NRAI, shooters thrash out role of personal coaches in Paris Olympics build-up

The other issue discussed was the participation in Munich with some of the shooters wanting to skip the World Cup because of “fatigue” after the month-long Olympic trials. It was learnt that NRAI also had a long meeting with Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) TOPS division on Tuesday over issues raised by shooters. After Munich, the Olympic squad, yet to be announced, will have a short camp in Volmerange, France.

NRAI senior vice-president Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo said they have spoken to shooters and given them “flexibility” to pick the events in which they want to compete in Munich. Deo said the shooters will get the assistance of their personal coaches, but every selected shooter, their personal coach and the high performance coaching staff will work on a common schedule.

“Every shooter has different requirements and it is our job to see that their needs get fulfilled. We understand that personal coaches have an important role to play, be it providing moral or technical support. However, we cannot let any of our Olympic shooters to go completely unmonitored for the Paris Olympics,” Deo told HT.

“The programme we have designed is that the personal coach, national coach, High Performance Director (HPD) and the shooter sit together and agree on a common training programme which we will follow in all the camps.”

In the last few months, several shooters have insisted on following their own training plans instead of the national training programme (NTP). Shooters also point out that frequent changes to the NTP hasn’t helped. The Munich World Cup was only added to the programme in March, which led to the Olympic trials being advanced. A national coach said on condition of anonymity that Munich was added on the request of some shooters and that they themselves wanted to withdraw.

Deo said NRAI officials spoke to the shooters and sorted it out.

“There were some shooters who expressed reservations about fatigue and wanted rest and recovery. We understand all shooters had a tough one month in the trials. It was mentally and physically draining. So, we have allowed them the flexibility of shooting in events as they feel. They can compete in one event or only in a ranking round.

“From the perspective of our high performance team, the last major international competition we had was the World Championships in Baku and the next one of such stature is going to be the Olympics. So, the Munich competition is important. Also, it will follow the same format, number of shooters, etc., used in Olympics. We feel it will give the shooters an experience of the environment without the pressure. So, it is important (as per the high performance team’s plan) is to compete.”

Many shooters have chosen to appear in RPO (ranking points only).

Shooters have also raised objections over the undertaking and SOP the federation has asked them to sign for the Paris Olympics.

“There is a long list of guidelines set for the personal coaches, which will come into play during the training phase leading up to the Paris Olympics. They just cannot recognise the contribution of personal coaches,” said a personal coach.

As per the guidelines, they can’t “directly instruct, communicate by self or any other means, without the consent/permission of foreign coach/chief coach during the event/competition.” Personal coaches are also not allowed to enter the field of play, athlete area and competition arena.

The directives led to complaints from many shooters working with their own coaches.

Deo said they have invited all the personal coaches who have signed SOPs to attend NRAI camps. “We will be as flexible as possible and decide on a case-by-case basis. But there should be some element of understanding between coaches and shooters. The idea is to bring personal coaches to contribute. The national coaches need to know what is happening because at the Olympics not every personal coach will sit behind every shooter. That’s not possible.”