ON HOME GROUND
David Beckham famously honed his shooting ability by aiming at car tyres he hung from the top corners of the goal post. But have you heard of the floorball player who sharpened his accuracy by aiming at teddy bears?
That is what national athlete Jenmark Sorreda has been doing, as the 30-year-old adjusts to not being able to train with his teammates out on court because of the circuit breaker measures.
He posted a video of himself on his Instagram account practising his ball control before firing the ball at a toy dinosaur and a teddy bear.
A rolled-up carpet is laid against the door as backing so that the ball does not make too much of a racket.
He told The Straits Times: "I just take my stick and a few balls, and do whatever I can, be it ball control or aiming shots at bottles or some of my niece's toys she doesn't play with any more."
Sorreda, who was born in the Philippines but moved here when he was eight, said not being able to train has been a shock to the system. Before the circuit breaker measures were put in place, he would typically train up to five times a week with the national team, and once a week with his club side, Black Wondersticks, with each session lasting about two hours. He would also play a game for his club on the weekends.
"It's tougher now that I'm not doing anything, because I'm so used to the busy lifestyle working and training," said the product reliability test engineer.
With the current measures in place, these days, he takes part in home-based workouts led by the national team's fitness trainer, which take place three to four times a week.
He also runs about 3km every other day, and does 1,000 skips on the jump rope.
Still, without his regular training sessions, Sorreda finds himself with a lot more spare time, and has turned to watching Netflix and playing either Fifa or NHL on his PlayStation 4 gaming console. He has even tried hula hooping.
"I saw this challenge on social media where you have to hula hoop 1,000 times so I tried it, and it turns out it was quite doable," he said. "And now I've incorporated it into my workout after my (callisthenics) and skipping."
