NDMC to rope in pro academies for sports coaching across 23 venues

The 10 sports included in the scheme are basketball, football, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, hockey, lawn tennis, boxing, cricket, and swimming

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) will rope in professional coaches and sports training academies to provide coaching in ten disciplines across 23 locations in New Delhi, including major stadia, swimming pools, and schools with sports infrastructure.

The project covers key NDMC sports venues such as the Talkatora cricket ground, Shivaji Hockey Stadium (above) and the NDMC Indoor Stadium. (Archive/Getty Images)

The civic body has invited bids to hire training academies under the public private partnership (PPP) mode, where coaching will be offered at subsidised rates on a revenue-sharing basis. The project covers key NDMC sports venues such as the Talkatora cricket ground, Shivaji Hockey Stadium and the NDMC Indoor Stadium. The ten sports included in the scheme are basketball, football, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, hockey, lawn tennis, boxing, cricket, and swimming.

An NDMC official said the model aims to “operationalise structured sports coaching for students and local children through professional agencies by utilising NDMC sports infrastructure”.

“Under the project, coaching will be provided at facilities available at the above-mentioned schools, sports complexes and swimming pools for residents as well as NDMC school students. NDMC will provide the infrastructure and facilities initially. The maintenance of these facilities, including replacement, will be the responsibility of the sports academy,” the official said.

The civic body, which administers the Lutyens’ Delhi area, runs 31 Atal Adarsh Vidyalayas and 11 Navyug Schools with around 30,000 students enrolled.

NDMC had first introduced the PPP-based sports training model in 2016 to enable structured coaching through professional agencies. The scheme was discontinued in 2020 after the previous memorandum of understanding expired in March that year, followed by the Covid-19 lockdowns.

For the new rollout, NDMC has designated Shivaji Stadium for hockey training, Shera Ground at Mandir Marg for lawn tennis, Talkatora Stadium for boxing, and Talkatora Garden Ground for cricket.

Last year, the civic body also announced plans to hire part-time sports coaches to develop schools as training hubs. Under that scheme, 24 part-time coaches were appointed across ten sports, including cricket, hockey, football, volleyball, basketball, badminton, boxing, and lawn tennis, to train NDMC school students after school hours.