Earlier this year, the Royal Challengers Bangalore became the first team of the Indian Premier League to appoint a female in the support staff as the franchise announced the signing of the team’s massage therapist, Navnita Gautam.
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Navnita Gautam will be working with the head physiotherapist of RCB, Evan Speechly, and Basu Shanker, who is RCB’s strength and conditioning coach “to identify, evaluate, provide guidance and implement massage therapy to suit the team and any relevant prevailing conditions”.
Apart from this, she will also be performing specialized techniques concerning the motivation, preparation, and physical ailments of individual players.
Recently talking to ESPNCricinfo, Navnita was asked if she had any apprehensions about being the only female member in the staff support, to which she said:
“Absolutely not. It’s like having 20 brothers around at all times.”
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In fact, Navnita was hopeful that in the coming time, more female members will join as a part of the support staff in other teams as well. She said:
“Slowly but surely, the transition is happening. I believe that as long as the players and support staff trust your work, gender shouldn’t be an issue as we are all healthcare professionals working together as a team to get athletes back on the field.”
Before becoming a part of RCB’s support staff, Navnita has previously worked with Toronto Nationals in Global T20 Canada. Sharing her experience, she said:
“The experience with Toronto Nationals in the Global T20 league was above and beyond amazing.”
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She added:
“Thus, the transition to IPL should be a fun one. One of the challenges would be to understand every athlete’s body type/muscle quality and their likes and dislikes towards what type of treatment benefits them the most. Once I understand that I think it’ll be pretty smooth sailing from then onwards.”
