For fitness trainer Ramji Srinivasan, his job is also his passion. He raises the bar for sportspersons. Beneath his smiling exterior lies a hard taskmaster.
Busy days beckon Ramji. And he is excited at the prospect of working with the emerging cricketers in the State.
The 48-year-old Ramji, a former India fitness trainer, has taken over as the strength and conditioning expert at the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association Academy. He has some big plans.
Ramji said, “We want to bring new training and assessment methodologies to the Academy. Cutting edge gadgets will also be used to enhance performance.”
After an eventful and rewarding tenure with the Indian team, Ramji pursued a different path from 2013. He wanted to spend more time with his family and also build his own high-performance centre here in Nungambakkam. He travelled with motor-racer Narain Karthikeyan for the Super Formula in Japan.
Cricket is close to his heart though.
“I consider myself blessed to share the dressing room with giants such as Sachin Tendulkar , Rahul Dravid, V. V. S. Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh.
“It was a wonderful time with a great bunch. India became the No.1 Test team in the world. Then we won the ICC ODI World Cup in 2011. Those were the days,” he said nostalgically.
Past is behind and the future challenges.
Ramji said: “We are getting Dyna Vision, which is state-of-the-art equipment for improving hand-eye coordination , reaction time and peripheral awareness, to the Academy. It is basically a huge machine with lots of lights. We measure your speed while reacting to the different lights. This method is used for training in NFL, Formula One and NBA.”
“Then there is Vertimax, which improves an athlete’s power, speed and agility. We will also have Fitlight, designed to improve footwork. The training will be tuned to the sub-continental needs. But we will strive to match international standards. Tamil Nadu should be at the top of the ladder.”
Ramji said these training methods will be employed across age-groups. “Not just the TNCA Academy boys, but even the Ranji cricketers can use these facilities,” he said.
One of the main goals, he emphasised, was “to bring greater camaraderie in the exchange of ideas between the strength and conditioning experts, and the players. There should be a culture of togetherness and cooperation.”
Despite all these years in the job, his enthusiasm has not dimmed a tad. Ramji’s passion for fitness is his driving force.
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