Dravid bats for young cricketers
Former India captain Rahul Dravid, who has been in charge of India's U-19 and A' teams for over three years now, is batting for alternate career options for young cricketers with drop-out rates continuing to stay high.
According to a report by Times of India, Dravid emphasised on the need to work on the life skills of budding cricketers at a recent BCCI meeting with board officials. National Cricket Academy (NCA) COO Tufan Ghosh was reported by TOI as saying that they are working towards formulating a structure that provides young cricketers with alternative careers.
“Dravid and the other coaches here had pointed out the need to start such a process. We are working towards formulating a structure before it is sent to the higher authorities in BCCI to get things going,” Ghosh said. “Right now, we can't be teaching them like what happens in NIS, but Dravid has emphasized on life education.”
“Most of the cricketers these days are so engrossed in playiing the game that they don't look at any other aspect of life,” Ghosh said. “It has been observed a lot of these young players quit cricket by 21. Then it's a struggle for them to lead a stable life. We are looking at life coaching, internships with companies and training in other vocational courses and then facilitating jobs for the youngsters.”
Ghosh also said that the board is looking to rope in companies to help them with the process. “We will try to align the state bodies and academies. And if the players from various state bodies feel the need to avail this facility then they can do that easily. We are looking at roping in a good number of companies,” added Ghosh.
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