to prepare a whole new generation of players we need to expand the pool so that we can get more talent.
The project, which costs around 147 crore rupees, has provision for providing coaching, equipment, and diet to 60 children in every such nursery.
“We aim at identifying the budding talent in these nurseries and then take the players to our centres of excellence for advanced training, to groom them into world-class players,” said Sidhu.
District sports officers are being asked for suggestions to decide on the distribution of all the games kept under this scheme, in different nurseries of the respective villages. On the basis of that, facilities will be developed.
{{/usCountry}}District sports officers are being asked for suggestions to decide on the distribution of all the games kept under this scheme, in different nurseries of the respective villages. On the basis of that, facilities will be developed.
{{/usCountry}}In the first phase of the scheme, the department will establish 250 nurseries. The work on 12 nurseries, as a pilot project, in different districts is in the final phases, according to him.
“We have identified the land, surveyed it, and prepared the maps for the facilities. The work must start once the formalities are completed.”