After training was severely affected by COVID-19 restrictions, the Indian men’s hockey team’s chief coach Graham Reid and skipper Manpreet Singh say it will be a deliberately slow progress towards the players attaining pre-lockdown fitness levels.
Six players of the men’s team, including Manpreet, had tested positive for COVID-19 at the team’s training base here in August after they arrived for the national camp following a month’s break.
“...we slowly started the procedures of getting back to play. The coaches have created a plan so that we gradually return to full momentum and I am happy to be back practising again,” Manpreet said in a release issued by Sports Authority of India (SAI).
Skills training
Reid said the emphasis is on skills training, especially individual basics, which allows the players to practice in small groups with adequate social distancing in place.
“...we have been able to gradually increase the workload and intensity of the training to the point where we are able to have the majority of the squad up to pre-COVID levels by the end of the next camp,” Reid added.
“This has been a slow and deliberate process designed to produce maximum output while minimising the risk of injury.”
The players are also happy with the safety protocols in place at SAI’s Bengaluru centre. “It feels good that we have started training after such a long time,” Rani Rampal said.
