The video centers on the inspirational story of Azra Farooq, the captain of the Pakistani Women's national volleyball team. Despite limited resources and opportunities in Pakistan, Azra's journey reflects the challenges faced by many female athletes and illustrates her determination to succeed in sports. Highlighting a contrast with the multiple opportunities available in countries like the US, the video stresses the difficulties in promoting women's sports within Pakistan due to societal and institutional barriers.

A key focus of the video is the efforts to empower Pakistani women through sports, as seen in the founding of Empower Sports Academy. This nonprofit organization strives to create training and playing opportunities for female athletes while also pushing for cultural shifts in how women's sports are perceived in Pakistan. By building facilities and offering high-level training, the organization aims to foster a supportive community that not only enhances sports skills but also creates broader career opportunities for women.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. dedicated [ˈdɛdɪˌkeɪtɪd] - (adjective) - Having a strong commitment to a task or purpose. - Synonyms: (committed, devoted, steadfast)

But I've always been very dedicated to volleyball and recently dropped all the others just to focus on it.

2. reflecting [rɪˈflɛktɪŋ] - (verb) - To show, express, or be a sign of a particular situation, condition, etc. - Synonyms: (displaying, indicating, demonstrating)

...she struggled to find places to even practice and play in, reflecting the difficulties of thousands of other Pakistani female athletes.

3. empowering [ɪmˈpaʊərɪŋ] - (verb) - Giving someone the authority or power to do something; making someone stronger and more confident. - Synonyms: (authorizing, enabling, equipping)

And what they and so many others in Pakistan and around the world fail to realize is the empowering nature of sports, especially for women.

4. nonprofit [ˈnɒnˈprɒfɪt] - (adjective / noun) - An organization not intending to make a profit, often focused on furthering a social cause or advocating for a common goal. - Synonyms: (charitable, voluntary, philanthropic)

Empower Sports Academy is a nonprofit organization I started along with like minded individuals aimed at providing and improving women's sports in Pakistan.

5. shift [ʃɪft] - (noun / verb) - A change in position, direction, or focus; to move or transfer from one place or position to another. - Synonyms: (change, transition, transformation)

Our goal is to really create a shift in the way people think about women's sports in Pakistan.

6. inspire [ɪnˈspaɪər] - (verb) - To fill (someone) with the urge or ability to do or feel something; to motivate. - Synonyms: (motivate, encourage, stimulate)

I'm inspired to go into sports and to make a change, that there's more to what I can do just through this.

7. untapped [ʌnˈtæpt] - (adjective) - Not yet exploited or used; having potential that has not been utilized. - Synonyms: (unexploited, unused, latent)

And just because so many can't see the untapped sports potential in Pakistani women doesn't mean everyone can't.

8. cultural [ˈkʌltʃərəl] - (adjective) - Relating to the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a society. - Synonyms: (social, communal, societal)

In order to change the culture of an entire nation, we need to be able to do multiple things.

9. transform [trænsˈfɔrm] - (verb) - To make a thorough or dramatic change in form, appearance, or character. - Synonyms: (convert, alter, metamorphose)

While I was in Pakistan working with the national team players, I was my outlook on the women there totally transformed.

10. rigorous [ˈrɪɡərəs] - (adjective) - Extremely thorough and careful; meticulous. - Synonyms: (thorough, severe, strict)

...those athletes will go on to train in training camps where they'll receive rigorous, high quality training for their sports.

Leveling The Playing Field -Empower Pakistani Women via sports - Alisha Junaid - TEDxYouth@CuestaPark

I was on the national team for volleyball, rugby, soccer and baseball, as well as having been captain of two of these teams. I was able to do this all because of the support from my father who encouraged me even when so many others didn't. Ever since I was young, I've had to learn these sports on my own and teach myself the skills and techniques. But I've always been very dedicated to volleyball and recently dropped all the others just to focus on it. As you all could have guessed, this story isn't mine. My name is Alisha Junaid. But this is the story of the current Pakistani Women's national volleyball team captain, Azra Farooq.

When Azra was in college, she only had the opportunity to play in one volleyball tournament a year. And even now in Pakistan, there is only one volleyball tournament for college athletes to participate in a year. But that's nothing compared to the hundreds and thousands of tournaments, games and opportunities that we have here in the US she struggled to find places to even practice and play in, reflecting the difficulties of thousands of other Pakistani female athletes. Due to the limited nature of these competitions, colleges and universities don't put much time and energy into them, only training a week to at most a month in advance.

And even though most schools are able to attend and participate, many don't. Why is that? Well, it's because most universities and colleges don't see sports as worth the costs, especially women's sports. And what they and so many others in Pakistan and around the world fail to realize is the empowering nature of sports, especially for women, and the importance of this empowerment. Sports gives women an out. Sports gives women an outlet to be able to take charge of their lives. But it also opens up so many other paths that aren't just in the sports sphere.

Personally, sports has given me the outlet to be able to make a difference, but also has taught me to be confident and strong. I want all Pakistani women to feel like they have this option, that these paths exist for them. And just because so many can't see the untapped sports potential in Pakistani women doesn't mean everyone can't. There are already so many people working to open doors and create spaces to uplift the voices of Pakistani athletes, especially women, and have women come into spaces that are generally not available for them.

