Boxing coach Nieva believes team-building activities could make a big difference

Driven by the philosophy that team bonding is beneficial in an individual sport like boxing, head coach Santiago Nieva has engaged the Indian boxers in team-building activities during their preparation for the Asian championships in Mongolia.

The boxers were put through a photo contest during their camp at the NIS, Patiala. And on Tuesday, they enjoyed a visit to the statue of Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol empire, in Ulaanbaatar.

“I have always tried to create a positive environment. We want boxers to have long careers and enjoy their time in the national team. In Patiala, we had a team-building day once during the pandemic, and it was pretty successful,” Nieva responded to a query from The Hindu on Wednesday.

“During my stint in Australia, we did a couple of such activities and the photo contest, and the boxers liked it very much. I thought that it could be a good idea to implement it in Patiala. Team support is as important in an individual sport as in team sports. There are studies that show this.”

Recalling the photo contest in Patiala, Nieva said, “In the beginning, it was difficult to know how much effort they would put into it or how creative they would get. But pretty quickly, we started seeing different outfits. There were really great costumes. People started going to different places, even outside the NIS, to take great photos.

“They even started using AI photos. Then we had to put rules that we would not count the AI photos. Otherwise, they came up with some really crazy photos. The most extreme was when they started using paint on body and face to recreate super heroes. It was fun.”

Nieva said that the team activities, apart from regular training, in Ulaanbaatar helped the athletes to collaborate, think strategically and outsmart each other and that it would boost the boxers’ overall performance. “Now the problem is that we have set the bar pretty high. But we have a couple of surprises in store for them,” he said.