Tamil Nadu hockey team commences preparation for upcoming season

The Tamil Nadu men's hockey team commenced their training camp at Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in Chennai on Monday (October 25). The camp will continue until the first week of December post which the Tamil Nadu men's hockey team will take part in the Senior National Championships.

The Hockey Senior National Championships will be held in Pune from December 11 and the Tamil Nadu men's hockey team, helmed by coach Charles Dixon, are confident of a podium finish.

The Tamil Nadu men's hockey team were champions in the 2019 edition and in the 2020 edition, they bowed out in the quarter-finals.

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Thirty-five players from across the state are part of the camp, a healthy mix of seniors and juniors. The final 18 for the Senior National Championships will be selected in the first week of December.

Tamil Nadu men's hockey team coach Charles Dixon, speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, sounded confident of a good finish at the Senior National Championships this time. He said:

"We all assembled this morning and all the players are pumped up. The main focus is a podium finish in the Nationals, especially after the quarter-final exit last time."

The Hockey Senior National Championship will be a different one this year. Departmental teams such as Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, Air India, Indian Railways and Services will not be competing as they have a separate inter-institutional hockey national tournament.

As per the rules of Hockey India, teams can only play in one national tournament a year. However, Charles Dixon refused to read too much into the difference. He said:

"It is only the departmental teams that are not participating. There are many state teams like Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh etc. who are very strong. The competition will remain the same. It is good that Tamil Nadu is also considered as one of the heavyweights, but, we have to work hard to prove our mettle."

The Tamil Nadu men's hockey team lost to the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board last time, a team that had eight Olympians in them. The Tamil Nadu team leaked a goal in the dying moments of the game to bow out of the tournament. Charles Dixon said the team is keen to avoid those kind of moments in the game.

"We lost a game in the last three minutes last time. It is a game and that happens, but the boys are pumped up to avoid those kind of scenarios this time. Hockey in India is on a different level, especially after the high of the Tokyo Olympics. The morale will always be high for all teams, including us."

Hockey camp to start with fitness test

With the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc across the world, all action had come to a sudden halt and domestic players bore the brunt of not having competitive practice under their belt. Dixon elaborated:

"We start with a two-week fitness camp. We have Rahul, who is our trainer and physio, who will be in charge of fitness. We start with a fitness test to guage the level of the players before they start. We will have a Yo-Yo test, an endurance, a 30m fast run, broad jump and cardio exercises. These exercises will help us to better understand our players and work on the short-comings accordingly."

The coach hopes that a good showing in the Senior Nationals will help the bunch from Tamil Nadu grow in their careers.

"This Senior National Championship will take the players to the next step, like a selection for an Indian camp or for a departmental job opportunity. This is important for them and I hope they can do well."

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