Jammu, Jul 18: In a landmark move destined to redefine the sporting landscape of J&K, the Directorate of Youth Services and Sports (DYSS) has officially operationalized nine premier ‘Academies of Excellence’ at the state-of-the-art Sports arena, Khel Gaon, in Nagrota here.
The transformative initiative has been set into motion through a comprehensive deployment order issued by the Director General of Youth Services and Sports, J&K, Anuradha Gupta.
This marks the spectacular first phase of a visionary, UT-wide blueprint by the Directorate, which has established specialized sports clusters across J&K to provide structured, elite-level training to the UT’s promising youth.
Highlighting the deep-rooted vision behind these specialized hubs, DG YSS stated that the establishment of these Academies of Excellence is a clear example of the department’s commitment to nurturing raw talent and building a world-class sporting ecosystem in J&K.
She emphasized that by setting up specialized sports clusters across the UT, the Directorate aims to bridge the gap between passion and professional training, adding that these academies will serve as launching pads for the youth to excel at national and international arenas.
To ensure the highest standard of mentorship, the Directorate has handpicked accomplished Physical Educators from the DYSS with proven, discipline-specific expertise to lead the initial nine disciplines.
Under this order, Atul Pangotra has been deployed for Taekwondo from the DYSS Office Jammu, Harvinder Singh for Athletics from GHS Bhagwati Nagar, Jagjit Singh for Hockey from GMS Akalpur, Rohit Kumar Gupta for Football from LHS Bain Bajalta, Sanjeet Kumar for Kabaddi from MS Rehari, Naresh Kumar for Volleyball who is already stationed at Khel Gaon Nagrota, Sanjay Khajuria for Badminton from GMS Railway Colony, Dheeraj Kumar for Wrestling from GMS Kachi Chawni, and Ujjwal Gupta for Fencing from GMS Bhadrore.
In a major boon for the youth, DG YSS announced that elite-level training at these academies will be provided entirely free of cost, with the gates of these academies wide open to passionate, talented players hailing from all districts of the UT.
While the talent hunt is universal, selected players coming from outside Jammu will temporarily need to manage their own boarding and lodging.
The Director General maintained that admission will be strictly merit-based, relying on rigorous physical fitness tests and sport-specific selection criteria, while the training schedules will be dynamically tailored and approved by the Directorate based on the expert recommendations of the respective coaches.
Moving away from traditional recreation, the academies will incorporate modern, scientific training methodologies where coaches are mandated to design advanced, long term training regimes incorporating micro, meso, and macro planning cycles.
To bring transparency and modern technology into the mix, all enrolled athletes will be registered on the official DYSS portal, facilitating digital performance tracking to monitor every athlete’s growth graph.
The Directorate has also instituted an absolute accountability mechanism, creating a high-powered monitoring committee headed by the Director General herself with the Joint Director Jammu, DYSSO Jammu, and Deputy Director Activities as members to conduct weekly reviews of the academies.
Under this strict framework, both the infrastructure upkeep and the performance of the coaches will be continuously evaluated, and coaches failing to deliver the expected developmental results will be replaced swiftly.
Injecting global experience into the grassroots level, the Director General revealed that the Football Academy will function under the direct mentorship of Arun Malhotra, the legendary former Indian International Football Player and former Technical Committee Member of the All India Football Federation, who has generously agreed to steer the academy as its Technical Advisor on a completely honorary basis.
DG YSS added that efforts shall be made by the Directorate to actively involve local athletes of national and international repute across all nine disciplines to mentor the trainees.
The Directorate will separately issue the detailed schedule for the upcoming selection trials in the coming days, and all newly deployed coaches and officials have been strictly directed to report for duty at the Sports Complex, Khel Gaon Nagrota, Jammu, on July 20 without fail to kickstart operations.
