Sleep, deep breathing, chanting, and mental practice — training the mind alongside the hand.
PHYSICAL FITNESS
In any game physical fitness is absolutely essential. The game of carrom is no exception for it. When a player plays major tournaments he/she has to play four to five matches of duration of half an hour to more than three hours depending upon the opponent. Playing for such a long time gives strain to every part of his body involved in this game. I suggest following yoga exercises for the parts of the body involved in this game.
EYES - Stand straight. Bring your eyeballs at the center. Then rotate it in an anticlockwise direction from above to below and bring the eyeball at the center again. Repeat the exercise in clockwise direction. Do it for five times.
NECK- Bring your head down first and then rotate it in anticlockwise direction. Repeat the exercise in clockwise direction. Do it five times.
SHOULDER - Keep your both hands on both shoulders and then rotate it touching your ears in both the direction. Do it five times.
FINGERS - Try to bring your both the hands giving tension to the fingers as if you are holding something in your hand and bringing it near each other by applying force.
Other methods
Hold a newspaper in one hand and make a ball of it by the fingers of the same hand. Repeat the exercise with other hand.
Rotate Chinese balls clockwise and anticlockwise by holding the two balls in one hand. Repeat with other hand.
WRIST- Rotate your wrists in anticlockwise direction. Repeat the exercise in clockwise direction. Do it for
five times.
WAIST- Stand straight by taking comfortable distance between your legs. Keep both hands on either side of your waist Turn the upper body to maximum of
your left side without moving feet. Repeat this exercise on other side. Do it five times. Stand straight taking distance in your feet. Bend and touch your right hand to your left foot. Then touch your left hand to your right foot. Do it for five times.
Mental Fitness
Proper Rest
A player must have a proper sleep. When you get a proper sleep in the night, you are fresh in the next morning. Particularly in the Nationals players have to play a match at 9 A.M. Generally organizers start practice session at 7.30 A. M. or 8 A. M. It means players have to be ready at 7.15 with breakfast for getting ready so early players have to get up from their bed at least at 6 A M. Therefore they should try to sleep as early as possible instead of passing time for just chitchatting. I have seen in many rooms where players stay, lights are on up to 3 A. M. players are either chitchatting or playing cards. When a player is awake up to 3A.M: how can he be fresh in the next morning? Some players practice till late night and do not attend practice session, which is also not proper. When you practice in the hall you get an atmosphere of the tournament. You are adjusted to the temperature. You are having an additional advantage of practicing in the hall where tournament is held; you get the practice on the same equipments, which are used, for the tournament. Only some plovers might not get proper sleep due to delay in the match sessions. Such players should take rest going to their rooms in the daytime when they are not playing their matches. This will keep them fresh for their next match.
SIeep/Nap
Get between 7 to8 hours sleep every night.
Go to bed and get up within 30 minutes of you normal sleep times daily.
Attempt to go to bed early and get up early whenever possible. Make every effort to rest your biological clock so that you become an early bird rather than a night owl.
Learn to take small naps (ten to thirty minutes) and wake up feeling completely energized and refreshed. A nap as short as ten minutes can make you fresh if you learn to take small naps. Mental fitness can be achieved through concentration, relaxation and visualization.
CONCENTRATION - What is concentration? It is an ability to focus attention and an ability to shift focus of attention.
Concentration from very beginning. No driver can afford not to concentrate when driving his/her first drive. Similarly all players should consider each practice and every second of competitive play to be their challenge responsibility and opportunity to prove themselves as best players.
Do it according to your own test. If someone says: “concentrate on this bright dot. Don’t think about anything else your concentration may wander. Some players may feel it boring. After all, how interesting a dot can be? Carrom requires high amount o] concentration that can only be done if participant enjoys the game. Concentrate sometimes on the entirely of something, other times on just a part on it. Learn to shift focus of attention from unwanted events. Many players have a habit of looking at the spectators sometimes to some ones who are familiar to them during play. In the game of carrom the spectators are so near that players can hear their comments. Therefore you should be able to shift your focus of attention from such unwanted events.
VISUALIZTION- Visualization is a very powerful tool for achieving success in every field. Learn to visualize events. Here are some events suggested by Cox to develop general visualization skiils.
Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed. Take a comfortable position and relax completely.
Practice by imagery by visualizing a circle. Fill it by deep blue colour. Repeat the process several times, imaging a different colour each time. Allow the image to disappear. Relax and observe the spontaneous imagery that arises.
Create an image of three-dimensional glass. Fill it with colourful liquid; add ice cubes and a straw. Write a descriptive caption underneath.
l) Select a variety of scenes and develop them with rich details. Include sport related images such as a swimming pool; tennis courts green football and cricket grounds. Practice visualizing people including strangers in each of these scenes
Imagine yourself playing carrom match and visualize and feel yourself successfully winning the match in a scene. Relax and enjoy your success.
End the session by breathing deeply, opening your eyes, and adjusting to the external environment. When I was traveling in the train for going to my office, I was closing my eyes and many times I was playing carrom blindly. I got many ideas in this process
RELAXATION - There are many methods for relaxation. Shavasan in yoga is the best method for relaxation. Shavasana Position Lie on back on the ground with hands and feet apart. Slightly stretch the body and allow the whole body to relax completely. By concentrating the mind on different parts of the body staring from the toes to the head, give suggestion to the brain to relax part by part of the body. Concentrate on your breathing. Let any thoughts come and go.
Deep Breathing
Inhale for 2 seconds. Exhale in 4 seconds. Do it for 5 minutes. Practice this method of deep breathing for few days. Then inhale for 4 seconds and exhale in B seconds. This requires more practice as you will find that to exhale in 8 seconds is difficult. It will help to release tension.
Chanting of Aum
Take a deep breathe (inhale) then chant Aum by exhaling. Duration of Au and m should be same. This exercise will help in blood circulation and will give calmness. This is only the exercise which can stimulate brain cells.
Tough thinking
Today will be great challenge for me. I have got to be super tough today to make it”
I never surrender, not me/ never.
When you don’t feel fresh before match, jump up and down on your toes.
When you make the worst mistake possible, quickly turn away from the mistake and show nothing on your face. Show supreme confidence.
When opponent is advancing on all fronts, look and act like a courageous soldier poised for a great battle.
When opponent gets a fluke, break out a big smile and send a message to your opponent with your body that this time he/she was lucky; next time is yours.
When you are down, make your body alive with the message that you love the challenge.
When you feel disappointed with yourself or with others, never show weakness or negativism on outside.