Jamshedpur, Oct. 28: The Tata Football Academy (TFA) has its hands full.

The academy will now impart training to the state police football team.

In a bid to improve its performance, the Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP) has decided to take help from the TFA, which has a state-of-the-art soccer apparatus.

Sources in the Ranchi-located JAP(1) said training modalities to the police team would be chalked out in a meeting next month.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Arun Kumar Oraon, commandant, JAP(1), said he would be visiting the steel city to chalk out the training programme. ?Preliminary talks have already been held with the TFA authorities,? he added. A final meeting is expected next month.

Oraon, former police superintendent of East Singhbhum, said efforts are on to improve the performance of the police soccer team.

?It would help if they were trained in modern techniques of the game. This is possible if they train under the TFA coaches,? he emphasised.

The JAP(1) commandant said there are some talented footballers in the police team who, with proper guidance, can perform better.

?TFA is known to produce top-class footballers. It has experienced coaches and a professional approach to training. We would also want the TFA coaches to train our boys in Ranchi,? he said.

The TFA officials said they would be happy to train the state police team. ?We have the necessary expertise to train footballers. We have produced several good footballers and training the policemen would be a new experience for us,? they added. Oraon said some police footballers are regulars in the state team.

?Some of our boys have played for the state team in the Santosh Trophy. We would also send our team to Muri for an all-India tournament. Besides, we play several local tournaments. But still we need to improve the performance of our team,? he added. He said efforts would be made to seek TFA?s help in honing the skills of coaches of police football team as well.