Special camp will benefit team to prepare for Olympic qualification, says Savita

Indian women's hockey goalkeeper Savita on Wednesday said the special camp for goalkeepers will benefit the preparation for Olympic Qualification.

"I believe this opportunity will benefit us especially in our preparations for Olympic Qualification. It is great that Hockey India has provided us with an opportunity to work with the legendary goalkeeping coach Martijn Drijver," Savita said.

She is currently attending the special goalkeeper's camp at Sports Authority of India (SAI), Bengaluru.

Martijn Drijver has been working with three women's national team goalkeepers as well as six junior custodians at the on-going camp.

The list of goalies attending the camp includes Savita, Rajani Etimarpu, Swati, Sonal Minz, Bichu Devi Kharibam, Chanchal, Kushboo, Rashanpreet Kaur and F Ramengmawii who have been given this opportunity to work with Drijver.

Savita stated that the Martijn brings detailing in the training which helps to improve the minor mistakes.

"The detailing with which Martijn conducts each session is amazing and it has opened our minds on the minor aspects that were being overlooked by us. The fine details that we are learning from him now will help us raise the bar in our future tournaments. Also, the fact that young goalies have been given this opportunity will surely add depth to our pool of goalies," she added.

Martijn Drijver of the famed Drijver Goalie Academy in the Netherlands said that he is impressed with skills of the goalkeeper's.

"I am quite impressed to see how gifted these goalkeepers are. It's amazing to see how keen they are to learn and raise their level," Drijver said.

"We have been training twice every day for 90 minutes. First, we work on coordination with special focus on how best we can use our eyes as goalkeepers. We follow this up with fundamentals to achieve the highest results. We have completed three good days of training and I am looking forward to the next few days here," he added.