Ever since his arrival in the Indian football team, the football players have recorded improved levels of fitness both on and off the pitch. The distances, the players cover on the pitch has increased. So much so that during some recent matches, the players replicated the European standards- covering 10-12 kms in a match.
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Sportskeeda spoke to Danny Deigan – Sports Scientist for the Indian National Football team. Here are excerpts from the interview with the Australian:
Sportskeeda: Hey Danny, how was the first training session yesterday?
Danny Deigan: Fantastic. Yesterday we had a good opportunity to see where all the players are at physically. Now we can plan out our direction for the week and what we can achieve.
SK: Why did you want to be a sports scientist?
DD: I am from Sydney, Australia. When I was young, I loved playing sport and played a lot of different sports. Went to University and the more I learnt about it, the more I became passionate about improving performance, I guess.
SK: How long will an average player who plays football for recreation every Sunday last on the field if he/she were to play an international game?
DD: (Laughs), that’s a great question. Look our guys to get on the field, they do three to four times that amount in a week as a professional player. We know the recreational player cannot do that much work. It would be very hard for them to reach that same intensity. Even for our guys to move from domestic football to international football, is quite a step up.
SK: Can you compare Sandesh Jhingan’s fitness levels now to when you first met him?
DD: He was our fastest player in training yesterday. His speed is very good. Aerobically he was the best of what we’ve seen him in the last camp. He had twelve days with us. The concern for players like him is that they need to stay professional when they go back to their clubs. We need to see that level on the first day of the camp not the 12th day of the camp.
SK: You’ve cut down on the Indian player’s intake of traditional Indian food. What’s the diet now?
DD: So for example, today and tomorrow we have two practice sessions in a day. So we have a bit more carbohydrates to fuel them. Around the other days we have a bit more protein and they don’t have as much snacks. So the diet is really based on they’re playing. We cut out Indian food because we see food as a fuel to perform. Same thing like you wouldn’t put bad petrol in your Ferrari.
SK: Who are some of the athletes that impressed you the most?
DD: When I went to Western Sydney Wanderers (Football Club), I was very impressed with the A league team went on to win the Asian Champion’s league. Playing against teams from other countries, where one player is worth more than the whole salary of your team. I think that was very impressive for me. Something I really enjoy seeing is teamwork- A coaching staff that works together with the athletes and really getting the most out of what you can in terms of performance.
SK: How important is weight training for the Indian footballers?
DD: Weight training is very important. There is no other way to strengthen ligaments and tendons. We know strength ratios are important in preventing injury and managing injury risk. But all that is done in the gym, you can’t do that on the pitch, unfortunately. It needs resistance.
SK: What do you look at when analysing a player’s running distance?
DD: The main thing we look at is high speed running. I guess from our point of view, we sit down as a coaching team and plan all of our sessions. We have a database of all the drills that we’ve done. I can pretty much tell you how many kilometres we’re going to cover in today’s afternoon training session, how much is going to be high speed- we have it all planned based on what the players have previously done. It’s one big holistic approach.
There’s often times when players surpass their predicted levels (of running) but we get the information in real-time as well. So during the session, we have the laptop wired and we’ll know when we hit our targets for the session. We don’t necessarily stop that time because you can’t do that in a game either.
SK: When was the time the Indian players surpassed the standards?
DD: Some of our performances in the SAFF Championship were really good. Our numbers against Iran and Oman. We had some players that worked really hard. It’s important that we prepare players for the hardest part of the game. Not just the average game. We have used those numbers with Coach, Constantine to get players that play his game. So those players that are surpassing the standards are much more in the radar. As a group, we don’t have the low-level players in our camp anymore. Everyone is around a similar level.
SK: Does your fitness ideology for the Indian national players clash with the ideologies of a club level fitness coach? At the club, the players might get different information from what you’re telling them.
DD: I guess the big thing for us is that we try and provide them with the right information. We try and educate the players but we don’t try to own the players when they go back to their club. But we understand that we probably need a little bit more out of them so we try and get them to supplement to what they do with their respective clubs. Sometimes we don’t get the time we need to get them up to scratch.
All our players are very accepting. Even the likes of Sunil Chhetri was straight on board with what we do. Everything that we do has a reason. We like to be evidence based. I hope the clubs give them the information and the wise. Because if it is evidence based, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do it.
SK: What are some challenges that you faced in India?
DD: The lack of time that we get with players. It’s like the 23-1 rule. I can have someone for an hour a day in the gym. But what they do the other 23 hours, I can’t help if they’re hunched over a computer.
