Not many who deal with him on a daily basis will believe that Shinde was once a promising fast bowler who made it to the famous BCA-Mafatlal bowling scheme that gave players like Abey Kuruvilla, Paras Mhambrey, Salil Ankola, Sairaj Bahutule and Nilesh Kulkarni to Mumbai and India.
Shubhash Shine isn't your normal assistant police inspector. For starters, the 47-year-old who is placed with the Navi Mumbai Crime Branch department, is an eternal sports enthusiast.
Not many who deal with him on a daily basis will believe that Shinde was once a promising fast bowler who made it to the famous BCA-Mafatlal bowling scheme that gave players like Abey Kuruvilla, Paras Mhambrey, Salil Ankola, Sairaj Bahutule and Nilesh Kulkarni to Mumbai and India.
But that isn't what Shinde is proud of. He's more keen to know if his kabaddi is team doing well. Yes, that's right, Shinde owns a kabaddi team that competes in local competitions in the city.
And that happened by chance too. Being the manager of Navi Mumbai Sports Club, a champion cricket team, Shinde always keeps an eye out for raw talent among tennis ball cricketers during his daily morning jog at the Kalina Police Quarters. He then sends the players to the cricket academy to polish their skills. He even pays for their cricketing education.
During one such regular jog, his attention was drawn to a few kids playing kabbadi. On inquiring, the kids told Shinde that they were from the slums adjacent to the Kalina Police Quarters. On the spur of the moment, the API decided that he needed to do something for them.
"I am a regular morning jogger. One day, I saw these kids playing kabaddi without proper attire. Their playing area was not fixed too. Hence I thought it would be great if I could help them in some way or the other," said Shinde.
And so he decided to take them under his wings and start a professional kabaddi outfit so that they could earn a little while playing the game.
The 14 kids who are in the age group of 12-18 were so touched by Shinde's gesture that they decided to name the team Shinde Eagles.
"We thought we should we name our team after sir (Shubhash Shinde), since he helped us out with everything," said team captain Shahid Azim Khan, who is a Class 12 student of Public English Junior College in Kalina.
"Sir (Shine) has given all the necessary requirements to play as professionals in local tournaments. To play, one needs to have uniformity. Sir provided us with the jerseys to bring discipline and then equipments like knee caps and other things," said the 16-year-old Khan.
In December last year, Shinde Eagles managed to reach the semifinals of a Shivaji Krida Mandal Kabaddi tourney and now they have set their eyes on the next tourney starting January 20.
So what made Shinde decide to fund these kids? He said he didn't want the children to suffer the same fate as he did. "My dream was to become a big cricketer. My story relates to these poor kids. I came from Ratnagiri to play cricket and stayed with my police officer brother in his quarters. But I could not realise my dream due to my family's poor financial situation and hence I had to opt for a job, which ultimately ended my career. I didn't want these kids to suffer in the same way," Shinde said.
Apart from providing the children all the facilities, he also pays the school fees for those who are unable to. And he does all this using his own salary.
He also keeps a track of their performances. "I meet them once in a week to get the regular updates. However, I keep a track on their needs or results through WhatsApp. Now my aim is to provide them with a kabaddi coach," he said.
As another motivating session with his players came to an end on Sunday morning, Shinde asked one of them to get a couple of dozen bananas from his house. He wanted to keep the boys energised for another practice session.
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