The Sports Authority of India (SAI) sponsored camp, with Tatas chipping in a bit, began on Sept 15 and will run until October 6. It will wind up with the Indian junior squad, that made the final of a recent tournament at Poznan, Poland, pitting wits and skills against three sides comprising the trainees at Pune and Bangalore camps.

Match and skills training at the camp began on the Poligras surface at PCMC Stadium after the first week of purely physical training at Balewadi. Mumbai-based Clarence Lobo, fresh from an FIH coaching development course in Cologne, Germany and New Delhi-based Ajay Bansal, instrumental for Air-India Academy's manifoldsuccess in recent years, including the National junior title in Bangalore, are the coaches in charge of 49 players from four corners of the country. The camp runs concurrently with one at Bangalore where 26 players are training.

Emphasis is on physical fitness which is more than 50 percent responsible for success on the international hockey pitch, the coaches said. To their pleasant surprise, the boys were in `optimum' physical condition when training began last Wednesday but international battles against the likes of the Europeans, South Koreans and Australia will call for a lot more hard work.

By November the programme is expected to be boosted by the entry of a foreign physical trainer from either Cologne University (Germany) or Active Hockey (the Netherlands). Already, there are firsts at the camp that fuel enthusiasm among Lawrence and the coaches -- the use of psychological training, yoga and a scientific diet regimen.