New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS): Hockey India on Wednesday announced that they will conduct the Hockey India Coaching Education Pathway Level 'Basic' Coaching Course (online) through the virtual medium.

After the organisation of the online course in September/October earlier this year, Hockey India has once again called for applications of interested and aspiring coaches to apply through an open forum and only 70 slots will be available for the online course, which will be held on December 22 and 23. The candidates have to submit their application before Friday.

Candidates will be chosen through a first-cum-first-serve basis and minimum criteria to apply requires an interested applicant to have coached either a district, school or university hockey team for at least three years or he or she should have played national level/all india university level for at least three years.

The course is targeted at coaches potential coaches who have not attended any Hockey India Level 'Basic' & Level '1' Coaching Course in the past.

Since the launch of Coaching Education Pathway in 2019, over 700 coaches from across the country have benefitted from the program which is a simplified education structure that consists of a combination of web-based modules and face-to-face interactive courses, underpinned by a competency-based assessment process, which helps the coaches in progressing to higher levels.

Candidates who successfully pass the Hockey India Level 'Basic' Coaching Course would become eligible to attend the Hockey India Level '1' Coaching Course in the future. There is no participation fee to attend the course. Only those candidates who successfully complete the Hockey India Level '1' Coaching Course will be provided the necessary certification.

"The course will certainly help the candidates understand the basics of hockey coaching properly and lay down a strong foundation for themselves before they move on to higher levels of the Hockey India Coaching Education Pathway," said Hockey India president Gyanendro Ningombam.