Meet Reebu Hassan, Young hockey coach from central Kashmir

BASHARAT RASHID

Srinagar, 21 Jan: In a bid to popularize  hockey culture and unearth local talent in the Valley  Reebu Hassan, a young hockey coach from Srinagar city of Central Kashmir has been working hard to spread awareness of  hockey game in Kashmir valley over the years.

A game not so popular among young players as compared to other games, Reebu has been adding some beautiful pages to the history of hockey in Kashmir valley by involving young and promising players in this game.

22-year-old Reebu belongs to Lasjan Panthachowk area of  Srinagar , outskirts, is the first & youngest player of Kashmir to play at National level in 2016, at Bengaluru.

Hardwork coupled with determination paved way for young Reebu to play hockey at national level, initially at Ranchi & Haryana.

Reebu was trained by a senior Physical Education Teacher of Women’s college, JS Mehta.

Reebu,initially  didn’t get any kind of encouragement or support  neither from  family nor from any external agency ,however she never lost hope & struggled her way to the top.

Presently ,Reebu is voluntarily coaching dozens of hockey lovers with no financial  support from anyone.

Talking to the Arising State, she said , “as compared to other games, hockey is not a popular game in Kashmir , the players here manage equipments on their own, as there is no hockey culture in Kashmir, unlike in Jammu, where hockey game is quite popular.’’

“We manage equipments on our own. The hockey associations somehow guide us and support us by imparting skills of hockey in one way or another, but overall hockey has no scope in Kashmir, unlike Football, Cricket, Rugby and other games. State Sports Council once distributed hockey sticks, however it was only a pinch. The council did not lay out any specific measures to help due to which maximum players usually leave this game & prefer other games,” Reebu said.

The young coach believes that by organizing frequent hockey tournaments in Kashmir valley can spread awareness of the sport as well as  make it popular among students.

It’s pertinent to mention here that Reebu Hassan has undergone special training from National Institute of Sports (NIS), to coach young hockey aspirants, which is the ‘Academic Wing’ of the Sports Authority of India (SAI), and Asia’s largest Sports Institute, located in the city of Patiala.