A senior footballer, who has played for almost a decade, in his attempt to inculcate sporting spirit among the youth and curb the drug abuse, has trained hundreds in an academy setup to promote and patronage soccer in Valley.
Having studied up to 10th standard, Waseem Javed Lone excelled as a class player for J&K SRTC.
“It was during a tournament at Bakshi Stadium in which Banaras Pepsi, ITI Bangalore Services and other teams participated. I was invited by Maharaja Sports. During the series, my performance was extraordinary and I scored 6 goals. Our team reached the quarter-finals. This way I earned quick fame,” he reminisced.
This was followed by offers from the teams of J&K Bank, J&K Forest, Food & Supplies, SRTC, J&K Police and even from Bangladesh.
Waseem said he finally joined J&K Forest where he along with eight footballers continue to work on contractual basis with a monthly salary of Rs 7,000.
The 32-year-old player runs Kashmir Football Academy at Bemina where he trains around 300 boys and girls from 4 to 16 years of age group.
The reason behind starting the academy, Waseem said, was “to save our youngsters from the scourge of drug abuse and other social evils”. “I saw teenagers taking drugs in the ground where I used to practice. I was deeply hurt. I started persuading them to join sports and brought football equipment for them. Within no time, they began showing interest in the game and bade goodbye to drugs. This brought me utmost satisfaction,” Waseem recalled.
As more and more youngsters joined, Lone gave his training class the shape of an academy and registered it with the J&K Football Association (JKFA) as Bemina Football Academy. The name was later changed to Kashmir Football Academy.
He is of the opinion that sports is remedy to most of the problems the society currently faces. “Many among those enrolled in my academy, especially girls, were suffering from thyroid, depression, obesity etc but they all are fine now. Many were prevented from falling to the destruction of drug abuse. This is what a sport can do,” he said.
In February 2019, the pictures of young boys and girls playing football in a snow covered ground in Srinagar went viral on social media. The images were highlighted by even Doordarshan and some national TV news channels. This not only surprised the organiser but the innovative mode of the game also earned accolades from the All India Football Federation which months later felicitated the Jammu & Kashmir with the annual AIFF Award for the Best Grassroots Development Programme.
Kashmir Football Academy conducted an exposure tour to Mumbai in February 2020 during which 3 out of 15 boys were selected in the Sahara Academy. However, Waseem said, the boys didn’t join due to financial constraints.
He despite outbreak of COVID-19 reopened the Academy. “We had to fight (the pandemic). With all COVID-19 protocols in place, I resumed classes after around three months with the sole motive of creating immunity among the players,” Waseem said.
Now, his worry apart from managing the academy is regularization of his services in Forest Department where he has put in 14 years on contract basis.
“We are in the department for the last 14 years. We are hopeful that the government will regularise us,” he said. “If government is serious about promoting sports in J&K, it should make our services permanent as each one of us is experienced. Some are even gold medalists. This will help a long way in taking the sports activities to new heights here.”
“We dedicated ourselves to the J&K Forest Department. We appeal to the Lieutenant Governor to take ours as a special case in the interest of the promotion of sports in Jammu and Kashmir,” Waseem urged Governor administration to intervene.