New science of life for Rani Rampal & Co

CHENNAI: 12 days! That’s the exact number of days left for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games to begin. For the Indian women’s hockey team, the event is the culmination of a process that started in March last year with the appointment of Sjoerd Marijne as head coach. Also brought on board were four scientific advisors — Scott Conway and Robin Anthony Webster Arkell for men’s team and Wayne Lombard and Daniel Barry for the women’s team. Though Marijne later took charge of the men’s team, this new priority on improved fitness has yielded good results for Rani Rampal & Co. South African Lombard has been at the forefront of this change.

The biggest of those results was the Asia Cup triumph which marked the end of a 13-year jinx last November. While the team did suffer poor results in a Belgium tour and the Australian Hockey League last September, there certainly has been an upswing in fitness. The yo-yo intermittent recovery test (level 1) that they undertook in January was an example of how an experienced trainer can change the style of play. This is done to measure the athlete’s ability to perform high-intensity aerobic works.

During Lombard’s tenure, the average score for the women’s team increased from 17 to 19.5. The highest score this year has been 21.2 while the lowest was 17. The major test that Lombard faced was to make them understand the need for improved fitness. “Creating a mindset where they understood the importance of better fitness was required. Especially in a country like India, where the culture is different,” said Lombard, who has previously worked with China Hockey and Rugby South Africa.

“Every country has a different style. With regards to Indian women, my job was to make them realise that they can produce results close to men. Slowly, many girls understood that strength training alone is not important. Hence we have concentrated on speed and agility. There is video analysis too. Our average score for speed (in the yo-yo test) is 16-16.5 and our girls have been able to achieve 19 quite easily.”

With tournaments like CWG, Asian Games and World Cup lined up this year, the ability to keep the players injury-free was also the focal point. “Since 2018 is an important year, we incorporated hockey specific fitness practices. This will, in turn, increase speed and agility. The thing to note is that they play back-to-back matches, so recovery is vital.”

Their daily routine during the camp also included psychology sessions. Apart from regular drills, Lombard also executed GPS analysis. “It’s about understanding that world hockey is a lot more faster than how it was and adapting yourself to that. We have done a lot of groundwork. Now we have to make sure we implement that to be a lot quicker on the field. At the same time, we have to be fit as well.”

srinidhi@newindianexpress.com