Of the numerous issues PR Sreejesh would’ve anticipated earlier than he joined the nationwide staff set-up almost 20 years in the past, a take a look at for color blindness should not have been certainly one of them.
And but, certainly one of India’s finest hockey goalkeepers of all time was made to sit down on an ophthalmic chair, recognising designs and shapes, and get examined for – amongst many issues – color blindness.
“Many gamers realised they’d a quantity after they got here to the nationwide camp,” former India goalkeeper Adrian D’Souza says. “So, we’d all have our eye exams executed. They did an in-depth take a look at for goalkeepers as a result of we needed to see far more clearly than a mean hockey participant. I did it, Sreejesh did it… we used to get marked on the idea of that.”
D’Souza doesn’t bear in mind their scores. However given how sharply Sreejesh’s eyes choose the fast-moving ball even in the present day, on the age of 34, it will need to have been with flying colors.
He may not have to sit down by the tedious eye exams today, however each time he steps on the pitch – be it for coaching or a match – Sreejesh could be seen juggling two balls, standing in a triangle with different goalkeepers and throwing a ball with one hand whereas concurrently catching with the opposite, or just standing in entrance of a wall with one other individual standing behind his shoulders, bouncing tennis balls off it with Sreejesh utilizing his reflexes to catch them.
PR Sreejesh trains with glow lights to enhance his hand-eye coordination. (Picture credit: Mihir Vasavda)
Not simply Sreejesh. Virtually each goalkeeper goes by these drills to heat up their most necessary muscle earlier than taking place between the posts. “As a goalie,” India’s goalkeeping coach Dennis van de Pol says, “your eyes are your strongest weapon. In the event you actually learn the place the ball is coming (from), then it’s a lot simpler.”
Hockey is a peculiar sport, in that the goalkeeper doesn’t have the benefit of a sight display that makes it straightforward to identify the ball for a batsman or a wicketkeeper in cricket. Neither is the scale of the ball that massive, not like a soccer, that may make his job simpler. By way of his helmet, a goalkeeper has to learn the trajectory of the ball and get in the precise place to cease it from moving into.
Colors, glare
It would sound a fairly simple factor however as former Malaysia goalkeeper Kumar Subramaniam, who’s now part of the staff’s teaching employees, says, it’s laden with challenges. “Particularly in the course of the evening video games, there are points due to the glare,” he says.
As soon as, on the Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, the lights felt so shiny that Subramaniam couldn’t even spot the ball. And so, he began specializing in the whole lot that occurred at his eye degree. “In the event you take a look at an aerial ball, for instance, and look on the lights, likelihood is you is perhaps blinded. Even when that lasts for a second, it may get dangerous. So, I averted trying up and for aerial balls, I used to try the flight of the ball, learn its trajectory and shift my deal with that a part of the sector,” Subramaniam says.
Now a goalkeeping coach, certainly one of his first items of recommendation to younger custodians is to get their eyes examined for glare and color blindness to identify the white or yellow color ball in addition to differentiate between the opponent’s shirt colors in addition to his personal staff’s.
D’Souza says the goalkeepers get examined for each, their lengthy in addition to quick imaginative and prescient. “Lengthy distance would transcend 100 yards, simply to see how far you’ll be able to see. At such a distance, you after all can’t see the ball however what you might be watching is the motion,” he says.
Coping with deflections
The short-distance imaginative and prescient assumes much more significance now, given how actively the forwards are searching for deflections contained in the circle. “Most objectives today are scored by deflection,” D’Souza says. “It means your eyes have seen one thing to which your physique is reacting. However all of a sudden, there’s a change.”
And so, for months, Van de Pol has been making ready the Indian goalkeepers to cope with such deflections, which frequently come from contained in the 6 metre space close to the goalpost. The Dutchman cites the instance of his compatriot Jaap Stockmann, a Netherlands goalkeeping nice, who ‘was like a statue’ within the purpose.
Earlier than the World Cup, throughout nationwide camp at SAI Centre in Bangalore, India’s goalkeeping coach Dennis van de Pol educated Indian custodians to cope with close-range deflections utilizing boards.(Picture credit: Mihir Vasavda)
“As a result of the ball travels so quick, plenty of goalies transfer right into a place even earlier than the shot, anticipating the course wherein it’ll be hit. What finally ends up occurring is that they need to make two strikes then to get into the precise place,” Van de Pol says.
What set Stockmann aside from the remaining is he would wait till the ball would launch from the stick earlier than making his transfer. Among the many up to date goalkeepers, Belgium’s Vincent Vanasch comes closest to the statue-like Stockmann.
Van de Pol’s main goal has been to make the Indian goalies affected person. Throughout coaching camps, he held particular classes after common coaching when Van de Pol stored deflection boards on the left, proper and in entrance of a goalkeeper. He’d then hit the ball from the highest of the ‘D’. The problem for the goalkeepers was to withstand the temptation to maneuver instantly after the primary shot, and wait till the ball would deflect off the board, which was some 3 or 4m away from them.
“It’s a enjoyable factor to work with. What separates a prime goalie, the all-time who lived from a very good goalie is that they make it look really easy – an unimaginable shot from the highest of the ‘D’, they usually reserve it similar to that. Increase! Or a deflection from shut vary, and they’re there.
That’s so demotivating for the striker,” van de Pol says. “And that’s simply due to one factor – their imaginative and prescient is sharp and their eyes are fastened on the ball.”