Meet Shubham Kumar, handball star from family of engineers and doctors

The Maharashtra Ironmen pivot spoke to Khel Now in an exclusive interaction.

Shubham Kumar's journey in handball has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. The 21-year-old from Uttar Pradesh played an integral role for the inaugural champions Maharashtra Ironmen in the Premier Handball League. From a family of engineers and doctors, Shubham dared to dream of a career in handball which in itself is a huge achievement.

Coming from Agra, where not many plays handball he rather did not know the sport, Shubham broke all odds to pursue a career. Khel Now got an opportunity to interact with Shubham Kumar discussing his journey and the struggles.

Initial Career

The 23-year-old took up the sport early at a tender age and with passion started developing interest in Handball. He did not receive any professional coaching until he joined SAI Ahmedabad.

Shubham said, "Initially I did not know anything about handball but a senior in my school introduced me to the sport. Initially I found it tough but slowly started adapting in the role of a goalkeeper. Like everyone, I progressed from Mandal, to district and finally to the state team."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPr6liFsFJ8

The pivot explained his training regime and iterated, "During my junior days in Agra, not many knew handball and other athletes from various sports used to play handball just for participating in tournaments. I used to practice in the garden near my house by putting two sticks and a cloth as a goalpost and would watch youtube videos to learn the techniques."

Shubham came from a good background, and his parents were not impressed on him pursuing the sport as it wasn't popular among people. "On the other hand my family did not want me to pursue the sport as did not have any scope," he added.

Move to SAI Ahmedabad

The youngster received an opportunity to practice in SAI centre in Gujarat. It wasn't a easy task for Shubham to get selected, as he did not take prior coaching before. Despite this, Shubham impressed the coaches with his gameplay and eagerness to learn. He trained in SAI Gujarat for the next seven years and simultaneously represented India twice in the U-21 category.

"One day a random person approached and asked me to give trials for a vacant post at SAI (Sports Authority of India) Ahmedabad. I had to travel from UP to Ahmedabad, and as I told earlier, my parents did not want me to travel nor give the trial but my elder sister was supportive and told me to attend the trials. Finally, after struggles I got selected to train at the SAI centre in Ahmedabad."

Struggles during the pandemic

Shubham had to go through a tough time during the pandemic as his father expired due to Covid-19. He had to forego his long tenure at SAI and return home to take care of his mother. To add insult to injury, he lost his Air Force job as well.

"My father expired a few years back (in 2021) due to Covid 19 and now I had to leave my hostel and move to Agra to look after my mother. Before my father's death, I gave trials for Air Force and got selected but due to unforeseen circumstances my joining got cancelled."

However, with a positive attitude, Shubham started teaching handball to the kids in a nearby college and completed a few courses to give himself more options in his career.

"My father was the backbone to my family. He used to fill all my forms related to sports and studies while I would solely focus on training. After my father's passing away it was pretty tough, as I had to take care of my mother and also focus on handball. After few days, I started coaching school and college students and further went on to pass "A" grade coaching exam. It was beneficial as I could train alongside them and also help the players with input I possessed."

"Everyone in the PHL knew about my qualities but due to lack of practice thought I cannot participate," Shubham revealed. But with the league getting postponed several times, the athlete had his hopes and was eventually selected to play for Maharashtra Ironmen.

Camaraderie with Foreign players in PHL

Each team in the PHL had minimum of two foreign players. Several Indian players have shared their experience on playing alongside foreign stars and the value they add to the team.

Shubham stated, "We have a good rapport with the foreign players. We follow a different style of play from theirs so we always settle down on how to maintain a certain game play. Most of them are seniors and have played the game for a long time so we get to learn a lot from them in terms of gameplay, professionalism etc."