GUWAHATI: A sport like roll ball needs a prolonged familiarisation drill for kids to follow and get attracted in soccer-crazy Meghalaya, and 33-year-old Suklang Dkhar has got the exercise going against the odds, having opened an academy this year.
A resident of Lower Mawprem in Shillong, Dkhar admits there are many hurdles to promote a lesser-known sport, which has skating as a pre-requisite for youngsters to take up the discipline.
“At first, I wanted to introduce skating in Shillong and other places of Meghalaya as kids could relate to it, having seen it in schools or on television. But roll ball is being slowly accepted in other parts of the country and I thought if I can systematically develop the sport by training the kids who can skate, there could be possibility of kids getting attracted to the sport and excelling at national and international events,” Dkhar told The Shillong Times on Monday.
Dkhar had opened the academy at Lapalang in Shillong in May this year with the objective of training, teaching and providing specific information about roller skating and roll ball.
“At present, the academy is being managed through monetary contributions from the seven members of the Meghalaya Roll Ball Association which was registered in January this year,” Dkhar, himself a roll ball player since the year 2003, and the secretary of the association, said.
The response in a span of just about six months has been decent.
“We have 18 students enrolled in the academy and support from their guardians has been good. The Roll Ball Federation of India has also supported us. At the moment, there are over 14 promising players in the under-11, sub-junior, junior and senior categories,” Dkhar said.
Asked about the challenges, he listed finance and lack of infrastructure as major hurdles that need to be overcome for the sport to thrive. “There are hardly any playgrounds for the sport, and at present, we have a small playground located at Lapalang for providing training to the students,” he said.
Dkhar, who had participated in the inter-state ice skating championship in Pune in 2012, said in the long term, there would be a requirement for more training centres as well as dissemination of information about the sport in Meghalaya.
“There has to be a holistic approach to reach out to different schools in the nook and corner of the state, spot talents and nurture them,” he said.
The success of the Indian team in the recently-concluded 5th Roll Ball World Cup in Chennai, where Dkhar attended as a technical official, will certainly boost the sport in the country.
“We want kids in Meghalaya, or for that matter in the Northeast, to follow the sport’s success too. In this context, we have to set up academies at the district level and organise competitions there to popularise the sport. At the moment, given the elitist nature of the sport, attracting kids from rural areas is a major challenge for which government support is required,” he added.