Restore glory of Kashmir University’s sports department

Physical education and sports is an integral part of general education. As much importance is attached to general education as to physical education and sports. In fact physical education and sports are two different segments of health sciences. Physical education is a fully fledged academic-cum-technical subject where aspirants could pursue Bachelors, Masters and even Ph.D degrees, while in sports the athletes are imparted coaching and polished to a particular sport like skiing, swimming, and kayaking etc. by Coaches. The Sports Coaches have specialization in their particular field. All these coaches are Diploma holders in Coaching fromNational Institute of Sports. Some Coaches also have additional degrees in Physical Education. They also act as Specialists for physical education programs.

            More impetus is now given to sportsin developed countries. India too does not lag behind in this field. Physicaleducation and sports is promoted in more than 300 universities and variousInstitutions of the country. To control sports in Indian Universities, theAssociation of Indian Universities, an apex body of Universities, has anexclusive wing for sports. The main job of this wing is to control Universitysports, allot inter-university tournaments, field Indian University teams inNationals and award Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy annually to the outstandingUniversity that bags maximum number of medals. MAKA Trophy carries a cash awardof about 60 lacs.

   

            Universities in India play a vitalrole in the promotion of sports. After schooling the athletes join colleges andcome under direct focus and control of a University. Schools act as nurseriesthose give guidance to novices and teach them basics of sports at grass rootlevel through their Physical education teachers but the Universities areconsidered the powerhouses of sports. They have the cream of athletes whoparticipate in national and regional level inter-university tournaments. Thisis the stage where the athletes are judged for major national and internationalsporting events.

            Like other universities of thecountry Kashmir University too has a Directorate of Physical Education andSports, operative since its inception. With the persuasion of Dr K.A. Tarzan,former Director, the Physical education wing came into being in the Universityjust in 2008 that started teaching with M.P.Ed degree with a small faculty.Initially the retired teachers of Govt College of Physical Education, Ganderbalwere engaged but later it appointed its own teaching faculty on full time andcontractual basis.

            In order to gather resources DrTarzan had managed to get transferred the services of some staff fromaffiliated Colleges including Ms. Surjeet Kaur, who had done M.P.Ed and wasworking in a local College as Asstt PTI. To our dismay this promising lady wassidelined and never promoted to the promised post. Since her joining Universityservices in 2002 she didn’t get a single promotion. Should she have not optedUniversity services she might have been holding a gazetted post in her parentdepartment this time. Not only was she, Mr. Harbinder Singh, Sr. Coach with NISDiploma and M.P.Ed also ignored for any elevation. I fear the fate of other Jr.Coaches would be the same. After retirement of Dr Tarzan the department wentinto the hands of make shift non-technical academic professors who had noknowledge of Physical Education and Sports.

During the time ofDr. Tarzan the sports department was expanded manifolds and a number of postswere created like two Dy Directors, three Asstt Directors, Asstt Professors andCoaches. He fought for many long years to change the nomenclature of thedepartment. Surprisingly for last one decade the post of Dr Tarzan is notfilled up by University authorities due to unknown reasons leading todegradation of sports standard in the University. The three Asstt Directors,appointed about seven years back need to be promoted against available DyDirector posts so that the avenue for elevation of deserving in-service coachesis created.

            During Dr Tarzan’s tenure the SportsDepartment grew leaps and bounds. Appreciably a water sports center, equippedwith scores of latest kayaks, canoes and imported paddles and a multi-gym wereestablished. He persuaded the then M P Dr Farooq Abdullah to sanction crores ofrupees for building the state-of-the-art Sports Hostel on the campus, andalso  motivated the then R&B Ministerto build a huge building for sports department which is now transferred toTourism Management department. Alas! This Sports Hostel has never been used forthe purpose it was built. Instead some other departments were shifted there. DrTarzan also struggled for retrieving the Billiards Table that was underpossession of REC (Now NIT) for long. He also got donated a bus from an NRI tothe sports department. The bus was later put in the university transport pool.The Kayaking center is in shambles now as no hanger for protecting the boatswas built. The available Kayaking Coach post has never been filled up. We hopethe present Vice-Chancellor Prof Talat Aziz saheb would look into the matterand help to bring back the glory of KU Sports Department.

