Pain before gain for Indian hockey team

World No 5 India are on a high having beaten reigning Olympic champions Argentina 32 and 30 in a FIH Hockey Pro League double header in Buenos Aires recently This was their first competitive outing after over a year given the global Covid19 situation And while Indian hockey is on the cusp of history as it appears to be in the best possible shape to win a medal at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics July 23 to August 8 this past year has also been a testing period for them off the field due to the pandemicCoach Graham ReidlsquoChallenging preparationsrsquoChief Coach Graham Reid 57 a former Australian hockey player who has won medals at the Champions Trophy World Cup and Olympics across the 1980s and 90s admitted that this has been the toughest phase of his professional career ldquoThis is one of the most challenging Olympic preparations I have ever been involved with Even in a normal Olympic year for both coaches and players the pressure of selection and trying to get the team to be the best they can in time to perform when required is a challenge Add to this the fact that we have been through this process almost twice nowmdashlast year and this year The uncertainty of this pandemic and its complications has been a massive challenge Throughout however we have tried to maintain the mantra that we canrsquot control what happens to us but we can control the way we reactrdquo Reid told midday from the national camp at the Sports Authority of India Centre in Bangalore on ThursdayIn August last year six Indian menrsquos playersmdashskipper Manpreet Singh Surender Kumar Jaskaran Singh Varun Kumar Krishan Pathak and Mandeep Singhmdashtested positive for the Coronavirus and while all got well soon Surender developed a clot in his arm and had to be treated for a postCovid complication venous thrombosis This was in the initial stages of the pandemic and its chaos so not much data was available leaving the coaching staff to use all their experience to motivate the worried players ldquoThere was a sense of uncertainty because at that point not many athletes had got Covid19 yet But since these guys are strong and fit athletes data showed that it was not too dangerous for younger people and those without comorbidities However it was a good reminder for everybody that this was a serious virus and complications can develop even for the fittest of people We did not take any chances and all the athletes were admitted to hospitalrdquo added ReidPlayers motivatedThroughout the treatment and even after it initially the players were cautiously apprehensive and it was up to the coaches once again to motivate them keeping in mind the allimportant Olympic goalldquoWe Hockey India SAI and the teamrsquos support staff got to designing SOPs to protect everyone concerned We worked upon things like return to play protocols what sort of testing should be done how quickly they could begin training etc Slowly it gave all the players confidence that they were in the best hands We coaching staff were constantly in contact with the recovering players and involved them in all our Zoom meetings We also made sure that they were always able to contact their families who were obviously very worried about them In fact Surender and I still joke with each other I tell him lsquoHow are you feeling Surender is everything okrsquo And he laughs because he has heard this question from me so many times during that periodrdquo concluded ReidAlso ReadExhockey umpire Ravinder Sodhi passes away due to Covid19 complications