How many of us dream of going abroad and how many of us actually get the chance to go there? Well if you were associated with the Bhutan Olympic Committee (BOC) the opportunities are boundless. And you thought that there were no opportunities in sports, you must now revisit that notion. The BOC under its new Strategic Roadmap for the development of sports endeavors to engage all national and international partners and stakeholders through a clear strategic partnership framework with a renewed focus on networking and building connections. As such, it liases and works closely with several international partners and other key organizations to support the delivery of sport and recreation opportunities in Bhutan. It has thus, over the last four years, developed opportunities allowing athletes, coaches and staff, to travel abroad to train, hone their skills and learn about the development of sport in other countries. For example, Mrs. Tshering Choden, a former Olympian who currently works with the Bhutan Archery Federation as a coach is one of the beneficiaries of such networking and relationships built with the Olympic Solidarity and the United States Olympic Committee. Tshering is one of the few coaches from Bhutan who has been awarded an opportunity to attend the ICECP course in Delaware, U.S. The ICECP (International Coaching Enrichment Certificate Program) is a program based for National Level coaches to develop proficiency in the areas of sports sciences, talent identification, athlete development, coaching education, management, grassroots sport development and ethical aspects of coaching at all levels. Tshering is the third ICECP participant from Bhutan, Major Sonam Gyeltshen from the RBA who serves as the Bhutan Boxing Federation’s General Secretary was the first participant in 2010 followed by the National Basketball Coach, Mr. Tenxin Jamtsho last year. Like the ICECP, long term courses, under the aegis of the Olympic Solidarity and other National Olympic Committees can also be pursued by administrators in Bhutan. For example, MEMOS is an Executive Masters in Sport Organizations Management endorsed by the International Olympic Committee in association with the Olympic Solidarity and takes place in three cities worldwide before moving to Lausanne, Switzerland for the final module. Mr. Nima Gyeltshen from the Department of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Education and Mr. Karma Penden from the Bhutan Olympic Committee are currently attending the MEMOS programme. Then there are programmes like the ‘Dream Together’ Program funded by the Korean Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports in association with the Korean Olympic Committee, offering next generation sports administrators around the world, the opportunity to obtain a Masters degree in Sport administration and Organizational Management. Mr. Jamyang Namgyal from the Bhutan Olympic Committee will be attending this program later this year. There are also several other prospects such as interning at the Olympic Council of Asia, Asia’s apex sport body, or interning at or participating in joint training programs with other National Olympic Committees that the BOC has signed MoU’s with. Till date the BOC has signed three MoU’s for cooperation and support; namely with the Japanese Olympic Committee, the Korean Olympic Committee and the Danish Olympic Committee, with several others in the pipeline. Further the BOC has also adopted, for the first time, a comprehensive and systematic approach to optimize the utility and also benefit from the many opportunities that the Olympic Solidarity offers for all 205 NOC’s worldwide. It has developed a quadrennial plan based on that of the Olympic Solidarity for the period 2013-2016 to access human resource capacity building and training opportunities for athletes, coaches and administrators. Through such capacity building initiatives, the BOC hopes that Bhutan will have adequate human resource capacity to implement its vision of vibrant values based sporting culture.
