They got a chance to swim with the best

EXPERIENCE, THEY say is the biggest teacher in life and the ninth World swimming championship held recently at Fukuoka, provided some valuable lessons for the three member Indian squad, which comprised coach S. Pradeeep Kumar and his teenaged wards, Shikha Tandon and Reshma Millet.

Pradeep Kumar termed the trip to Fukuoka as `fantastic experience'. He said: ``The championship, gave us a feel of what it is really like out there. One has seen it on TV and read about it, but to be there and that too competing in such a meet, really opened our eyes as to what we should be really doing to raise the standard of Indian aquatics'', said Pradeep Kumar.

The Fukuoka World championship saw a maximum number of World records and about 136 countries made their presence felt in the meet.

That itself was a golden opportunity, at least from Pradeep Kumar's point of view to interact with the other coaches and participants and learn a thing or two about their methods.

``Since it was a competition, there was nothing much that I could many observe as to how they train, but I spoke to a lot of them, including leading coaches from America and Australia and gained valuable insights. They were helpful, especially the U.S. coaches, in fact one of the U.S. Swim Programme Directors mailed lot of material to me after I returned home''.

One striking aspect of a World class swimmer is his or her height and build. ``It is a huge advantage. I am more than convinced about it. The average swimmer's height at the meet was not less than six feet three inches and most were built like a bull and the very sight of them could psyche their Asian rivals. This is where, we really lack, a strong build and good height. In fact, I feel our basketball or volleyball players would make ideal swimmers, given their height. We should think in terms of scouting for talent with such height'', said Pradeep Kumar.

Pradeep Kumar felt that the World class swimmers and their trainers, emphasise a lot on strength and endurance building, good diet and mental preparation before major international championships.

``Enormous in- puts on scientific lines go into their preparations'', said Pradeep Kumar. Another noticeable factor is the age. None of the swimmers, who won a medal was below 20 years, barring of course Ian Thorpe.

``Thorpe is a genius, but take others, the swimmers mature with age in the West, but in our country, by 22 or 23, they are finished, barring of course Railway swimmers, who train a lot''.

``Technical innovations have had their impact on the results at Fukuoka. The body suit, used by Australians, Europeans and Americans saw them slash the timings as their actual body was minimal. The Nations that dominate the world scene have splurged money on scientific training and building a strong base'', said Pradeep Kumar.

Pradeep Kumar said that if the country has to produce real world class swimmers, it has to seriously look for genuine talent with the right physical attributes.

Success was not confined to Untied States and Australia alone, as a lot of European nations had their fair slice of luck.

``I feel the Europeans are slowly bridging the gap with U.S. and Australia. But Asian competitors, in general, are not a match in this field, which is superior in all respects. But the Asian swimmers, especially from China and Japan made their impact and won few medals too'', said Pradeep Kumar.

``Science now plays a big role in the sport. We should be having bio-mechanics, stroke specialists, sports psychologists to back our efforts. More than anything else, we should have lot of meets and more exposure at the international level. We are not really behind in terms of training, but we need to streamline that on sound scientific basis'', said the Indian coach.

That, of course needs, huge doses of sponsorship, and the lack of it, has been the bane of the sport in the country.

``There were over a dozen multi national and Japanese sponsors for the world meet and it received extensive telecast.'' Right now, we can only dream of it'', said the wistful coach.

Pradeep Kumar strongly believes that Indians can achieve competency at international levels.

``If nations like Japan, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and the former Soviet Bloc, can make it to the world level we too can really do it. At least at the Asian level, we are somewhere there. Nisha's 100m freestyle time in the last Asian championship, saw her finish among the top six, we can truly get into the medal bracket with sustained effort'', said the coach.

Pradeep Kumar felt that the two Indian girls, Reshma and Shikha did what was expected of them. ``First let us take note that at 15, they are very young for this level of competition. They did pretty well in 100m freestyle, recording their personal best time (Shikha did 59.96 seconds, second fastest Indian time after Nisha Millet's 59.42 secs) and Reshma's backstroke effort was good (32.97 in 50 and 1:11.29 in the 100) and of course, 50m freestyle was disappointing (Shikha clocked 28.02 and Reshma did 28.20 secs). But in sprints, it happens always like that, a fraction of second late start can often mar your show. But what they have gained from the trip is the first hand exposure of what a World championship is all about. Earlier their exposure was limited to Asian championship or Asia Pacific meet, but this is a different ball game and they now know what it really takes to be World class swimmers'', said the coach.

Pradeep Kumar admitted that they could have done better with lot more training before going for the World Championship.

``We went straight after the junior Nationals in Goa. From junior Nationals to swim in the World championship, is like trying to climb Himalayas after climbing a small hill. But the SFI was pleased with their showing at Fukuoka, I am satisfied, though I would have been very happy if one of them had made the semi- finals. Hopefully next time, our effort will be much more focussed and better'', said Pradeep Kumar.

For Reshma and Shikha, the meet gave them a chance to swim with some of the best and they overcame their sense awe. That itself was a big plus point.

The girls met in person their idols and went on a shooting spree with their cameras when they were not in the water.

The one `must' picture for both, was with the hero of the meet, Ian Thorpe, who offered words of encouragement, which should still be ringing in their ears.

KALYAN ASHOK

Bangalore

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