The Athletic Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) will conduct grading tests for athletic coaches in Sri Lanka soon and says that the license will not in any way obstruct athletes from progressing.
YK Kularatne the national athletic coach said that the coaches for grass root level athletes must know what the athlete needs to make him go forward.
“We hope to grade our coaches and give them the license to coach. The coach must know his capability to understand the athletes and progress to higher levels. We have a few coaches who are level three qualified by the IAAF,” said Kularatne. The coaches will be graded in five levels and the grading system will solve the problems possessed by certain coaches.
“If a grass root coach cannot meet the standards to elevate the levels of athletes the athlete will be taken care of by higher graded coaches. In this way we can hope to accomplish higher levels for the athlete to contest international meets,” added Kularatne.
When asked whether Sri Lankan athletes have a chance to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games next year, Kularatne said that the Kenyan coach affiliated to the AASL has assured of a possibility. The Kenyan coach has begun pool practices in Diyatalawa and has also assured that he will upgrade the athletes to win more medals at Asian meets.