Srinagar, June 26: To develop and promote the basketball sport among the youth, particularly in kids of Kashmir, the Srinagar Kashmir Basketball Association (SKBA) has been organizing various training sessions and coaching clinics in the Valley.
 The Association, formed by a United States return, sports psychologist and athletic trainer, Shahid Ahmad Bhat has also organized some tournaments to increase the interest of children and teenagers towards the sport.
 “The main aim and objective of forming the SKBA is to promote the basketball in Valley as the sport, it seems, does not exist here,” Shahid Bhat, the Association founder, told Greater Kashmir, adding the SKBA was similar to Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association and Jammu and Kashmir Football Association, which had been making strenuous efforts for the promotion of cricket and football respectively.
 “There has never been a basketball Association in Valley,” Shahid Bhat whose parents belong to Kashmir, told Greater Kashmir.
 “I have grown up in US playing basketball which is a favourite sport of the people there and the kids are trained by professionals from the tender age so that they could take it up as career. After my return to Kashmir in 2009, I wanted to play the game, but was astonished to see that there were no courts available and no big tournaments were being organized,” Shahid said, adding “I didn’t saw any signs of the game in Valley.”
 “After coming to know that Delhi Public School has both an indoor and an outdoor basketball court and that many students play the game, I volunteered myself for training the students interested in the sports,” Shahid said.
 Shahid said that he coached 40 students and simultaneously constituted SKBA in 2009 after receiving overwhelming response from the students of other educational institutions.
 “I returned to US with a plan to return to valley in order to organize a basketball league in 2010,” he said adding the aim of holding the league was to reach out to the students of the schools and colleges.
 “I received an overwhelming response as 100 boys registered themselves with the Association to receive training,” Shahid said adding that as the word spread, more and more teenagers joined the Association. “This prompted me to create a page on the social networking site, Facebook.”
 According to Shahid, lack of funding and shortage of coaches was a major roadblock in the development of sports in the Valley. “Despite these shortcomings, I organized training sessions, seven coaching clinics, two tournaments at Kashmir University and Islamia College of Science and Commerce,” Shahid said adding that in order to promote the game, the kids have to be imparted training at an early stage. “Keeping this in mind, I have created six junior and same number of senior division teams,” he added.
 He said that for training the girl players, he took the assistance of Dr Zeenat Farooq, who is an accomplished player and has represented the State of Jammu and Kashmir in many tournaments outside the State. “She has participated in 19 national basketball events and has captained two teams which won bronze medal in sub-junior category and silver medal in national school games held in Jammu in 1988. She was also selected for junior India camp in 1989,” he said.
 “She is a brilliant basketball player and is presently imparting training to the girls,” he said adding that scores of girls are in close contact with Dr Zeenat who is encouraging them to take up the basketball as a sport.
 Dr Zeenat is also training the children of the faculty of Government Medical College in the sports, he added.
 About his plans, Shahid said that he was going to US and would come to Valley every year to train the students and those interested in playing the basketball. “I am moving back as there is no funding for basketball here,” he said adding that he would return next year and would continue with the mission of coaching the youth of valley.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 26 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 27 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST