Super Kings Academy plans to open 100 coaching centers in 5 years
Opportunities to open up for 800 coaches to work at the academy
Could become the first city based academy to set up an overseas center in the UK
Super Kings Academy (SKA), run by Super Kings Ventures Pvt. Ltd., is planning the biggest cricket coaching academy expansion in the country. The academy which launched with two centers in Chennai and Salem in April this year is embarking on a mega expansion programme. SKA plans to open at least a 100 centers in the country through the franchise route. The academy is also planning a center in the UK.
In January this year, this section had featured a story on the Chennai and Hyderabad plans of 'Coaching Beyond', an initiative of Bharat Arun, Ravi Shastri and R Sridhar (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2022/01/b-arun-ipl-son-adithya-coaching-academy.html).
But this one - Super Kings Academy- with its financial strength and through franchise partnerships is likely to bring in scale in the immediate term that one has not seen in TN in the past. Former first division cricketer Louis Mariano, who is anchoring the academy on the ground, told this writer that within the first six months of the launch, over 400 students have signed up in the two centers. "By March next year, we would have opened coaching centers in at least another four locations including Hosur, Tirunelveli and Trichy. As we go forward, we will also be setting our sights outside the state."
Takes up 8 new clubs in the TNCA league
To providing opportunities to play in the TNCA league, eight Clubs have been taken up this season with students from SKA centers in Chennai and Salem already having begun to play for these clubs at the start of the new league season.
CSK, which has over the last 14years been using the nets facilities at Chepauk, is setting a huge state of the art own practice facility in Navalur that is likely to be fully functional next year. And the best of the students from SKA could also get access to this facility and to practising with the CSK legends.
Overseas Exposure
With CSK's global network, the students at SKA are likely to get a lot of international exposure. Before end of December, Super Kings Academy is set to host two overseas teams – one from the UK and another from South Africa. “Playing against these overseas clubs will be a first of its kind experience that kids in the city have not experienced so far. This is a big differentiator for us” says Louis.
CSK players interact with SKA students
CSK CEO KS Viswanathan (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/02/ks-viswanathan-tnca-bcci-ipl.html), who himself had emerged as a cricketer from Tirunelveli in the 1970s, said that the focus will be on expanding the coaching network in Tier 2 and 3 locations and to improve the cricketing infrastructure in the districts. The possibility of CSK cricketers visiting the camp at regular intervals will be a positive influence on the students at the SKA, he said "CSK cricketers including Ruturaj Gaekwad, Deepak Chahar, Robin Uthappa and Mukesh Choudhary have already visited the camp in recent months and that has given a lot of confidence to the students."
A former Ranji cricketer who is in the real estate space said that there was word out in the market to identify a house for MS Dhoni in Chennai, an indication that the legend could made the city his second home. If that happens, it will be great news for the SKA students for that could then throw up opportunities for interaction with him.
New Head Coach
KSV had told this writer that S Sharath (ATG Sharath), J Gokulakrishnan (who also developed the coaching manual), former TN Ranji Captain S Suresh and Sreekumar Nair had been playing a pivotal role in coaching in the initial phase in the first six months of the launch sharing their knowledge with the students.
As each of these former Ranji cricketers are engaged in larger roles at the BCCI, Louis had told this writer that the academy was looking for a Head Coach. Even as the fire crackers went out, he confirmed on the eve of Deepavali that the coach has been shortlisted and an official appointment was likely to take place shortly but he could not reveal the name of the head coach.
It is likely that the Head Coach will be one about whom this section has featured many stories over the last decade!!!
A decade ago, it was unlikely any academy in Chennai would have dreamt of a 100 cricket coaching centers in India but SKA with its brand is aiming big and with CSK's IPL success, it will be a go to center for many of the teenagers who have IPL as their big dream. If the country wide plan is anything to go by, there could be tens of thousands of students getting coached across the country at SKA in the next five years. And this could throw up opportunities for as many as 800 cricket coaches across the country. That will be a big job creation in the cricket space that did not exist at the turn of the new century.