‘In six months, we can be among the fittest in the world’
Uthra Ganesan

Maximal Aerobic Velocity is not a term Indian hockey is too familiar with, but — considered vital in Europe for assessing the fitness of players — it is one of the several tests introduced by Jesus Garcias Pallares, the new human performance analyst of the national team.

“When I joined the camp in Pune a month ago, a lot of work needed to be done,” Pallares, 27, told The Indian Express before the team left for a month-long European tour on Thursday night. “In the time we had — just over three-and-a-half weeks — I’m very happy with the progress made by the players. If we continue at the same rate, in another four to five months, this team can be at a good level internationally, among the top six teams in the world in terms of fitness.”

Pallares, hand-picked by new coach Jose Brasa, was on the support staff of the gold medallist Spanish kayaking team at the Beijing Olympics. He said the next thing on his agenda was running the team through a series of strength tests to assess their needs in greater detail.

“We didn’t have any strength training equipment in Pune, so I wasn’t able to perform strength tests. In Barcelona, I will run through the entire battery of tests to assess their strength and power to design individual profiles and training plans,” he said, adding that the current tour was only to see how well the players respond to the month-long training during match situations.

The initial response of the team to their new trainer has been very welcoming, saying his workouts were what they had seen while playing for European clubs. It was a lot of hard work, said one of the players, but the results were encouraging.

New tests

•Maximal Aerobic Velocity test: This five-minute drill measures the aerobic power of the players, assessing their endurance limit by measuring their acceleration when optimum oxygen is being used.

•Quickness meter: Photoelectric cells are used to measure the speed of a player over a distance of 30 metres, both with and without the ball.

•Agility test: Only 4-5 seconds long, this assesses a player’s reflexes, co-ordination, and reaction time on the field. It gauges how he can integrate speed and skill in a given situation, both with and without the ball.

• Acceleration and stamina: Includes 15m sprints in sets of seven each to assess endurance and acceleration. There are hardly any breaks between sprints to test stamina.

•Grip strength: Performed to assess a player’s strength and type of grip on the hockey stick.