Chitral Women Sports Club organizes football camp in Islamabad

Karachi: 35 women footballers from Chitral, a remote area in Northern Pakistan, have travelled to Islamabad for a football camp, organized by Chitral Women Sports Club (CWSC).

The camp is a result of CWSC’s founder, footballer Karishma Ali’s efforts, who is globally acclaimed for her aim to change things in her village for girls through sports.

The 23-year-old told Geo Super that the idea behind bringing these girls from Chitral to Islamabad was to provide them opportunities to learn under guidance of professional coaches and gain game exposure in a professional environment.

“We have two coaches, Jose Alonso from Spain and Waleed Javed, who is FA level 1 and AFC C license coach. They will be training these girls for next seven days,” she said.

Ali mentioned that the participants in the camp are aged 8 to 16 and that they start their day by watching videos of international women football matches between top teams.

“I believe that you also learn by watching top teams play. We start our sessions by watching football games on TV so that players can take inspiration from them,” she said.

“These girls are from remote areas and most of them had never seen women footballers play international games before. Watching these videos encouraged and motivated them to start thinking about playing for Pakistan.”

Ali founded the club which funds these programs two years back. She feels there is a need to change the concept of being athlete and called for them to be treated with respect so that people are encouraged to pick sports.

“We will not only learn about football but also professional aspects of an athlete’s life,” she said. “Here at the camp, we are trying to provide these girls an environment where they can feel like elite athletes, ensuring them that they are important.” 

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