A growing number of girls and women are taking their place in Gambia's sports world, though some of those who have made it on to the basketball court are still having to jump through a few hoops. But others are now well-placed to inspire the next generation of girls in sports in the West African country.
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00:00A lot of things inspire me, and for the fact that a lot of females here in the Gambia,
00:18they are more into football than basketball.
00:20So I decided to divert from football and play basketball, and it brought a lot of opportunity
00:26to me, which I'm glad of.
00:34One thing that inspired me is me playing basketball with the hijab on, which is something that
00:40a lot of people keep talking about, but I don't mind.
00:44I used to be disturbed at first, but now it's verified with me because it's about a decade
00:49now.
00:50In the Gambia, we have less female ballers, so encouraging these young ones is an amazing
00:54thing.
00:55As I face a lot of challenges, especially my family, some will say, OK, you are a girl,
01:07and I think you should do something else, better than playing basketball.
01:11And I was like, I love this game, so I'm going to do it.
01:13It's been two...
01:14She's somehow my mentor.
01:15Honestly, she's somehow my mentor, because sometimes there are times that I don't even
01:19want to be.
01:20I just want to stay home, like being discriminated from a lot of people.
01:23But seeing her being consistent in what she does, and coming for training every day, calling
01:27me every day, becoming like, girl, let's go for training, is another thing, honestly.
01:31Binti is a mentor to me.
01:33I have learned so many things in her, and I love the way she plays.
01:40The confidence she has, that encourages me to play basketball.
01:50We have a lot of girls who really want to play basketball, but they're not coming out
01:54there to come and play, because there's no hope.
01:57I've been coaching 20 years now, I can say.
02:01I've been coaching, you know, I've been training girls.
02:04I know some girls who really know how to play basketball.
02:08But I wish that there's more in the girls, because the girls are really serious.