            Not only general sports Dr Tarzanhad great love for adventure sports. He knew that the adventure programs arejob oriented and the university pass-outs could find jobs in tourism, policeand education department etc. The KU sports department was considered one ofthe best departments in India those days. The University Grants Commission hadallotted a Regional Adventure Sports Center to KU. Enough grants were providedfor running different adventure programs. Besides, the Union Ministry of Sportswas also providing millions of rupees for conducting adventure courses for thestudents. The University was annually holding four rafting courses, four skiingcourses, some rock climbing courses and number of trekking expeditions for boysand girls with intake of 60 trainees in each program with least resources andmanpower. Myself being qualified in many Adventure Sports and Aquatics was notgetting enough breathing time round the year. Dr. Tarzan is a multifacetedpersonality. He was a great sportsman of his time, a great physicaleducationist, and a great organizer. I had developed very close understandingwith him, who always was encouraging me and was forwarding my proposals to thehigher authorities and get them personally approved.

            The adventure sports are joboriented and could be helpful to the students after completion of theiracademic programs. Appreciably the Secretary Higher Education stresses the needof running job oriented technical short courses in the universities andColleges for the benefit of students. Myself being member on Board of Study andTourism Management  of Central UniversityI had submitted a detailed project report (DPR) some years back to the CUK forintroducing Diploma Courses in some Adventure Sports that could create jobavenues for the youth but unfortunately that DPR didn’t see the light. It issuggested that the KU Sports Department should start such diploma courses onthe analogy of other Universities. The boats in Water Sports Center are damageddue to mismanagement of University authorities and need to be protected. Thevacant post of Kayaking needs to be filled up forthwith as the University issituated amidst of two famous lakes and have tremendous potential for watersports. Notably the University has won scores of medals in All India InterUniversity Kayaking and Canoeing Championships and has remained OverallChampions twice. Today not even an inter-college kayaking championship is beingheld on the campus in the absence of a Kayaking Coach. It is learnt that due tointernal bickering some people are trying to bifurcate the Physical educationfrom Sports Deptt which is not a healthy step for the deptt and its staff. TheRafts University procured few years back need to be put in the waters for use

Credit goes to KUSports department for exploring Gurez valley for adventure tourism. The TourismDeptt started holding Gurez Festivals much later. The University also conductedsuccessfully first-ever Adventure Mela at Drass and Mushko valleys. Riverrafting was first time introduced on river Drass by KU. Astonishingly theUniversity had raised a Rafting team, which was only team in anyIndianUniversity that used to take part in national and international raftingchampionships,. Mughal Road trekkingin Pirpanjal range and Bandipura to Pahalgam wereregular feature of theUniversity. Notably the KU pressed upon the AIU to recognize Kayaking, Canoeingand Baseball as competitive sports and later competitions of All IndiaInter-University levels were held in Kashmir University. Unfortunately todayboth these sports have no place in our lovedUniversity. Another combat gameJudo was introduced in the University in mid 1990s, that sport too bagged onebronze medal in the Inter-Varsity Championship. A high branded full size judomats were procured which no other institutions owned that time.

            The Directorate of PhysicalEducation and Sports of KU has lost its glory and needs to be restoredurgently. The University also needs to appoint a full time Director who couldreshape the department and uplift the sports standard and also encourage theresearch work among physical education students.

            The University needs to approach UGCand Ministry of Sports for reviving the Regional Adventure Sports Center here. TheUniversity Sports Department perhaps considers skiing a recreational activity,unaware of the fact that it is an Olympic event and need to be promoted withhigh magnitude. Different championships at national and international levelsare held including National Winter Games in this sport regularly. During mytime as a Ski Instructor, besides training camps, Inter-College Skichampionships were held regularly and even efforts were once madeto holdInter-University Championship. It is appreciable that GDC, Tangmarg hasprocured ski equipment and is now training its students in association withWinter Games Association.

The author is former KU Adventure and Aquatics Coach and now Gen. Secretary-ATOAK. Contact him at Myusuf05@hotmail.com

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