The takeaways from the Durban trip

'To me the unique aspect of the whole exercise was the intensity and the focus on working together as a team', says Satiyasen.

Seityasen Singh during a trainning session in Durban.

The pre-season was tough and gruelling. We were put through an intense training schedule and all the players benefitted from it. The ISL is a big test of stamina and fitness because the games come thick and fast and you need to be able to stand up to it.

Looking at the benefits of our over three-week long pre-season training in Durban, South Africa, the first thing that comes to my mind are the facilities provided by AmaZulu FC. We worked on our fitness a lot. There were a lot of gym sessions that focussed on stamina building and core-strengthening. The games we played were against good teams of the South African Premier Soccer League, which gave us stiff competition. We also gelled well as a unit.

We did a lot of work with the ball in all the training exercises and the coach (Cesar Farias) focused on every individual’s strengths. He was constantly making detailed observations and communicating to us where we need to improve and how to go about it. To me the unique aspect of the whole exercise was the intensity and the focus on working together as a team.

(As told to Amitabha Das Sharma)