John pleased with fitness report

Fitness has been an age-old problem in Indian hockey and the men’s team’s exercise physiologist David John has gone cracking to fix just that. The Australian, soon after his appointment, realised the Indians were anything but ‘hockey-fit’ but feels the team has shown rapid progress in the last few months.

“When I first saw the players I realised they had speed, but were just going round and round. They were not at all hockey-fit. It has improved a lot now,” John said after the team’s training session at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.

“The type of running we do is similar to game situations. The defenders run side by side, for forwards focus is on agility and midfielders run up and back. We also do a lot of stretches and core exercises, so overall it has helped us in cutting down the injuries, especially the one to do with the soft tissue.”

John said the improvement in the players is for all to see and their performance during the title win in the Asian Champions Trophy is a proof of that. “They are a lot more fitter. Hockey is an intense game and the players have to be fast paced. The players fitness levels have improved,” he said and added that they were the fittest team around during the Champions Challenge tournament in Johannesburg.

Physical strength is John’s immediate concern.

“We are trying to improve the physical strength. As compared to the strength of the teams like New Zealand, Australia, Germany and Holland, we have quite a bit of work to do. But this is something which you can’t do in three months,” he said. “If we qualify for the Olympics, we will have few more months to work on it.” The Australian is also carefully monitoring the diet of the players.

“The carbohydrates intake has been cut, specially for the goalkeepers. It helps them to be more agile and quick on their reflexes. The players are also given coffee two hours before training session,” he said.