Sombre time for reflection: Hockey coach Reid

The Indian men’s hockey team’s training programme, normally, is tournament based. Yes, there’s the bigger programme of preparing for big-ticket events like the Olympics, the Asian Games or the World Cup but the modules keep differing from event to event.

This is primarily done because the training is structured towards the oppositions they are going to face in the immediacy. Plans and strategies are devised on the challenges they are going to encounter next. But things are very different now. The coronavirus pandemic has ripped apart the sporting calendar and no-one knows when competitions would resume, hockey included. However, the men’s hockey players continue to train at the Sports Authority of India campus here.

There are no on-field activities because of strict social distancing norms in place but players continue to keep themselves fit with light training and online tutorials. It must be really hard for them to follow the protocol — one because their minds are all back home, and secondly what do they train for as no events are lined up in the near future.

Coach Graham Reid, who has forged a good bond with the team in the year he’s been in charge, is managing to keep the flock together during these testing times.

“No-one likes uncertainty and as you say the whole world is going through a very tough period as we speak,” Reid said in an interaction with DH. “After the initial disappointment we are now going through what you could call a de-load period where the players have been getting over any niggling injuries getting a well deserved break from hockey training.

“During this lockdown we are really trying to get the players to maintain their physical fitness and strength utilising different methods to achieve this. They say necessity is the mother of all invention and that has certainly been the case in coming up with engaging ways to keep the players occupied both mentally and physically while sticking to the mandatory lockdown conditions.”

Australian Reid said he’s included some fun activities to ensure players remain in high spirits. “Apart form the physical drills and exercises that the players have been doing, things like online sports quizzes, English lessons and gaming have been popular with them. As we have said from the outset, our families are paramount when it comes to priorities and we are making sure that every day we all touch base with our families and ensuring that everyone is okay. It has been a very sombre time of reflection for everyone.”

Just like the players, Reid too is using technology to stay in touch with his kids. While his son is based in Netherlands now, his daughter lives in Australia. “Like millions of people around the world who are isolated from their loved ones, it is a challenging time. However, putting it in perspective, some people are in the same city and aren’t able to see their families. So it sort of helps, thinking even if you were home, you may not be able to visit them anyway. The positive about this is that technology allows us to keep in contact daily and in fact when it comes to a lot of extended family and friends we are feeling more connected,” said Reid, who lives with his wife Julia here.