Empower Sports Academy is a nonprofit organization I started along with like minded individuals aimed at providing and improving women's sports in Pakistan. After seeing the gap between the women's potentials and the resources or lack thereof they have to achieve it. Our goal is to really create a shift in the way people think about women's sports in Pakistan. We want to not only empower women, but to also show their families and the rest of Pakistan and even the world their capabilities and what they can do given these resources.

But in order to make a change, in order to make a difference throughout the world, we need to do many things. We can't just focus on one thing at a time. In order to change the culture of an entire nation, we need to be able to do multiple things. So in order for us to give women the ability to enter the sports sphere, we also need to create safe spaces for them and high level training opportunities.

One of the more specific things we're working on is getting more players to be able to play. Right now in Pakistan, one of the largest communities of female athletes are those in colleges and universities. There's hundreds of teams playing there, but they barely have any opportunities. We want to create a system that will allow all teams to be able to play and all have the all teams to be able to play. No matter where they're located. We want them to feel that they're. That no matter where they are, they can pick up and play sports.

Another thing we're working on is creating facilities for women to use and creating safe spaces. Right now, there's barely any facilities where women can just go and play their sport. We want to be able to make spaces where they're able to just go have fun and feel safe. Right now, all the high quality facilities are generally given to men not leaving women much practice time. And that means people of lower skill levels will rarely ever get proper training in high quality facilities.

We want to make these spaces available for a multitude of sports, but also provide resources that encourage the lifelong continuation of sports. These spaces are most importantly going to become communities, Communities that will empower women and that will show people that we can do more and allow these women to have more opportunities, not just in the field of athletics, but create more jobs for them. The other thing we want to work on is creating high level training opportunities.

We want them to be able to learn the game to their fullest and get those opportunities. We want them to be able to play sport to the best of their ability. And in doing this, we're going to need to teach a lot of things we're going to need. We want to be able to teach them the right ways to do things, but also to show them that there's more to sport and that they can keep growing and it's ever changing and ever evolving. And we want to do this by teaching people in the art of coaching as well that there's so much more to game than just playing.

Between all these different aspects, I know we can make a difference. And I know it seems like a lot needs to happen, but I know change can be made. I want young girls in Pakistan to be able to look up at their female athletes and think, wow, this is something I can do. If I follow this path, it can lead me to other paths. I'm inspired to go into sports and to make a change, that there's more to what I can do just through this. And if people like Azhar had gotten these opportunities, they would be really far in life. And I want to open up those paths for them that don't currently exist.

But we could talk all day about the what ifs and our plans for the future and our dreams. But if dreams just say in our head they're nothing more than dreams and we'll wake up to the cruel reality that nothing has changed and nothing will. While Empower has only been around for less than a year, we have already done so much. We have worked with the Volleyball Federation to establish practices for professional female athletes as well as having helped and currently are helping the national team develop by allowing longer training with international coaches.

We've also helped host the national Volleyball championships and we're committed to doing so annually going forward. Currently, we're working with like minded organizations to bring we're working with like minded organizations to help host tryouts as well as talent hunts across the nation in order to find young, talented Pakistani female athletes. And those athletes will go on to train in training camps where they'll receive rigorous, high quality training for their sports.

And you may be asking why are we or why am I specifically doing this and why in Pakistan when there's so many other problems that they're facing such as poverty, corruption and education? Well, all of these problems exist all over the world and in all aspects of life. We can't just keep waiting and saying what if, what if we could fix these things? We have to fix them in our respective communities. And in order to start fixing these problems in the community of sports, especially in Pakistan, we need to be able to bring women to the fore front.

While I was in Pakistan working with the national team players, I was my outlook on the women there totally transformed. I was able to play with people who were so driven, so dedicated to what they did and none of them waited while I was playing with them, I realized they had all taken training into their own hands. They had all realized they needed to make a difference, and they had gone forward and taught themselves and learned. I know they're motivated people and I know they're passionate. So given the right practice and more opportunities, they would be able to make it and they would be able to excel in their sports.

I want it so that they are able to shine in their sports and reach the potential that they're able to. I want them to go on in the future and help Pakistan sign as a country, because I know they can. If athletes like Azra had gotten this opportunity, they would have already made it, and I wouldn't be here in front of you today. But again, we can't keep saying, oh, what if they made it? Or maybe an opportunity will come for them. We have to take actions and we have to be the ones to act.

Every day we wait is years of progress. We lose. We keep losing the chance to empower the Pakistani women with success and confidence. We need to act and we need to be that change. We want to be the ones to help the new to create communities and make that difference. And in creating these strong communities and strengthening sport in Pakistan will open up more opportunities, more than just playing will also open up opportunities for jobs and education.

So I'm asking you, why are we still waiting? Why aren't we taking this into our own hands? Let's level the playing field, and let's empower the women of Pakistan today. Thank you.

EDUCATION, LEADERSHIP, INSPIRATION, EMPOWERMENT, WOMEN'S SPORTS, PAKISTAN INITIATIVES, TEDX TALKS