CHENNAI: Ever since the hockey players went home, the men’s team’s WhatsApp group has been inundated with messages aimed at spreading positive vibes. The volume of such messages has only increased after six members of the group tested positive for Covid-19. “Most of the messages in the (WhatsApp) group are like ‘be positive, don’t worry about other stuff’,” says SV Sunil to this daily. “Focus on the guidelines given to you by SAI officials.
The main concern for the players”, he says, “is all of us just want to be fully fit and fine.” Sunil, one of the longest serving members of the team, has been doing his bit, sending messages aimed at spreading positivity. Currently in quarantine at the Sports Authority of India campus at Bengaluru, he is also learning about India’s sporting legends across all sports.
That’s one of many activities the hockey team has been prescribed by the officials to ensure they spend the two weeks in isolation doing different things. On Tuesday, for instance, Sunil had to read up about PT Usha. “So we have been split into 4-5 groups and each group will have to read up about legends before presenting a few things we picked up about the legend,” he says.
“We have to read up about how they struggled, how they coped with difficulties in their life, what kept them going and so on. Today (Tuesday), I discussed how close Usha came to winning an Olympic medal. Sessions like these are good.” When the 31-year-old isn’t presenting (his group also contains PR Sreejesh and Kothajit Singh), ‘I analyse old match videos or do some juggling and dribbling inside the room’.
Living in solitary confinement for two weeks can be a challenge — Sunil, like everybody else who reported back to the SAI campus, has finished one week — and it can be a challenge for some, especially when they are required to take temperature and blood oxygen readings once every four hours, a constant reminder of the so called ‘new normal’. “We have been given those machines and we have to take those readings and log in our readings once every four hours.” Earlier, they were at least let on to the athletics track.
This time, they can’t step out of their room, save to pick up the food that’s kept outside the room by one of the members of the staff. If the players decide to go rogue, cameras constantly monitor the aisle and common area for movement, so this is the dictionary definition of solitary confinement. But the Olympian isn’t complaining. “I must say SAI and the staff are taking good care of us, they are working extremely hard. “They keep the food outside the door and ring the bell. We have to pick it up after five minutes. Once we are done with it, we have to keep it in pre-given dust bin covers and place it outside.” That’s not all, they have to wash their own clothes, something elite athletes do not usually do.
When the conversation shifts to the six positive tests, the soft-spoken wide forward says that’s ‘a negative sign’ but he doesn’t think that will be a big problem going forward. “I think everybody has good immunity power so nothing to worry about. We just have to take care of ourselves...” He should know because he had memorised all of the guidelines when he had gone to stay with his wife and his little daughter during the break in June and July.
“It was close to 50 days, it was the first time in my career that I had spent that much time. The start was a bit scary because my daughter is too young. After some time, I adjusted to it.” Once quarantine is complete, he hopes they will be allowed back on the pitch but there is no set plan yet. As the conversation winds to a close, it’s time for another temperature check. Elsewhere in the quarters where the players are kept, a distant doorbell goes off. And in their WhatsApp group, another message appears. “Don’t worry,” it says.