Love For The Game

Basketball player Nabila Mahbub
Talks to
Naziba Basher

COURTESY: nabila mahbub

I did my O'level in Scholastica and then moved to Mastermind for my A'levels. All my life, I had always been very sports oriented. Handball, basketball or whatever that came my way, I was always playing from when school would start till it would end.

I remember bunking a lot of classes just to play basketball. What my friends and I would do was make sure we didn't give our morning attendance so that the authority would think we were absent and it wouldn't cause a problem later.

This one day, my mom had called for some reason and to my dismay, it was on a day I had decided to bunk and play. We bunked the last class and started playing with some juniors when my mom had called and the authority had told her that I was absent. Of course after that, I was called by the teachers and had to face a lot of trouble.

After I joined North South University for BBA, nothing seemed too different to me. The huddle of responsibilities and what not that most people face after joining university was something I hadn't faced myself. The only thing was that during the last two years, things had gotten very hectic for me with practice, games and classes. Handling all of that together was a little tough. And since by then I was already in the national team, my efforts during practice had to be doubled.

I started playing basketball when I was in the 8th grade. Although back then I was just a benchwarmer. By the time I got to 9th and 10th grade, I was the captain of my school team. Basketball had gotten even more interesting to me after we had formed Wildcats. Wildcats was the first private girl's team and we were also the first team to have won a championship in AIS/D.

Mizan Sir, the coach of Wildcats and the National Basketball Team, was probably one of my biggest inspirations. He never failed to push me further into greater heights and I probably wouldn't have been where I am if it wasn't for him.

Apart from him, Farin Fazle is someone else I would like to thank for taking me to the position I am in today. She is an amazing competitor and friend. She had always encouraged me with every step I took. Farin was the one to come up with the idea of Wildcats and with Mizan Sir's support, we have gone very far.

Lamia Hafiz, Ashreen Mridha and couple of more of my teammates are also worth mentioning when I talk about who I am today and what I have become. They play a very big part in my life and together we make a great team.

Basketball, I think, has a lot of room for improvement in Bangladesh. Even thoug we just made the first ever Woman's National Team and we've already beaten North East India in a friendly tournament, as the captain, I think we still have a lot to work on. We're hoping to go further and getting opportunities to play against countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. I think if we get that chance we might even prove to be better than the men's team!

I would like to ask all the young aspiring players to keep up the practice and to love the game wholeheartedly. Whether you make it to the national team or not in your first go, never give up hope. If you love the game, the game will love you back!