I was born in Japan; my father is from Bangladesh. I came to Bangladesh when I was just eight years old and completed my graduation here.
Although I spent my early years in Japan, my love for football really began here in Bangladesh. I started playing football when I was about nine years old. I didn't exactly have a strong feeling about football or any other sport in particular, but I just loved running around all day. My brothers were the ones who passionately loved football and ended up unwittingly influencing me toward the sport. There was a park in Baridhara – a neighborhood in the north of Dhaka – with a court where they used to teach playing football to local kids. I used to go there with my brother and join the football lessons. That is where my journey began, in that small court. Back then, I was the only girl in the football practice sessions. Funnily enough, I am often still the only girl playing there with the guys locally. Once I got the hang of the sport, it felt like an addiction. I practiced a lot, which made me stand out from the other kids. My father was a constant supporter in my journey. He would take me out to practice early in the morning every day, and I would play with the other kids in the afternoon. I believe it was those morning sessions where I would practice on my own, paired with my love for the game, that made me a better player very early on. I became good enough as a player never to feel out of place or face any sort of discrimination in the male-dominated sport. I played better than the boys my age, so the seniors would always pick me over the boys in their teams.
I did not have a penchant for freestyling early on, but I had always admired the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, my favorite player growing up, Ronaldinho, and Neymar for their tricks and flair. After I picked up an anterior cruciate ligament injury in 2016, I could not play football for almost two years. I resumed playing football at my home to get back on my feet. I had an old football lying around; since I could not go out and play with my friend, I decided to learn some tricks that I could master on my own and add to my game. So, I looked up different tricks on YouTube and started practicing them in my room. And I realized, “Hey! I am actually able to pull the tricks off!” The sense of accomplishment kept me going, and I decided to go with the flow. The next thing I knew, I was able to master several tricks.
I was back to being confined in my room again when the world shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But this time, I already knew how to fill the void of football – learning new tricks. I used to follow a Bangladeshi freestyler called Sajid Hasan Khan and focused on improving as a freestyler. During the lockdown, I started recording videos of myself doing different tricks. I created a Facebook page and posted them online without much thought behind them. It was just a fun project. Little did I know how it would go on to change my life. To my sheer surprise, I saw an influx of views on my freestyle videos, and people seemed to enjoy the content that I put out.
