OLD habits die hard. For former national women’s coach K. Dharmaraj, the Covid-19 pandemic is no deterrent.
Even under self-imposed quarantine, he is still training his charges from across the sea.
The coronavirus plague has not dampened Dharmaraj’s spirits as he still keeps a close watch, like a hawk, on four teams in Medan, Indonesia.
Dharmaraj accepted the offer to be the technical director in West Jawa after deciding not to re-apply for the national coaching job with the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC).
However, just when he was getting things going in Indonesia, the pandemic halted sports worldwide.
“I had to leave Bandung after about a month coaching the men and women’s field and indoor hockey teams due to Covid-19.
“A week ago, people were still allowed to travel but the Bandung Airport was already closed.
“I then travelled by road to Jakarta and managed to get a ticket back home.
“However, I did not go home to my family after reaching Kuala Lumpur.
“I headed straight to an empty apartment (which his wife owns), which is still under renovation, in Bukit Jalil and dug myself in since.
“My wife brings food for me. Since I do not cook, I have been surviving on that ration.
“I start my day by watching and analysing old World Cup and Asian Games matches to pick up pointers.
“Then I spend time on video app Zoom with my players in Java and watch them train as well as give them pointers on what they can do at home.
“This keeps me busy. I will head home to my family when my self-imposed quarantine ends on April 8.”
Dharmaraj was lucky to leave Bandung as the capital of West Java is currently under lockdown.
“I am only a few kilometres away from my family, but I do not want to take any risks.
“Even though they can come and see me, I have told them to stay safe.
“The players in Java are a dedicated lot, and I believe in a few years, they can be shaped into a fighting outfit, both indoor and field.”
In Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Thailand have the best women’s indoor teams but Malaysia upset the form book by winning gold at last year’s Philippines Sea Games with Dharmaraj in charge.
Dharmaraj is known for his obsession with training.
When he was the national women’s coach, he used to train players at 3am during the fasting month — to get the players acclimatised to different time zones in tournaments in Europe.
Dharmaraj is well equipped with all the coaching skill in his apartment for the next six days — except for cooking skill.