Appointment of Contract Sports Coaches

What is the Appointment of Contract Sports Coaches scheme?

Appointment of Contract Sports Coaches is the arrangement through which the Directorate of Sports, Government of Uttarakhand engages qualified coaches on annual contract to conduct training in the state's stadiums, coaching centres, sports hostels and sports colleges. In departmental Hindi the engagement is described as the appointment of samvida prashikshak, contract coaches, and the scheme exists because Uttarakhand's sanctioned permanent coaching posts are far fewer than the number of disciplines and centres the state needs to staff.

The Directorate of Sports functions from the Maharana Pratap Sports College campus, Thano Road, Raipur, Dehradun, and its published email is directorsports[at]gmail[dot]com. Its work covers sports hostels (क्रीड़ा छात्रावास), scholarships, sports kits, grants to sports bodies, athlete accident insurance, the organisation of local and specialised training camps (प्रशिक्षण शिविरों का आयोजन), and implementation of Uttarakhand Sports Policy 2021. Contract coaching sits directly under the training-camp function: a camp cannot run without a coach, and the annual contract is how the coach is put in place.

Why does Uttarakhand engage coaches on contract?

Uttarakhand's sports infrastructure is much larger than its permanent coaching cadre. According to the Directorate, the state maintains:

• 26 stadiums across 11 districts
• 2 international-standard facilities, at Haldwani and Dehradun
• 17 multipurpose halls
• 27 indoor sports complexes
• 5 swimming pools
• 1 ice-skating rink
• 2 sports colleges, Maharana Pratap Sports College, Dehradun, and Shri Hari Singh Thapa Sports College, Pithoragarh

Add to that the mountaineering institutes at Uttarkashi and Munsyari, the sports hostels, and the district-level coaching centres, and the gap is obvious. Contract appointment lets the Directorate put a specialist coach where a discipline is actually being played that year, a boxing coach where a boxing centre has taken off, a skiing or ice-skating specialist for facilities that no other state needs, without creating a permanent post. The state's hosting of the 38th National Games further increased the demand for discipline-specific coaching.

Who is eligible to be engaged as a contract coach?

You can be considered if:

• You hold a recognised coaching qualification in the discipline advertised, in practice a coaching diploma from the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala, or a degree in physical education such as B.P.Ed or M.P.Ed.
• You are within the age limits stated in the advertisement.
• You have a playing or coaching record — state, national or international level participation, or documented experience coaching at a club, school or academy.
• You are willing to be posted anywhere in Uttarakhand, including hill districts, since coaching centres are spread across all districts.
• You meet any domicile condition the advertisement imposes, where posts are reserved for permanent residents of Uttarakhand.

You cannot apply / are not eligible if:

• You are a player or a student looking for a personal benefit. This scheme engages staff; it pays nothing to athletes. Players should look instead at the Directorate's sports hostel, scholarship, sports kit and cash-award schemes.
• You hold no recognised coaching qualification in the discipline advertised.
• The discipline you coach is not in the current advertisement; engagements are made discipline by discipline, according to that year's requirement.
• You apply when no advertisement is open. Unsolicited applications are not processed.
• You are already in regular government service and the advertisement bars it.

How to apply for engagement as a contract sports coach

Engagement is offline and advertisement-driven. There is no standing online application form for contract coaching on sports.uk.gov.in.

1. Watch for the advertisement. Check the notices, tenders and recruitment sections of sports.uk.gov.in, the khelouk.in portal, and the notice boards of the District Sports Office. Advertisements also appear in state newspapers.
2. Read the discipline list and conditions. The advertisement names the sports for which coaches are wanted, the number of engagements, the qualification required, the age limit, the honorarium and the contract period.
3. Prepare your documents. NIS diploma or physical education degree, educational certificates from high school onwards, sports achievement certificates, experience certificates, Aadhaar, permanent residence certificate if required, and a bank passbook copy.
4. Fill the prescribed application form exactly as given in the advertisement, attaching self-attested copies of every certificate.
5. Submit by the last date to the address named in the notice; usually the Director of Sports at the Maharana Pratap Sports College campus, Thano Road, Raipur, Dehradun, or the District Sports Officer for district-level engagements, and keep the postal or counter receipt.
6. Appear for the screening, which typically involves scrutiny of qualifications and marks for playing record and experience, and in some rounds an interview or practical assessment.
7. Accept the engagement letter and join at the centre allotted. The contract states the period, the honorarium and the reporting officer.

What documents are required?

What does a contract coach get, and on what terms?

A contract coach receives a monthly honorarium fixed by the Directorate for that contract cycle, paid by bank transfer, for a fixed contract period that is normally one year and renewable on performance. This guide does not state a rupee figure, because the Directorate does not publish a permanent honorarium on its portal and the amount has been revised over time, read the figure in the current advertisement.

What the engagement does not carry is equally important to understand before applying: it is not a regular government post. There is no pay scale, no pension, no seniority in a cadre, and no automatic right of renewal or regularisation. Coaches are engaged for the duration of the contract and are expected to run the camps, maintain attendance and progress records of trainees, and account for the equipment issued to them.

Why applications get rejected, and how to avoid it

• No NIS diploma or physical education degree. Playing achievements alone do not substitute for the coaching qualification in most advertisements.
• Applying for a discipline not advertised that year.
• Application received after the last date, or sent to the wrong office.
• Unattested or missing certificate copies.
• Age outside the advertised limit.
• No domicile certificate where the notice makes it compulsory.
• Applying unsolicited, outside an open advertisement window.

How to check the status of your application

1. Keep the receipt issued when you submit the application.
2. Watch sports.uk.gov.in and khelouk.in for the screening list, the merit list and the final selection list, these are published as notices, not sent individually.
3. Contact the District Sports Officer for district-level engagements, or the Directorate of Sports for state-level ones.
4. Write to directorsports[at]gmail[dot]com, the email published on the Directorate's contact page, quoting your application number and the advertisement reference.

Key facts and where to get help

• Department: Directorate of Sports, Government of Uttarakhand.
• Address: Sports Directorate, Maharana Pratap Sports College campus, Thano Road, Raipur, Dehradun.
• Email: directorsports[at]gmail[dot]com.
• Portals: sports.uk.gov.in and khelouk.in.
• Nature of engagement: annual contract, not a permanent post.
• Deadline: set in each advertisement; no permanent annual date is published.

If a selection list is disputed or an honorarium is not released, the route is a written representation to the Director of Sports, then to the Secretary, Department of Sports and Youth Welfare, Government of Uttarakhand, followed by the state grievance portal or an RTI application asking how the year's contract engagements were decided.

Note on verification: the Directorate's address, email, the list of its schemes including training camps, the infrastructure figures (26 stadiums in 11 districts, 17 multipurpose halls, 27 indoor complexes, 5 swimming pools, 1 ice-skating rink, 2 sports colleges) and Sports Policy 2021 are confirmed on sports.uk.gov.in. The current honorarium, the number of coaches engaged, the age limits and the exact application window are advertisement-specific and are not published as standing figures, so they must be read in the live notice.