PVL 2022: There is a long way to go as far as fitness is concerned – Calicut Heroes’ S & C coach Dr. Sandy Nair

Calicut Heroes strength and conditioning coach Dr. Sandy Nair reckons there is still a long way to go as far as fitness is concerned for young Indian volleyball players.

Prime Volleyball is going on and Nair feels it will take some time to improve players’ fitness.

PVL is giving a great opportunity to the players to showcase their skills and improve their abilities while playing with and against some of the best players. Furthermore, they are receiving the right coaching from experienced coaches and fitness experts.

Dr. Nair is a qualified Level-1 Fitness Trainer and Level-A Coach from National Cricket Academy (NCA, Bengaluru) and thus has all the experience.

Speaking about the biggest challenge Dr. Nair faced while training the PVL players, he said while talking to Sportstar, “The biggest challenge I faced was to make the rookie players unlearn their training routine and to bring them into the professional system of strength and conditioning. All the training was focused on bringing out that athlete in each person. Another challenge is that there is no professional setup like cricket or other games where the players are followed up with their fitness after the PVL. Players don’t even have their history of fitness tests and training progression”.

Dr. Nair admitted that there is still a lot of work to be done for the players and hopefully leagues like PVL will help the players get better in their fitness.

He added, “I feel that there is a long way to go as far as fitness is concerned. We should realise that India stands in the 64th position in the FIVB Senior- Men World ranking and has never qualified for the Olympics. With this PVL, I am sure that it will help the raw players to showcase their talent in such a big league and will also get a chance to represent bigger leagues”.

Nair added that the players should continue their training even after the end of the season to attain top fitness and improve their playing standards.

He said, “Like any other professional athlete, they have to continue the training schedule even after the season. Each player should hire a trainer and plan their progress. Along with strength and conditioning sessions, they should also focus on the most important part of fitness training which is recovery.

They should incorporate recovery techniques like contrast bath, ice bath, pool session, steam bath, Jacuzzi, massage, soft tissue recovery and also have good food, proper sleep etc to avoid injuries and to bounce back each time after rigorous training”.

Calicut Heroes were able to qualify for the semifinal after winning three out of their six matches.