| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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Elements of Action Plan and main activities
Knowledge access and awareness generation
In order to implement the strategy, proper deliberations and series of discussions were held with the core team to understand the athlete and game specific requirements. Study was conducted on ICT tools being used in sports. Exposure visits of other countries and sports institutions were organized to understand the methods used by them for assessments of individual athlete's capabilities and potential.
Need assessments
Assessment on need of athletes and the Department for proper and systematic planning was carried out.
Development and access of software
Make efforts to access proper software. Identification of suitable firms and or companies involved in the development of such software.
Campaigning
The focus shall be on mass campaigning for changing the mindset of the community and making them aware of latest technologies used in sports for the safety, development and advancement of their children in sports. Sensitization programs for the community at the grassroots would be among key issues for changing attitude.
ICT enabled Sports academies
Proper facilities, amenities for the use of latest software are in sports academies. Induction of trained staff and coaches were required.
Trainings
Training need analysis was performed to impart training on software tools to coaches, district sports officers and coordinators.
Talent Hunt through ICT tools
Full use of ICT tools would be made during talent search to identify more and more potential athletes from far and remote areas.
Summer camps
Full use of ICT tools would be made during summer vacation sports camps to identify more and more potential athletes from schools and colleges.
Use of latest technologies
Use of software like Omega wave, Myo test, Quick board, Visual Coaching Pro, Dart Fish etc for measuring physical, physiological and psychological potential of athletes and preparing training modules accordingly. The customized coaching modules would be prepared based on athlete's readiness for training.
Development of Sports MIS
Sports MIS would be prepared. This will have two core areas 1.Pucommon men. 2. Internal Area for official use. Records of individual athletes and academies would be digitized. MIS would be user friendly and menu driven. It would provide general schemes, incentives and help line to the common men. Internal area will provide records of various athletes to their coaches for planning athlete specific training modules.
Key Developments, steps and chronology
• A detailed discussion was organized during September 2011 for the need assessment of use of ICT tools.
• Exposure visits of senior officers have been undertaken to study the systems and processes prevalent in other parts of the country.
• A core committee was constituted for need assessment of athletes and finalizing the best software for the performance improvements.
• Finalization of software and its procurement process.
• Procurement of software and its installation.
• Module preparation.
• Training of all the staff on software’s application, its process and functionality.
• Feeding of base data for further analysis and support and comparison with performance.
• Preparation of detailed plan and its implementation for identification and selection of potential athletes for further coaching.
• Initial testing of athletes on physical, physiological and psychological parameters.
• Regular checking on above parameters and identification of suitable diet plan and interventions for individual athletes.
• Testing of fatigue and injuries.
• Design and implementation of Sports MIS
• Up-gradation of tools to mobile and cloud technology
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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Government of Madhya Pradesh
Full support on designing and financing the initiative. Provided budget for the procurement of essential software and technical & infrastructural support.
Mr. Shailendra Srivastava Director, and team, Sports & Youth Welfare Directorate
Conceptualization. Formation of core committee for finalizing information and communication technology tools. Procurement of ICT tools. Induction of technical experts. Effective IEC campaigning for awareness generation among the public and athletes. Involving opinion makers, institutions and coaches of national/international repute for rigorous trainings. Online tracking of each athlete to ensure effective monitoring of the interventions. Regular visits to academies and sports performance Lab for random checks on functioning of software and its. Providing technical support. Training needs assessment, planning and its implementation.
Mr. Vikas Kharadkar Coaching Coordinator and District Sports Officer
Providing training to coaches. Analyzing physical, physiological and psychological indices of athletes. Designing specific interventions.
Coaches and eminent sportsperson
Training athletes through information and communication technological tools.
Dr Jince Thomas Mathew
Incharge Sports Medicine and Sports Performance Lab
Medical examination through ICT tools. Testing on cardiac system, energy metabolism, neuro-muscular system, central nervous system, heart rate variability, differential ECG, endocrine system etc. Identification of the causes of injuries and fatigue and providing solutions accordingly
Mr Lokendra Singh Tomar Asstt. Physiotherapist
Assisting In-charge Sports Medicine and Sports Performance Lab.
