“It’s a great honour to be part of the FIH Athletes’ Committee which comprises of legendary players like Moritz Fuerste and other international greats. I am looking forward to this new responsibility,” Sreejesh, who led India to a historic silver at the 2016 Champions Trophy in London, said.
While Sreejesh’ role will also cover seeking and providing feedback to the FIH on behalf of all athletes, the committee also gets to interact with the current athletes’ in a number of ways including; post event surveys for the athletes and coaches to get direct feedbacks from FIH events.
Organised meetings are also scheduled with the national teams at several events. The aim being to communicate with the players, to update them on the different activities but also to hear from them.
Hockey India congratulates champion goalkeeper @16Sreejesh on his appointment to the @FIH_Hockey Athletes Committee on 10 January 2017! pic.twitter.com/BiLO1HIwYk
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) January 11, 2017
“We get to work together to develop the game and put forth players concerns and suggestions. It’s a great initiative by the FIH to directly involve the players and I look forward to giving my suggestions with the inputs of our coaching staff, my team who I am sure will support me in this new endeavour. I see this as a great responsibility in terms of helping FIH develop the game globally,” stated Sreejesh, who is gearing up to play for the Uttar Pradesh Wizards in the Hockey India League (HIL) slated to begin on January 21.
The FIH Athletes’ Committee will also need to liaise with the Athletes’ Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other sporting organisations to enable the sharing of information and research. The team of eight will also get to develop, collate, provide and promote resources for athletes on topics of direct concern including athlete health and welfare, career preparation and management, anti-doping, betting and match-fixing.
