THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Institute of Nutrition and Fitness Sciences (INFS), one of country’s largest fitness certification institutes, has launched India’s first structured online coaching programme, in association with Natekar Sports and Fitness.
The eight-week course is developed and delivered by Jose George, former Indian International player and co-founder of Jose George Badminton Academy in Kowdiar, Thiruvananthapuram, which trained leading junior Indian players including Shyam Prasad and Sankar Prasad.
The world-class programme aims at making professional coaching accessible to all children of 11 to 12 years and upward keen to take up badminton seriously and search for thorough training but lack access to international level trainers and club shuttlers.
Jyoti Dabas, Founder, INFS, said, “we scouted around the best badminton academies in India and collaborated with Jose George because of his stature as a player and coach and, more importantly, the thinking he brought to the development of the programme content.”
“My tryst with sports, and badminton in particular which started when I was a 10-yer-old, has been my sustenance and joy”, said Jose, a member of Indian team for Thomas Cup, ranked #3 in Indian Men Doubles at retirement in 2010.
Partner and Chief Coach of Jose George Badminton Academy, Jose said he is very proud of grooming national and state champions in a short span of time.
The course is for 8 weeks consisting of 5-6 modules every week, which the subscribers can access via online dashboard. The video and written materials cover the curriculum in a simple explanatory manner, which can be easily understood by anyone from the age of 11 or 12 and upwards.
The modules include comprehensive overview of the sport, types of equipment required, warm-up and basic movement drills, advanced movement drills, game-play plans, recovery, and hydration tips.
“The course covers in detail all the basic strokes, footwork movements, different strokes drills for singles and doubles, warm up and cooling down routine, strategies for singles and doubles etc,.” Jose said.
“I know Jose from his playing days and I was abreast with the unique badminton training programme he is building. He’s also been handpicked by Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) into their Coaches Excellence Programme this year. With all these, Jose was one of the first names that I considered to deliver this first-of-its-kind course for millions of Indians who seek professional training,” said Gaurav Natekar.
The Jose George Badminton Academy team includes TR Balachandran, a BWF Level 2 Coach and one of the senior most Badminton Coaches in India; Parul Rawat, former Top 10 Indian women singles players, and 35+ National Women Singles Champion of 2019, who also represented India at the ‘World Senior Championships’ in Poland and 4 other trainers.
