‘Jyothi is a level-headed and determined athlete’
HYDERABAD
Jyothi Yerraji of Telangana, who broke the women’s 100m hurdles National record multiple times and is a medal prospect in the forthcoming Asian Games, is a level-headed and determined athlete despite all the success she has achieved, Dr. Aashish Contractor, Director, Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital in Mumbai, said.
“Athletes have to be perfect, literally, in every discipline to be a winner at the highest level and a lot depends on nutrition and strength - both mental and physical,” said Dr. Aashish, who interacts with many big names in Indian sport, including Jyothi.
“Most coaches are fine in imparting basic skills. The higher-level sports science skills that are required in addition to coaching, I don’t think the average coach is equipped with. Yes, some are self-taught, and there are exceptions too,” he said in a chat with The Hindu.
“A coach should be expected to have the basic knowledge and principles and to identify which youngster requires a higher level of professional support.”
Dr. Aashish feels elite athletes should be assessed on a periodical basis. “The test should include fitness as well as the health parameter because they are subjecting their body to a huge load. The health parameters are equally important to focus on. It won’t be correct to comment on an individual athlete. But, I can say Jyothi is a very stable, level-headed and determined. She is grounded in spite of all the success she has achieved.
He added: “In any sport, it is very important that the year is broken up into parts where you do a lot of training, recovery and for competitions. The bottom line is that you can’t be competing all the time. It has to be a cyclical or periodic process and will be different for each athlete.
“We should have a good support system in place to let athletes focus on training all the time, not to worry about accommodation, food, etc., which have to be taken care of. We need to have a nutritionist, physiotherapist, strength and conditioning coach apart from the skills coach. These are important to achieve success at the highest level.
