Lucknow’s coach-couple carves careers on hockey turf
LUCKNOW: For hockey coach couple Rashid Aziz Khan and Neelam Siddiqui, the day starts at five in the morning as Khan leaves for the Sports Authority of India’s regional centre, almost 20 km from his house in Gomti Nagar, and Siddiqui goes to the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium in Barabanki, 18-odd km from her home.
But their mission remains the same—imparting training to young hockey players at both the locations. The process continues in the evening also. Khan teaches the finer points of the game to the 80-odd hockey players at the National Centre of Excellence. And Neelam helps 60-odd boys and girls hone their skills on a grassy pitch.
The popularity of this coach couple has grown manifold since their pupils started making waves for India at the international level. The latest on the list is Mumtaz Khan, who scored eight goals, including a hat-trick, at the Junior Women’s World Cup in South Africa, where India lost in the quarterfinals.
The daughter of a vegetable vendor in Topkhana Bazar here in Lucknow, Mumtaz was first spotted by Neelam at the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium. The coach not only convinced Mumtaz’s family to let her grow in the game, but helped Mumtaz fill the Rs 10 form and appear in the selection trials for the state government-run girls’ hockey hostel in Lucknow.
“Except her elder sister, Farah, no one in the family was ready to let Mumtaz play a sport. But once I convinced them about her talent and future, they somehow relented,” said Neelam, who said that within two years Mumtaz left everyone behind in terms of her natural speed and stamina.
“Even on the grassy pitch of the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium, which also houses the girls’ hockey hostel, Mumtaz was unstoppable and her natural speed always impressed me,” she said. “She is a fast learner and always adapts to the situation quickly. The best part of her game is that she keeps trying new variations,” Neelam added.
In fact, Neelam wasn’t the only one who taught Mumtaz about hockey. Rashid, too, played a role in teaching the 19-year-old star player. “Before starting my daily coaching stint at the CB Gupta Ground (adjacent to the Babu stadium), I used to visit the Babu stadium. Along with Neelam, I shared knowledge with Mumtaz during her stay at the hostel,” said Rashid.
In a lighter vein, he recalled that it was only after his engagement that he came to know that Neelam, too, was a hockey player and coach. “We are a natural coach couple and most of our discussions even at home are about hockey,” said Rashid who, before being shifted to the SAI centre, spent 12 years at the CB Gupta Ground, where the KD Singh ‘Babu’ Society runs a hockey academy for poor kids.
In fact, the society, which has held an All-India tournament for sub-junior boys for the last 32 years, has been helping many poor boys reach national and international levels in sport. Rashid being the coach did the job well. One of his trainees, Shardanand Tewari, had scored a goal to help India upstage Belgium and enter the semi-finals of the Junior World Cup in Bhubaneswar in December last.
In fact, the son of a security guard at the district magistrate’s bungalow here, Shardanand was forced to play hockey by this coaching couple as a punishment. Even the coaching couple didn’t think Tewari would emerge as a fine player for the country.
“We caught Tewari flying a kite at the stadium. As punishment for disturbing others’ training, we gave him a hockey stick and forced him to play. His running was superb and that compelled us to put him through the paces,” recalled Rashid.
Besides Shardanand, coach Rashid has so far trained many youngsters to play at the international level, including Vijay Thapa, Siddharth Shanker and Hari Kripal Yadav. The list of his trainees at the national level is about 150 plus. Kamal Thapa, Abhimanyu Valmiki, Prateek Nigam, Vikas Gaur, Arun Sahani, Aamir Ali and Shahrukh Ali are a few of them.
A gold medalist at the subjunior hockey nationals and a NIS graduate of 1990, Rashid took up coaching by choice. He also had the opportunity to take up a class four job in the railways.
“I could have joined the railways, but when somebody told me about hockey coaching, I only thought about Pandit Ram Awtar Mishra, who taught the finer points of the game to many, including me, and top players of the country like Olympians MP Singh, Jagbir Singh etc., I immediately decided to follow in his footsteps.”
“I may have trained many players of repute so far, but I am nowhere close to the stature of Panditji, who selflessly kept training many greats for India,” said Rashid, adding, “I got this habit to help the underprivileged from my grandmother Begum Aziz, who use to run an orphanage in Barabanki.”
“I grew up watching her helping them so I, too, chose to spot poor boys to train. Most of the 150-odd boys and girls at the Babu Society Academy are poor,” said Rashid, whose friends keep helping these kids with hockey sticks and kits among other things.
Both Rashid and Neelam are like “true parents” for Mumtaz, who owes her success to the couple.
“They (Rashid Sir and Neelam Mam) are my true parents, who always helped me grow in all aspects of life. It’s because of them I am here in the world of hockey and I can never forget their support in my continuous success,” an emotional Mumtaz said.