New Delhi: Renowned trainer from Johnson and Johnson Human Performance Institute, Florida USA Lorenzo Beltrame has said overall experience of working with the archers of India was very positive. Lorenzo has recently concluded a five-day mental training camp for archers at JLN Stadium, New Delhi.
He said the first two days were spent in group sessions with 15 archers. The archers were fully engaged in the activities and showed great energy and enthusiasm during the sessions. Archers learnt through interactive exercises and games that mental toughness – their ability to create and sustain the optimal psychological and physiological state – is a skill that can be learnt through systematic training. The most important issue was an overwhelming pressure to win an Olympic medal. It was stressed by Lorenzo that the focus should be on best effort, dedication, commitment & character building & results will follow on their own.
For the next three days, individual one-on-one sessions were conducted with the 16 archers. Specific individual barriers related to performance and pressure handling were identified and strategies to counter them were proposed. Every archer was given a very personalized program suited to his/her needs and requirements.
At last Lorenzo made them realize that they have to work together as a team and help each other. They either succeed as a team or they will fail as an individual, he added.
Overall feedback from archers on the mental training camp has been excellent and all archers appreciated sessions and were of the view that these sessions helped them how to approach their training & competitions. All archers enjoyed his sessions and there has been no negative feedback. All of them have requested for regular sessions in the lead up to Rio Olympics 2016.
Overall feedback on the mental training camp from coaches and psychologists is positive and all the coaches and psychologists enjoyed the session. In their feedback they have requested for regular sessions of longer duration (at least once every quarter) with Lorenzo and also requested to attach him with Indian teams. They felt that the mental training should also include field visits so that Lorenzo can observe the archers and coaches during the conduct of training. One feedback has been to include more activities in the sessions conducted by Lorenzo.
Ministry of Youth affairs and sports has for the first time organized a mental training camp for archers in India through the Sports Authority of India under Shri Lorenzo Beltrame.
The training for athletes was for 5 days from 20.4.15 to 24.5.15 at JLN stadium New Delhi and comprised of sessions for collective as well as individual one to one sessions. It was followed by 3 days training of 4 coaches and 6 Sports Psychologists from 27th to 29th April, 2015 so that they could continue with the mental training of the said athletes in the run up to the Olympics 2016. Shri Lorenzo Beltrame will also conduct one online session with athletes of the said camp from USA as a follow up.
The mental training camp was funded from the National Sports Development Fund of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports. The estimated cost was Rs.22.5 lakh.
Names of the athletes, coaches and Sports Psychologists who were imparted training are :-
Athletes :-
1. Mr. Tarundeep Rai
2. Mr. Atanu Das
3. Mr. Jayanta Talukdar
4. Mr. Mangla Singh Champia
5. Ms. Deepika Kumari
6. Ms. Bombayla Devi L
7. Ms. Rimil Buruily
8. Ms. Laxmi Rani Majhi
9. Ms. Dola Banerjee
10. Mr. Sanjay Boro
11. Mr. Atul Verma
12. Mr. Ranjit Naik
13. Ms. Madh Vewdan
14. Ms. Ishita
15. Ms. Himani Boro (Only 1:1 Sessions)
16. Ms. Priyanka Tharan
Coaches :-
1. Mr. Ravishankar
2.Mr. Ram Avdesh
3.Mr. Somesh Chander Roy
4.Mr. Ashim Kundu
Sports Psychologists:-
1. Dr. Reena Kaul
2. Dr. Anuradha Solanky
3. Mr. Mithlesh Kumar Tiwari
4. Mr. Gunnjan Maithil
5. Ms. Priyanka
6. Ms. Bhawna Chauhan