Fitness is the key, says Nobbs

BANGALORE: The first day of the hockey trials to pick the 18-member team for the Asian Champions Trophy, went the way chief coach Michael Nobbs would have liked but one aspect stood out like a sore thumb: fitness levels of the players.

Nobbs was the first to admit that the Asian Champions Trophy at the Chinese city of Ordos in September will see a team below par in fitness but pointed out that in the time that he got since his appointment in July, the team has made good progress.

There were divergent views amongst others at the Sports Authority of India, South Centre but the common factors were easy to pick: one was that the quality of hockey at the trials could have been better even if due allowance was made to the fact that there was no rolling substitution. The other was that the fitness levels, particularly of the battle-tested seniors, left a lot to be desired.

Taking nothing away from Nobbs’ and exercise physiologist David John’s work in the past few weeks, experts stated seniority wouldn’t be a given while choosing the 18-member squad: players for each slot would have to be picked after careful assessment of their fitness and performance.

This point has dominated discussions on the game this year, with the refrain being heard during the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in May and the inquest that followed thereafter.

Nobbs admitted the road to success was long and circuitous. “We started on July 4. I think we could have done better if we had been here earlier. We would have been long way ahead by now. No doubt, the team’s fitness will be below at the Asian Champions Trophy. But the tournament will show us where we stand. If we are going well, we will keep going, if not we have to fix the issues that are stopping us. The other teams have being doing this training routine for six years, spending millions of dollars. We’ve just started, so it will take time.”

Nobbs was happy with the overall improvement in the last 45 days. “The fitness has already started to kick in. I think we are still not fit enough but we have made a huge start. For example, Sandeep Singh has lost four kilos and gained two kilos in muscle mass. He looks a lot fitter. The speed of the boys has improved and now we need to start working on our patterns. It will take some more time for all things to fall in place,” he said.

The Australian will make a few recommendations to the selectors so that he can begin implementing his plans. For one, he needs the core group of 30 to be named as quickly as possible so that he can zero in on a smaller and more manageable group. He has also discussed with John about a few players who will be part of the group and feels there are no major issues with their fitness levels.

“The core group will comprise the team that will play for India in the next 12 months. The other group of 18 – which we will not eliminate – will be part of the national squad and the training programmes. Slowly, we will give opportunities to guys from the other group so that they get enough international exposure. There’s is no way only 16 guys can play all the way to the Olympic qualifiers.”

Nobbs was also satisfied with the way the trials were structured. “The trials were designed in a certain way so that we could judge players who can play well under pressure. We had a group with a good forwardline playing against a group with a good defence. I gave specific instructions to specific players and judged them on the basis of that,” he said.