“Coaches must gain weight”: Olympic medal-winning shooter Vijay Kumar

Olympic medalist shooter Vijay Kumar feels that personal and national coaches play an equal role in an athlete’s growth as the debate over the role of the two continues to intensify with the Paris Games approaching. Several Indian athletes have opted for personal trainers in Paris and Vijay feels there is nothing wrong with it and due “weight” should be given to them. India’s medal hope in pistol shooting Manu Bhaker has opted for pistol legend Jaspal Rana as his coach in Paris, while rifle shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar trains with former Olympian Joydeep Karmakar, although the veteran did not tag along his pupil to the Games. Athletes from several other sports also count on the help of personal coaches as they pursue their Olympic dream.

Vijay, who was a surprise medal winner in London in 2012 when he emerged from the shadow of the likes of Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Narang to win silver in rapid fire pistol, said personal trainers should be given due “weight” as made. played a fundamental role in elevating the athlete to this level.

“Well, it’s a complicated issue. Personal coaches should also be given due weight. Suppose someday I become a national coach, the shooter who comes to me, he would have been trained by someone to reach that level by a coach personal,” Vijay, a former army man who now serves as DSP in Himachal Police, told PTI.

“So the contribution of both coaches is equal. National coaches give that extra push… that 1-2 point increase in scores, how to deal with pressure in international competitions,” said Vijay, who enlisted early in the Army. and managed to take advantage of his shooting talent to bring several accolades to the country.

The 38-year-old, however, believes that the shooting federation should appoint coaches with good credentials and who have faced challenging situations in some of the world’s toughest competitions.

“The federation should only appoint coaches who have played at international level and won medals, so that they can teach their wards how to deal with such circumstances, what thoughts to keep in mind while shooting or relaxing, the techniques to follow,” added Vijay .

He feels that the Indian shooting team’s preparations are far from ideal and that a clear roadmap should have been laid out for the Paris-bound shooters six months before the mega event.

“Observing from the outside, I feel like it’s the players’ planning over the last six months that we’re lacking. The federation, I believe, should have a clear roadmap on which competitions shooters should participate in and the type of training they should receive and under whom.

“So the focus should have been on that. In the last six months, the focus should have been on how to make the players more focused, how much to coach them, how much foreign exposure needs to be given, everything that needs to be worked to the ‘T’ “, he added.

“This year I also heard that the team was announced three (two) months before the Olympics. The tests were very late and the team announcement was also late. frank,” he added.

“The federations’ policy of holding Olympic trials was fair, but the execution was a little late. The process should have been completed 2-3 months before it actually took place. The last 5-6 months (before the Olympics) are crucial. I must say, if the competition in the Olympics is at the end of July, then in January or at the latest in February the tests should have ended. Here the tests would take place by the end of April, I suppose. rest before embarking on rigorous specialized training. Unfortunately, due to the delay in the Olympic selection trials and the late announcement of the team, the Indian shooters did not have that luxury.

“The (federation) should have given adequate rest to the shooter for about a month and after that rigorous training should have started, plus foreign exposure, plus technical training. That would have been ideal, from my understanding,” he added.

With physical and mental coaches now becoming an integral part of every athlete competing in major international competitions, Vijay feels he is not fully convinced of their importance.

“Even today, I’m 50:50 convinced that there should be a physical coach and a mental coach. No doubt those things help, but if your education is in a specific environment, it gives you that competitive edge. That was given to me by the Army, my family education.

“You can’t say you can teach (mental training) to someone who is 20 or 30 years old, because the environment a child grows up in has a profound effect on their mind. The Army’s atmosphere was good and I had good players for company, which is why I stood out.

“We absorbed everything our coaches told us with a clear mind. We followed them blindly. For me it was Army coach Pavel Smirnov and other senior coaches.

While coaches and all trainers can only take someone so far, Vijay feels that being in the company of some of the best shooters from his time at the Army Marksmanship Unit in Mhow helped him grow as a shooter.

“Pemba Tamang, Jitu Rai… it gives you inspiration and also gives you a push that others are doing well, so you don’t go into that relaxed zone. So, good players are essential for your growth.”

(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)