By the time the Indian men’s hockey team lands in Hangzhou for the Asian Games, beginning on September 23, they would have played three tournaments in nine weeks. Given the packed schedule ahead of the Asian Games, where the winner earns a direct ticket for next year’s Paris Olympics, the scheduling of the Asian Champions Trophy — which gets under way in Chennai on Thursday — has drawn flak from participating teams.
It is a high-intensity competition with the finalists playing 10 matches in seven days. The turnaround time for Harmanpreet Singh and his men in particular is daunting. They have been on the road for more than three weeks. After competing in Germany in a three-nation tournament, they headed to Spain where they wrapped up on Sunday before arriving in Chennai.
Acclaimed strength and conditioning specialist Wayne Lombard, who was the Indian women’s hockey team’s scientific advisor until 2021, underlined the importance of planning during this phase.
“It is not uncommon for players to be exposed to congested match schedules and tournaments. If we look back at 2018, the Indian women’s team had less than two weeks between the Asian Games and the World Cup,” he pointed out.
“We knew that in advance, so we planned from a training and recovery perspective. We ensured that the training intensity was sustained over a period. Once we reached the period when we had back-to-back events the players were exposed to specific intensity and loads.”
During such phases, individuals in a team sport are given specific attention and tasks.
“The uniqueness of team sport is that players adapt and recover differently. Modifying the approach towards each individual is important. For some individuals nuances need to be changed because they will be non-responsive to certain modalities. Also, some take longer to recover. Often, in the initial stages of back-to-back matches, players seem to cope well, but the challenge is how they cope later in the tournament,” said Lombard, who also works with IPL franchise Delhi Capitals.
(AI image)
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