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Journalism of Courage
For the last few days,children playing cricket in one corner of the YMCA ground in Madanpura have been witnessing an unusual sight. A senior man,whom they had been seeing sitting silently on the cement benches almost every evening,is busy these days,showing football dribbling techniques to an enthusiastic boy.
For septuagenarian Shabir Shaikh,a former state-level footballer,whose 45-year career as a football coach came to an abrupt end three years ago when he was diagnosed with a heart ailment,the last few days have been nothing short of a new lease of life.
A resident of Madanpura,a Muslim-dominated locality near Mumbai Central that has produced several footballers,Shaikh was a regular coach at the popular training camps held simultaneously at various venues in Mumbai every summer by the Bipin Memorial Free Football Coaching camp. He coached kids every summer for over a decade,he says,until his heart ailment was diagnosed and his services were discontinued by the promoters of the camp,much to his unhappiness.
I have coached many national players. I have been coaching at this ground for 45 long years, he says. But ever since my illness was diagnosed,no one wanted to take a chance and I got no trainees. Teaching kids to play football is my life,and I would pray to the almighty to get me out of this, he says.
So,despite being advised bed rest,Shaikh would arrive at the YMCA ground every evening,watching others play.
Early this week,his prayers were answered when 10-year-old Parth Yadav and his father visited him.
My son was desperate to learn football after some older boys in the area where we live refused to let him play with them, says Banarasi Yadav,who stays in Tardeo. I approached Bipin Memorial officials as some of the kids from our locality had trained at their camps. But I was told that camps are organised only in April-May, says Yadav. When I insisted they refer me to any coach around Mumbai Central area,they told me to approach Shabirbhai and see if he can do something.
Shabir uncle is very good, says Parth,a student of Activity High School from Peddar Road .
I told the kids father to get me a football since I didnt have one any longer. He bought one and now we play in the evenings, says Shaikh,who used to run a football team of local boys from Madanpura named Milan Football Academy,a team that used to play in the second division of the Mumbai Football League. Lack of funds stopped that venture too.
Now,Shaikh has no complaints,having found a fresh student. Now I feel my health has also improved over last few days ever since I started coaching this kid, he says.
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