P.S. Bundela Academy Administrator and District Sports Officer
Assessing the physical and mental strengths & weaknesses through ICT tools, finalizing individual diet plans with the help of nutritionist for men and women athletes.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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Use of ICT tools was initiated especially to improve the performance of athletes and bringing their skills, confidence and competence at par with the international standards. The initiative has been taken by the Department on priority and involves financial, technical and human resources. The following resources were used:-
a. Financial Resources
The initiative was financially supported by the state government. The budget allocation was made one time for the procurement of software. Then every year a nominal expenditure is being incurred as recurring expenses of the initiative. The state government as part of its endeavor of welfare of citizens of the state is committed to contribute to the initiative.
b. Human Resources
The initiative required substantial number of technical experts in the form of coaches, training experts and minimum staff for technical assistance and administrative purposes. A series of trainings were provided to staff at all levels for their capacity building on the use of various information and communication technology tools. The intricacies of the tools were also discussed and shared during the training to enhance the skills of staff to handle the tools with ease. Regular workshops and meetings were also conducted to monitor the functionality of software and athlete’s performance indices.
c. Technical Resources
Use of technology in recent sporting environment was the need of hour. In order to increase the efficiency of athletes and developing their competencies to the international standards would result in development and use of unique and innovative software to assess their efficiency in terms of physical, physiological and psychological parameters. ICT tools are critical in assessing the performance of athletes. The inclusion of software like Omega Wave (measures physical, psychological & physiological parameters), Quick Board (improves reflexes), Myo Test (provides pre-programed tests to monitor and compare training progress), Dart Fish (Measures biomechanical parameters) and Visual coaching (strengthens target muscles) has helped rise in performance of athletes par with international competitive environment. The technical resources used for performance enhancement and its details are as follows:-
Softwares
Omegawave : Measurement of physical, physiological and psychological parameters of individual athlete to collect information on stress, fatigue and recovery status. The parameters like heart rate vulnerability, cardiac system, endocrine system etc are efficiently measured with accuracy.
Visual Coaching Pro : Provides 65000 built in exercises in the form of simple videos and pdf documents to strengthening individual or group of target muscles.
Quick Board : Improves reflexes and increases patience
Myo Test : Provides a range of simple pre-program tests to monitor and / or compare training progress for specific sports.
Dart Fish : Measures bio-mechanical parameters.
BMI calculator : Calculation of body mass index for appropriate steps
Balance Board: Improves neuro muscular coordination
2. Technical Experts : Providing timely technical assistance
3. Computer, peripherals and other technical tools : To facilitate operationalization of software
4. Sports MIS : The Sports MIS has two core areas for the users
1) Public Area : Provides Help Line , Schemes and Activities. Helpline mechanism is provided in the MIS in public area. This is a ticketing system by which the user can create a ticket, this ticket is a type of unique number where system sends e-mail to the concerned user. The user is also able to check the status of the ticket / id generated by the system. The Admin monitors the tickets and sends solutions/reply.
2) Internal Users Area : Here Secured Data is available after login.
1.Master’s Area : To monitor, edit and delete
2.User Area : To add data and manage contents.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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The use of information and communication technology tools has not only increased the efficiency of sports persons but also has helped in improving the efficiency of the whole system. The skills of staff who were involved in the process have been improved. The performance of athletes also has been improved considerably. ICT tools identify specific needs of the athletes and suggest solutions to overcome those and fill the gaps. Following are the five most successful outputs:-
Improvement in delivery time and accuracy of services
• Use of updated information technology has enabled the system in identifying the physical, physiological and psychological parameters and provides the system finalizing the intervention to improve physical and mental fitness of sportspersons in time.
• Maintaining a strong data base on feedbacks and providing timely help in expediting special cases.
• All the parameters are measured by the system in less than 30 minutes as compared to many hours taken in manual measurements.
• ICT tools help in tracking the athletes on various parameters with hundred percent accuracy and leave no chance for errors due to manual calculations.
Performance tracking
• The use of software has helped in assessing the performance of athletes on various indicators like speed, endurance, agility, cardiac system, neuromuscular system, central nervous system, heart rate vulnerability, body mass index etc. This has led in improving skills of each athlete at par with the international standards.
