Low endurance on the field, getting tired easily and frequent injuries are some setbacks amongst students after two years of being at home, said sports coaches in several schools.
As tournaments in the city resume, at least two coaches said they were struggling to select teams for inter-school competitions.
Students are unable to complete two rounds of a ground now. They start with jogging and finish walking or are unable to reach the end. Many ask for frequent water breaks, coaches said.
In many institutions, after-school hours are dedicated to sports training, especially for the children who represent the school.
In the last two years of online lessons, students attended physical training class in front of the screen that barely tested their stamina or helped them maintain fitness. “There are some students who have maintained their fitness and skills because of individual coaching but that is not enough for a school team,” said Anshu Pandey, head of the sports department at Indus Valley World School.
To select 15 players for a cricket tournament, earlier there were 20-25 players to choose from but now there are four or five who perform well, said Sunil Singh, head of department, physical education and sports, The Heritage School. “The team is now dependent on the skills and performance of four or five players. The others are lagging behind. The students are enthusiastic to play but their fitness is not supporting them,” said Singh.
The Bishop Canning Cup, an inter-school cricket tournament organised by St Thomas’ Boys School
Kidderpore held last month, had participants from 30 city schools.
The schools conducted trials for a tournament organised by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) that was held recently.
An inter-school table tennis tournament was held in Chinsurah, Hooghly, in March.
“We introduced the cup in 2018 (formerly the St Thomas’ Cup now the Bishop Canning Cup) and could conduct it only for two years before the pandemic struck. Now, since the situation has improved, we decided to hold the tournament. But on the field, we can see the students are not as agile as they used to be. We have to give them the scope to play and regain their strength and performance level,” said John Ghosh, principal, St Thomas’ Boys Kidderpore.
The two-year gap has drawn students who were active players into a shell, said Pandey. “Before the pandemic, there were players who had the skills but now, the same students are no longer interested in playing.”
Training sessions in schools have resumed and become more intensive after schools reopened for in-person classes in the new session.
Pandey said that for a football tournament in August, the training and practice has already started.
“The fitness will not return in a day or two. It will take a few months,” said Nabarun Chattoraj, sports coach at St James’ School.
Some institutes like Debanjan Sen Foundation that held soccer tournaments are waiting for schools to ready their players before organising matches.
“There has been a complete lack of any activity in the last two years. For any meaningful programme to happen, schools have to first put their act together...,” said organiser Debashis Sen.
