Ramji Srinivasan discusses working with athletes committed to the Olympics, the challenges of strength and choosing a coach-Sports News, Firstpost

In the world of professional sports, there are certain roles that are just as glamorous as athletes or even head coaches, and members of its support staff in a coach meeting who end up staying far from the limelight for the most part while acquiring roles that are crucial, however.

For example, strength and care coaches play an important role in an athlete’s physical well-being for a long time, and unlike physiques whose jobs resemble repair work, their jobs are often long-term. When they win medals or awards, it’s the athletes who are the face of achievement and are acclaimed heroes, while the coaches are in the next row in terms of honors.

Ramji Srinivasan had played that role on the Indian cricket team from 2009-2013 and has also served as a SandC coach for athletes in many other sports, from Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok in motorsport to Ramesh Krishnan and Somdev Devvarman in the world. tennis.

Recently, he has taken care of athletes who plan to represent the people at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 table tennis stars Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and swordsman Bhavani Devi, who is the sport’s first Indian at the Olympics.

Working closely with these athletes, Srinivasan provides interesting insights into the training differences between Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan, both of whom have achieved success in the singles and doubles industries and are part of a generation of Indian paddlers who are experiencing a steady rise. on the lucky international stage, even though they are not far from breaking China’s passionate grip on sport.

The needs are different. His physique is different. His game is different. So you have to analyze the game for what is required. For example, Sharath Kamal wants to work in the palm of her hand. He has to work on the position of the body and how he is able to move the body weight and how he is able to move the ball. It’s different.

For Sathiyan, he may need more strength. Explosive force So the needs are different. I can’t give the same training and the same protocols, said Srinivasan, who was supposed to follow Sathiyan to his Virgin Olympics, but in the end couldn’t COVID-19 protocols according to which conditional sizes were cut between participating countries.

Both Sathiyan and Sharath Kamal, perhaps the most decorated player in Indian table tennis history, had made it to the Asian Olympic qualifiers held in Doha in March earlier this year. A total of four Indians Manika Batra and Suthirtha Mukherjee, in addition to the duo mentioned above, will represent India at the upcoming Olympics.

File image from G Sathiyan. Photo credit: Twitter / @ ittfworld

Taking care of Bhavani Devi, who had made it to the Tokyo World Cup in March, and his fitness program were also a learning experience for Srinivasan.

I have learned a lot because especially footwork, explosive power, reaction time, those things are very important for fencing. Balance. Lateral mixes and explosive force and jump. So it’s more of a proactive and reactive sport.

Most sports are like that, but the degree varies, the ratio varies from skill to skill, from sport to sport. We have been working on other aspects (like) of footwork, biometrics and the power of explosive force basically in Bhavan, Srinivasan said.

Srinivasan, who happened to be a sprinter and himself a long jumper during his youth before the injury ended his hopes of pursuing a career as a senior athlete, highlighted some of the key aspects of his work, one of which is to gain confidence in the athlete and build positive dynamics with him.

A head coach or a member of the coaching staff may not receive recognition that an athlete is a success, but a relationship between the two often dictates the athlete’s or team’s property, and as such, a healthy relationship is always beneficial.

In fact, Srinivasan continued his mission and assignments to bullets related to his role.

Trust is most important. You may be very knowledgeable, very eloquent on your subject, but in the end, if they don’t trust you, all things are wasted. As a SandC (Strength and Care) you need to be open, with no hidden agenda. First. Another thing, be open about your information. If you don’t know, you accept it, you don’t know. Third, don’t try to use professional language or its technical side in front of them to get rid of the situation.

Fourth, be honest about the approach and goals you want for them. You can’t say to Sharath Kamal, ‘Tomorrow you’re number one in the world. Sathiyan is the number one in the world today and tomorrow, and you are the best table tennis star in the world. ‘No. And not favoring the popularity of the players, which is very critical. Don’t attract sponsorship, support for a fitness center.

However, creating a bond with an athlete or team is not the only concern for Srinivasan. By maintaining communication with coaches, a few tendencies are for head coaches to become trades in all industries rather than allowing for decentralization of roles.

I need to have an open communications director with coaches and other support staff associated with a particular team or individual in order to move to the next level of performance over a period of time.

I think there is a huge difference here in India between the coach, the support staff and the player. It has to be like a tripod stool. One foot goes away, then there is no balance. Protocols and processes must be very clear.

Sometimes in India it happens that coaches become everything. He becomes a physique, he becomes a fitness instructor, he becomes a mental health coach, he becomes a Massage Therapist, the principle of all or nothing. So it can be a very dangerous trend. So one person doesn’t have to have knowledge of everything. Therefore, coaches need to select the right support staff to improve players, prevent all kinds of injuries, and enhance the protocols in place.

Ramji Srinivasan was the strength of Indian cricket and a fitness instructor at the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. It was under @ Ram24867 that @Helsinki did his rehabilitation from the tennis elbow. Thank you for your support. I hope you enjoy reading the book 😄gikkukrishnan @BloomsburyIndia pic.twitter.com/W4oeJCyPBc

Vijay Lokapally (@vijaylokapally) March 10, 2021

Another area of ​​concern, he thinks, is blindly copying fitness programs that have worked for top athletes in different sports and applying them to those who may have very different requirements. This, he says, is the result of focusing only on the results achieved by the stars in the field, rather than looking at the great aspects of the process.

As for the training protocol, I think we will directly highlight what is suitable for the players. In Novak tennis, for example, we directly raise the training that suits them, which made them successful. But we don’t sit down and understand the exact level of how they progressed due to variables over a period of time. We do not see the final product and the copy. That is why we are failing miserably.

We need to Indianise it, we need to identify it. It has to be a workout tailored to the individual, according to the skills, the need, the tournament they go to according to diet, recovery protocols, tactical and technical point of view, everything has to culminate in the right place and at the right time for the athlete to reach his peak. Otherwise, shoot in the dark.

Srinivasan is also quite fond of recalling his Indian cricket team, which stretched back to some of MS Dhonis ’most brilliant years as captain, being crowned World Champions in 2011 in Men in Blue, No. 1 Test Team in 2009 and Champions Trophy success in 2013. him to stick to just one sport, and as such, Srinivasan has the luxury of watching a wide variety of athletes from different fields up close.

However, Srinivasan, who helped Sachin Tendulkar recover from his tennis elbow injury, in other words, does not describe the image of cricket as the most rewarding of his career, and Indian cricketers are the best athletes to work alongside.

The Indian cricket team and BCCI have better infrastructure and facilities as well as player management, cutting edge. And other sports can take the hint out of BCCI for sure. If we want to succeed well and want to make an athlete confident and comfortable, just focus on his performance and nothing else.

BCCI has been huge, if you want something, right away it’s done. I’ve been part of the Indian team for five years, I never complained. If I want supplements or exercise equipment, it will be punished immediately. I don’t have to go through bureaucracy.

There is no bureaucracy in the BCCI. They see that it adds value to the team or player, they immediately determine the penalties, not the questions, no matter how expensive it is. In 2010, when we were planning the World Cup, I said no soft drinks, nothing in the dressing room, no cheese, no butter, no ghee, no fried items. Everything was punished, Srinivasan recalled, adding that Indian cricket had also benefited tremendously from the fact that some of the game’s legends gave the sport back in every possible way from which other sports and their governing bodies could learn something or two.

Located in his hometown of Chennai, Srinivasan has founded Sports Dynamix, a state-of-the-art fitness center in an upscale part of the city focused on athlete development rather than the general public. He certainly doesn’t rule out working with more athletes and teams in the future, even if he has a role that is more entrepreneurial than a traditional athlete.