Hyderabad, Feb 15 (IANS): In an initiative aimed at promoting women cricket players from grassroot levels, consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) on Wednesday announced the Junior Athlete Development Program (JADP) which will benefit 50 budding women cricketers from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu.
Organised in association with the cricket coaching centre, Coaching Beyond, the JADP will comprise 25 women cricketers who would be selected to train in Hyderabad and Chennai respectively, for a total of 50 scholarships per year.
The JADP is a holistic cricket-coaching programme which will focus on developing all aspects of the game -- technical, tactical, physical and mental skills.
Srinandan Sundaram, Executive Director, Foods & Refreshment, Hindustan Unilever Limited said: "For a while now, young girls in India have not had a uniform playing field to pursue their passion in sports, often due to lack of access to coaching academies, infrastructure, mentors etc. We aim to bridge this gap, and we want to encourage athletes to play the sport that they love without barriers."
Spread across 4 phases of selection and onboarding, the program will begin with trials across 20 districts across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Thereafter, the selected young women cricketers will be hosted to play a tournament in Chennai and Hyderabad respectively. After the tournament, 50 young women cricketers will be shortlisted for the HUL scholarship program. In the last phase, training will begin as part of the HUL scholarship, spanning 3 years.
Ravi Shastri, Co-founder, Coaching Beyond, said: "Women's cricket in India is undergoing a tremendous shift and it is exciting to witness the developments. The way forward is truly to encourage and recruit young talent to take the sport to newer heights. I have always believed that playing a sport as a child not only builds character and confidence but also gives a sense of accomplishment, freedom, and enjoyment."
Apart from providing the selected cricketers with match clothing, practice clothing and general cricket equipment, the Junior Athlete Development Scholarship Programme also includes components such as Bio-Mechanical Analysis and a Curated Skill Development Programme, Musculoskeletal Screening and a Rehabilitation Programme, Fitness Parameters Assessment and an Individualised Strength and Conditioning Programme, among others.