• Timely tracking of athlete’s information on physical and mental strengths through computerized management information system.
Technologically improved Sports Academies
The initiative has resulted in establishing technology friendly sports academies. All the sports academies are now fully equipped with latest software and tools. The sports academies are also equipped with trained coaches who can run the software and efficiently analyze the results.
Development of unique software
Following uniquely designed ICT tools have helped in achieving desired goal of increased participation in national and international sporting environment:-
1. Omega wave: Measurement of physical, physiological and psychological parameters of individual athlete to collect information on stress, fatigue and recovery status.
2. Visual Coaching Pro: Strengthens target muscles
3. Quick Board improves reflexes
4. Myotest: Provides a range of simple pre-program tests to monitor and compare training progress
5. Dartfish: Measures bio-mechanical parameters.
Improved performance
• The performance of individual athletes has been improved.
• The athletes are winning medals in national and international level tournaments.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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The initiative has been closely monitored by the Directorate. Regular meetings, workshops and frequent visits planned to monitor interventions provided through the initiative. Detailed Management Information System developed to keep vigil on the systematic progress of the initiative. Detailed individual chart prepared on each athlete for assessing physical, physiological and psychological behavior. These individual assessments give an opportunity to design athlete specific strategy. Monitoring of the initiative is done as follows:-
Computerized Management Information System
Sports MIS is now in place. Individual athlete's base line records and overall performance of sports academies have been digitized. A help desk and IVR system has been developed for public access. Details of schemes and incentives are placed in public domain for easy access. Sports MIS is implemented through 180 block level communication centers and 50 districts and is globally available on web. The source code is owned by the Directorate. ICT tools are upgraded to cloud technology and MIS is now also accessed through android cell technology.
Monthly Meeting
Monthly meetings of all stake holders have been organized to track physical targets. Meeting includes brief presentation on physical and financial targets for the districts and achievements followed by discussions on the performance to assess the causes of success and or under achievements.
Regular Visits
Regular visits to sports academies have been made to assess the performance of each academy. Meeting with athletes during the field visits is done to understand their need for improvements.
Feedback Management
A feedback format is prepared for feedbacks from each athletes and coach. Feedback form filled by them anonymously and submitted for improvements. Athletes and coaches are free to give suggestions for upgrading and improving sporting standards.
Athlete data base
A data base prepared to check performance of athletes on physical, physiological and psychological competence. This data base is regularly updated to provide support as and when needed. The athletes are provided various inputs and guided on the basis of their performance through ICT.
Diet Monitoring
Diet of each athlete been monitored through specific diet chart. A nutritionist is responsible for preparing weekly diet chart for athletes. Diet chart is prepared on the basis of each athlete requirements on energy availability, bone health and biological health.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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The initiative has made an impact on the involvement and performance of athletes. Even the families who traditionally were opposed to sending their children to sports academies also showed changed mindset because of enhanced performance of athletes. Effective campaign has helped in communicating the message on impact of ICT tools in delivering best results by winning medals and participation in national and international tournaments. Winning medals is associated with prize money, awards and employments for the youths through sports. This has resulted in considerable increase in the participation of youths in sports. Main obstacles encountered were as follows:-
Problems encountered
a. Resistance to change
The staff functioning under the Directorate was unwilling to adopt latest technological tools due to lack of knowledge and resistance to change. It was tough to motivate and train them into new and improved condition. Even the athletes were not ready to use these tools due to psychological reasons.
b. Non availability of trained experts and coaches
The non-availability of trained experts and coaches for use of selected software was also one of the major problems. ICT tools were imported from other countries and it was difficult to get technical assistance within the country in case if required.
These obstacles were overcome by adopting the following measures:-
a. Focused training
Series of trainings have been organised for staff to make them capable of handling the software. They also have been sensitised about the use of software would help in reducing the work pressure because of manual, time taking, redundant and lengthy process.
b. Developing a pool of experts and coaches
A pool of experts has been developed in situ to provide technical assistance. These experts were trained by the software provider company directly. The coaches were also trained for operating the software and generating reports.
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