Despite success at the top level of sport, a very low percentage of the South Asian female population regularly participate in sport (1). This is troubling due to the physical, social, and psychological benefits including the development of ""self-confidence, independence, leadership"" (2). Gulnahar, and her former team member in Bangladesh's national basketball team, Ashreen, decided to rectify the lack of opportunities for women and girls in the sport they love.
The first activity Deshi-Ballers established in December 2018 was as part of a Surf Excel project hosted in front of the National Parliament Building in Dhaka. Space is dedicated to promoting healthy living and safe outdoor activities for children on the first Friday of every month. Deshi Ballers run monthly Car-Free Street sessions for between 80 and 100 children. They are introduced to basketball, but most importantly encouraged to exercise and socialise while the team speak to parents to raise awareness of sport's benefits. Other activities include the Leaders on the Court programme for intermediate female basket players, which develops their sporting ability but also their confidence and leadership skills. They also run outreach programmes and camps to reach girls who do not have access to the sport and to showcase women's basketball outside the main cities, decentralising female participation. Its flagship event is a tournament for female 3v3 teams held on International Women's Day. These various programmes have amounted to over 60,000 hours of basketball.
In the pandemic, Deshi Ballers had to adapt. They ran a virtual talk show with veteran basketball players to set an example for the girls. They also launched ‘Empower Girls and Women Through Sports & Fitness’, an online fitness contest and live panel discussion funded by PLAN International Bangladesh. Through this campaign, they celebrated the remarkable achievements of females in sport and called for action to address barriers faced by girls and women who want to have a career in sports, reaching over 340,000 people with awareness. In 2021, the group hopes to reinstate in-person activities, including the expansion of the 3v3 tournament which they want to increase in frequency to three per year. Long term, Deshi Baller's ambition is to found Bangladesh's first women’s league.
