Bengaluru, Aug 19 (IANS) Having completed their 14-day self-isolation period, the Indian senior men and women hockey core probables on Wednesday resumed sports activities at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) facility.

Women’s team’s goalkeeper Savita is happy that the training has started and the players have stepped out to resume sports activities. “It is a good moment for all of us because we are finally able to resume sports activities, and do outdoor running as well.”

“In our rooms, we were only able to do body weight exercises and use resistance bands. So it is a positive sign that we are able to get back to some sort of outdoor activities following all the SAI SOPs in a very secure environment here at SAI.

“It was more about staying fit and maintaining your well-being when we were in our rooms, but the feel-good factor is back now,” she added.

Having had the opportunity to be all by themselves for a period of two weeks, Savita said it was one-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all of them to self-evaluate and take out time for themselves.

“When you are a professional athlete, it gets really hectic sometimes because you are travelling every other day and playing often. As such you don’t really get the chance to introspect at length, but these few months and especially the past 14 days, I’ve had the chance to look back on a lot of things and understand myself better,” said the veteran goalkeeper.

She added, “What I’ve realised is that this is the only time I might get in my life where I can analyse a lot of things – personal and professional – and work towards bettering them.”

“It may be the choices I have made at certain stages, or something that I can add to my personality on and off the field to make it better. It might vary for different people, but I totally believe that it has been one of the most important phases in my life as I’ve had to be very strong mentally as well.”

The 30-year-old also shared insights on her team’s new routine post the quarantine period.

“We have to get back to full fitness, so we will be including outdoor running, high-intensity workouts and a bit of stick-work to our schedule. We started today with an outdoor exercise session maintaining social distancing, and will be resuming sports activities on the hockey pitch to get our rhythm back while also following safety protocols as stated in the SOPs,” said Savita.

–IANS

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