Freestyle football, which involves performing tricks with a football, is slowly making its mark in India. Huzaif Shah from Srinagar, perhaps J&K’s first practitioner of the sport, is a trick shot artist with an impressive and growing repertoire.

From flicking the ball into a bin, though knocking a bottle off someone’s head (while reading a book), to guiding the ball to a perfect landing on a scooter, Huzaif displays a range of tricks, performed with ease, poise and precision.

After his initial struggles to get social media pages to post his videos, Shah, who is a great fan of Chelsea, finally managed to gather enough support from friends and family and brought his talent to social media.

Hailing from Soura area of Srinagar, Huzaif soon shot to fame through his YouTube and Instagram videos of trick shots a couple of years ago. With the tricks he performed, he earned instant fame in Kashmir with social media getting flooded with his video.

After great response on social media, Huzaif sent his videos to the CR7 trickshot online challenge that was conducted by Cristiano Ronaldo Fragrances–the official fragrance brand of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. Huzaif’s videos did well as he emerged as fourth runner-up in that global contest.

According to Huzaif, trick shots “helps him be focused and keeps him away from anxiety.’

“One has to be really good at juggling and know football as well. Balance and harmonisation of speed, distance, time and the objects plays a key role in a successful shot,” he said.

A football lover, Huzaif started playing the game at his school Tyndale Biscoe. He wants to revolutionize the art of trickshots in Kashmir and even offer himself as a mentor to anyone willing to learn it