Cuttack, Mar 20: The MGM School of Sports has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with former India captain and coach Ravi Shastri's 'Coaching Beyond Cricket Academy' t set up a state-of-the-art High Performance Cricket Academy, here.
Since Odisha is a state with rich sporting heritage across various disciplines, therefore to produce more outstanding cricketers from Odisha, the MGM Group has established a state-of-the-art High Performance Cricket Academy near Cuttack city. It is located at nearly 30 kilometres from Bhubaneswar, named MGM School of Sports.
MGM sources said, the academy will promote the ideal objectives of high performance and quality-driven cricket culture in the state. This residential academy is a fully owned subsidiary of MGM Minerals Ltd, the flagship company of MGM Group, Odisha.
With the support of Government of Odisha and the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA), MGM sources stated they are confident that the MGM School of Sports, will enhance the cricket ecosystem in Odisha and strive to produce outstanding cricketers.
MGM School of Sports will work as a feeder organization in the model of National Cricket Academy & other coaching centres of high reputation. With state-of-the-art infrastructure, which includes residential facilities, international-standard cricket grounds, turf, astroturf and matting pitches, a six lane indoor arena, well-equipped gymnasium, swimming pool, physiotherapy and recovery centre, motivation hall, rehabilitation centre, beach volley ball court, basketball court etc, sources added.
This sports academy will serve as a training hub for aspiring cricketers to undergo intensive training to achieve their goals.
The MGM School of Sports, will be supported by Coaching Beyond, one of India's premier cricket coaching institutions, founded by former Team India coaches Ravi Shastri, Bharat Arun and R Sridhar
Coaching Beyond will be the knowledge and technical partner for this venture of MGM School of Sports to facilitate and execute high quality coaching programs with the aim to bring the world's best practices to the heart of Odisha, MGM sources added.
MGM School of Sports has also roped in S L Venkatapathy Raju, former Indian test cricketer as their consultant coach for this prestigious project, it is learnt.
To kicks start the new venture, up to 50 young male cricketers will be selected through a transparent process and offered high performance training at a subsidised fee. The number of trainees will be increased in future for both male and female cricketers, MGM sources added.
The academy will also run a daily coaching programme, which will be open to all age groups of boys and girls.
Pankaj Lochan Mohanty, CMD, MGM Minerals Ltd expressed his confidence that this collaboration will augur well for the future of Odisha cricket and go on to become one of the most coveted cricket training centres in the world.
Coaching Beyond currently operates two high performance centres in Hyderabad and Chennai. The two major verticals that Coaching Beyond provides are Cricket coaching programmes for all age groups and Coach development programmes for all aspiring coaches.
Apart from its expert founders, Coaching Beyond has also in their ranks the expertise of Dr Kinjal Suratwala, former head of coach-education, National Cricket Academy, as their head of coaching pathway and player development, sources further added.
