Aadil Sher, the valley’s second fastest sprinter in 100 and 200 meters races, has been training hundreds of youth for sports and making them health conscious.
A national-level coach, Aadil has honed the skills of several athletes of the valley in a very short span of time. He is preparing the youngsters in athletics for races and training them to become agniveers.
Hailing from the Binner area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, Aadil is a certified coach from Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports, Patiala. He has done masters in Physical Education and is currently training youth in athletics.
“Practice never lets you down. You have to keep on practicing till you achieve the goal. There will be ups and downs but never give up come what may.Besides coaching and training, Sher is a physical education teacher at Aarifeen School of Excellence – one of the best schools in Baramulla – where he is in charge of the department.
“We need to introduce athletics as a subject. It should be a part of the curriculum and not be counted as something optional. It must be made mandatory for developing a sound body and mind,” he said.
Aadil’s life has been full of struggles and problems but he never gave up. “I started my career in 2008 when I was studying in 8th class. I was selected for the state-level 400-meter race held in Jammu. While I didn’t qualify but this failure gave me the energy to do something for my parents, and for my valley,” he said.
He got a second chance in 2010 to represent Baramulla at the district level where he won the first medal of his athletic career in a 400-meter rally. “That was a turning point in my career. I left for Jammu for the national trials and got selected for an individual event 100 meters in Pune, Maharashtra. It was my first national,” he said.
The winning streak for Aadil continued after that. He won two medals in the 100×4 relay and 100 meters. In 2011, he again represented the state for the national trails in 100 meters.
In 2012, Aadil won a Silver medal for the district. However, he couldn’t participate in the national event that year due to the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu road. In the meantime, he completed his BA from Government Degree College Baramulla and got admission in Physical Education College Ganderbal. During the two-year BPEd course in Ganderbal, he won two medals for his college in the 100 meters and 200 meters, and within a short span of time, he got selected for an All India Inter University Competition.
However, destiny had something else in store for him. “I couldn’t make it. I met with a furious accident, got a ligament injury in my right leg.
I missed nationals because of a false fixture and the doctor advised me to stay away from the race,” he said. “I still didn’t give up. It took me a year to recover from the injury. After regaining energy, I got admission in SBBSU Jalandhar where from I pursued MPEd. Then I got selected for the All India Inter University in 200 meters. It was a very tough win for me against Punjabi athletes.”
Aadil said he doesn’t want the youth of Jammu & Kashmir to call it a day for sports due to struggles and problems. “We have enough talent in Jammu and Kashmir. All our youth need is fine-tuning. Also, our coaches must come forward and help the young talent to flourish without any bias or personal grudges,” he said.