Indian hockey team’s focus on fitness

By Vivek Phadnis | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

The Indian hockey players may be sound on skills but physical shape of the players seems to be the area for improvement.

However, Australian exercise physiologist David John is in charge of the players’ fitness regime and he is trying to change things for the better.

One of the crucial observations he made was that many players are underweight. Hockey players may not need rippling muscles, but body weight needs to be at some level. “In China, food was a problem and many ate very little. Also, we had limited food supplements and the players lost weight. However, they regained weight in the two weeks they have been back in India,” John said.

“During the Australian tour, they will take protein supplements two or three times a day to put on weight.”

The weight problem has probably been there from the beginning. But the support staff is going to great lengths to get the fitness part dealt with before the Olympic qualifiers in February.

John has previously worked with Indian bowlers. Comparing cricket and hockey players, he pointed out that cricketers, at the MRF Pace Academy for instance, have a good gym and fast bowlers get into weight training from a young age. “It is not the case with hockey. The problem with this team is that seven of them are vegetarians. It is difficult for them to gain weight with the amount of physical exertion they go through. The seven had iron infusions done on Saturday to improve their fitness and endurance levels,” he said.