Kashmir youth embrace volleyball in Ramazan 

Srinagar—Mudasir Maqbool Dar is a regular on a cricket field. A fast bowler, Mudasir plies his trade throughout the year to keep his passion for the sport going. He has, however, relinquished his favourite game in ongoing Ramadan to opt for Volleyball-a less demanding sport physically and mentally.

Mudasir is among many a youth in the valley that have turned  to a lesser fancied game Volleyball to keep themselves fit and not disturb their fasting regime in Ramazan.

With weather getting hotter by the day and duration of fasting around 16 hours, playing football or cricket-two major sports in this part of the world- isn’t that easy, prompting youth to turn to volleyball that doesn’t require high energy levels.

With no cricket and football going on, Kashmir is gripped with Volleyball fever since the onset of Ramazan, more so in rural Kashmir.

Mudasir, teacher by profession, would make way to a cricket ground soon after his working hours and on holidays but this Ramazan he has found Volleyball a feasible sport to keep himself fit without getting into way of his religious obligation: fasting.

Mudasir alongwith his friends make way into a local village volleyball court soon after Asar prayers to practice their new passion. A four or five games is the routine these days before they retire for a day with 15-20 minutes to go for Iftaar.

“Cricket is played throughout the year in our village. With temperatures hovering well over Degree Celsius and holy month of Ramazan going, it is difficult to play cricket in the sweltering heat. So in order to keep ourselves fit we have opted to play volleyball which doesn’t demand high energy as required in cricket or football for that matter. Volleyball is a safe sport and doesn’t tire us much which means our fasting doesn’t get affected.  It doesn’t consume much time either which makes it a suitable sport between Asar and Iftaar,” he says.

A carved out volleyball courts from full-fledged cricket and football grounds can be seen across the valley-mostly in villages-with youth playing the sport with all the passion and enthusiasm in the world. 

“As Kashmir is a Muslim dominated region, we make sure we don’t have to compromise with fasting. Volleyball is the best option in Ramazan. That is one of the main factors that made us to play volleyball to keep us fit. Volleyball is making inroads in villages with many a court coming up in rural Kashmir,” says Dar.

Experts say volleyball is an apt sport for the summers in Kashmir. They say there is more than one reason that lure youth towards the sport in Ramadan.

“There are lots of reasons why people play volleyball in Ramadan. The duration of the sport isn’t that long and we can change it according to our requirements. Tempo of the game can be managed. It doesn’t require big field. Dimensions of the volleyball courts are such that we need a small piece of land to come up with one. Some people make sure they construct courts under the shade of trees so that they don’t sweat much in Ramazan,” they say.

Slow and steadily, Volleyball-mostly a part time sport in the Valley- is adding to its players’ pool by the day and its practitioners are hoping for game to stamp its authority in days to come. Ramadan and sweltering summers are perfect combination to help Volleyball come close to the popularity and following that cricket and football enjoy

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