Aisha Jalil | UTS International Alumni Award

Master of Management (Sport Management), 2010 
International Alumni Award - proudly supported by UTS College

Aisha Jalil has dedicated her career to helping close the gap in women’s sports in her home country Pakistan. She strives to break attitudinal barriers and inspire other girls to enjoy the sport she loves so dearly – cricket. 

Aisha’s love for cricket blossomed early. She fondly remembers playing street cricket with her brothers and family. Aisha’s love of sport is in her very DNA. Her mother was a college athlete, her dad played college volleyball and her uncle was a member of the domestic cricket set up in Lahore.

Soon, Aisha moved from the street to the pitch, playing as a bowler and tail-end batter, polishing her skills until she was selected for Pakistan’s first Women’s International Cricket Team in 1997. With the team, she set off on tour to play against New Zealand and Australian Teams. On tour, Aisha was promoted as an opening batter – making her the first woman to face the cricket ball on an international stage for Pakistan.

On the last stop of that tour, Aisha visited Australia and vowed to return to study, and help other sports-loving girls like her achieve their dreams. Twelve years later, she was back for her Master of Management at UTS. Here she gained a multitude of experiences to improve her sports management skills. Including the opportunity to organise a sports showcase event that hosted delegates from around the globe. 

Today, Aisha works to make women’s sport more equitable as a Player and a Game Development and Team Manager for Women’s Cricket at the Pakistan Cricket Board. She also continues to develop talent programs for young girls in cricket. They prepare the girls for a career as an elite athlete while teaching them life skills. Currently, she is also preparing an under-19 women’s team for the 2023 U19 Cricket World Cup. 

In the future, Aisha hopes to help create a dedicated women’s cricket facility in Pakistan, where women can hone their skills and be seen as equals inside and outside the boundary. She also plans to work within the international cricket scene – of both genders – to break the stereotypes about women in sports. Aisha dedicates this award to her loving mother, who supported her sports career and made her the person she is today. 

Transcript

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It’s almost been 12 years since I have been working with sports and especially with cricket.

It feels just great because it's been so many years and I've been working and I've you know there's hardly any recognition anywhere. So the only recognition or probably the inspiration and motivation that I had was seeing the players come through the pathway programs.

So, this is just amazing that a country like Australia recognising my efforts.

UTS provided me the platform to actually outshine in my career because professors and the teachers over here they they were very open to me doing any kind of projects that I wanted to really that you know my heart was into it. So they they just you know gave me that platform okay fine Aisha you want to do this go for it. So this is something that you know once once you have that liberty to exercise your ideas you tend to create good things.

Women who aspire to be a part of the sporting circle may be cricket or maybe any other sport, it's a difficult journey if we expect people to get results instantly or you know get recognitions and all it doesn't happen that fast. So what you need to have your internal motivation to do and you know a drive to make sure that you continue doing what you're doing. This is something that I tell people and you know one day you will be recognised for whatever you've done in in your life in your career.

Women should have the right to pursue their dreams and passions. I want to make sure other girls who want a cricket career have that pathway, and the support to reach their goals.