The Sports Ministry is looking to give a special allowance to coaches who train talented provincial level athletes to perform competently at both the national and international level.
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| Mahindananda Aluthgamage |
The Minister of Sports Mahindananda Aluthgamage expressed these ideas at a meeting held this morning to explain about the Kreeda Shakthi programme to Sports Officers from the Central Province at the auditorium of the Kandy District Secretariat.
The Minister of Sports said “There seems to be reluctance among the provincial coaches to hand in the talented athletes they have trained from the provincial level to the national coaches when the athletes are selected to the national squads.
“Behaviour such as this from the provincial coaches becomes a barrier towards selecting good athletes who can perform well at both national and international tournaments. Therefore, as the Ministry of Sports we decided to implement a programme to encourage the provincial coaches by providing them with a kind of sponsorship. As a result, the Ministry of Sports will be giving an allowance of Rs. 100,000 to encourage the coaches that mould athletes to represent Sri Lanka at the national and international competitions.”
The Minister stated further “An athlete who is selected to the national squads is a national treasure and should be taken care of. Such athletes should not be kept at the provincial level and should be taken care of in a regularized manner. These athletes need to be given the proper scientific training and trained to win international tournaments. Therefore, it is necessary to require the training of coaches who have international experience as well as talented. Taking this in to account, as per a National Sports Policy, the Ministry of Sports is registering all the coaches of Sri Lanka and grading them according to their skills.
Mrs. Ranjani Jayakody, Director General of the Department of Sports Development, Mr. Shantha Weerasinghe, Director (Sports) and Mr. Sajin Jayalal Deputy Director (Sports) of the Department of Sports Development were also present. |
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