Tuskers to toughen minds for that winning edge

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If you ask Sports psychologist Vipin Roldant of what is more important, game planning or physical fitness? He will smile and add an entirely new dimension — mental training.

Vipin who had given mental training support to the Kerala Ranji Team has now approached the Kochi Tuskers Kerala with a proposal that he claims is essential for any team in the IPL.

“When a team is winning, everything seems to go well, but, one loss and they face the heat. It directly affects the morale of players and cripples their team spirit,” points out Vipin, who occasionally gives behavioural training to Kerala Police.

“If you take a look at most of the teams in the IPL, they don’t have a mental trainer.

A player performs well for a period of time and then suddenly he goes out of form. Not often will the team management or the coach himself be able to spend time with him,” he notes.

Vipin’s enthusiasm had him invited to the Kolkata Knight Riders camp in the opening IPL season. But the project did not work out for Vipin since the team management had other ideas in mind.

“I have submitted a report on how mental coaching can shape up the team and coach Geoff Lawson has taken it. Now, I need to know what the management feels about it,” says the psychologist.

Meanwhile, if you ask cricket experts on what they feel about mental toughness of a player, former Kerala coach P. Balachandran quotes a striking example.

“Foreign players, especially Australians are much keen on stepping up the momentum even when all hopes are lost. If Brad Hodge is still showing great commitment on the field despite being 36, it is the inbuilt aggressiveness of Australians, which keeps then fighting till the last moment. But, our youngsters still need to be a little more equipped on that front.”

Ok, now that Vipin Roldant’s mantra of success is before the Tuskers’ coach let us wait and see if he gets the call to advice the likes of S Sreesanth and Ramesh Powar who needs to improve on being consistent.