DA DACHING – Khagrachori's football and wrestling queen

Ching is the bossiest player on the pitch and the strongest on the mat. That's what she says anyway, striding out the door of her home in Ramgor, Khagrachari, a small remote town on the border of Bangladesh and India. Her friends, a mismatched team of boys of all ages, follow her.

Today she is practicing her first passion; football. She places the ball in the middle of the field, takes a few steps back and runs towards it, strong and confident, with her jersey flying. All the kids are beaming, their full concentration on Ching. She kicks the ball and it flies into the air - and lands on her neighbour's vegetable patch. The team explodes into laughter and scramble over the fence to get it back.

She is determined to be a professional football player. To get there, Ching is using her second passion; wrestling. Bangladesh Ansar, the country's paramilitary force, is paying her BDT 5,000 per month to train for the Bangladesh Olympics Association wrestling title next year.

Ching Shanu Marma got involved in BRAC's Adolescent Development Programme (ADP) at the age of 12, and discovered her natural talent for sports. Most afternoons at ADP, clubs include outdoor game sessions. She's a local superstar now at 17, unapologetically sporting shorts and short hair.

Ching does not mess around. After the ball is retrieved from the vegetable patch, the game starts again. She is not only playing, but also refereeing and mentoring, yelling tips out to the younger players as they run around the field.

After the game finishes, Ching takes a break to cool down. She toys with the football between her feet, sitting on the edge of a wide lake, looking across the hills of India. Her sister looks on with a pride that cannot be described. The neighbours used to gossip about Ching playing with the boys, and dressing like a boy. No one cares about that anymore. Ching teaches football to the girls at her school and everyone loves her.

You don't hear a lot about girls like Ching, but her story is actually not uncommon. Bangladesh's ADP clubs are home to what must be one of the biggest girls' football teams in the world, comprising of over 1000 girls. With support from other girls and peer mentors, the girls are kicking goals and making names for themselves all across the country.

There are 9,000 ADP clubs across Bangladesh, providing safe spaces where almost 300,000 young women are learning life skills, social confidence and entrepreneurship. They share experiences, receive training and build networks. Research has shown that clubs help girls to stay in school, become more financially literate and communicate more confidently. Similar clubs have also been started by BRAC in five other countries; Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. This story is the first in a series about the girls in BRAC's ADP clubs.

The writers are working in Communications department, BRAC.