Online sessions help building good boxer-coach rapport, says Youth National coach Bansode

NAGPUR: It's been more than a month that national coaches and boxers are training online due to 'home quarantine' norm. Though the boxers are missing actual sparring in the ring, the lockdown has helped them develop a special bond with coaches that will help them in future, feels Dhananjay Bansode.
Bansode, one of the 12 youth national coaches, feels that the online sessions have increased the coach-player interaction time."We are interacting more with boxers, discussing a lot about the game and that has helped the players get more comfortable with us.
"These one-on-one interactions have helped develop a good player-coach rapport. It will result in improved match performances in future," said Bansode.
In normal situation, BFI conducts training camps at the National Boxing Academy in Rohtak. These camps are all about boxers and coaches preparing for tournaments. The focus is more on match-oriented training. Also, with hundreds of boxers in different age categories attending the camps, the coaches have their hands full.
With no tournaments lined up due to Covid-19 threat, the national coaches, through online sessions, are able to give each individual more attention. "The online sessions have made it possible. Now, we have more time to discuss and work on shortcomings of individuals. That has been a big plus," said the former national-level boxer.
"Though online training looks a bit dull to young boxers, it has only worked in their favour. I have observed they have become more patient now and their fitness level too has gone up," said Bansode, who has produced 21 national medalists and an international medal winner from his Parbhani academy.
Bansode is the only Maharashtra coach from a non-departmental background to be doing national duty. State coaches who make the national cut mostly come from government departments such as railways, police. The 47-year-old Bansode, a AIBA 2-star coach, was appointed as junior national coach by Boxing Federation of India (BFI) in 2019.
Bansode feels Nagpur's Alfiya Khan Pathan has tremendous potential to make it to the Olympics in future. "If she continues to work harder like she is doing now, she will achieve her dream. She has it in her," Bansode said.