It's hard to pinpoint the reason for the sudden craze for basketball in Nepal in recent years. Sponsorship of tournaments may be part of the reason and also access to television coverage of US and international basketball championships. While the men's game has been around for decades, what is most pleasing about the recent progress is the increased involvement of women in competitive hoops.

It wasn't long ago that basketball tournaments were limited to men's teams but today we have events like the Gyan Carnival, Father Watrin and GAA tourneys along with the recent Samsung National Championships, which was telecast live on NTV that all include women participants.

The women's game has developed so much that girls are increasingly competing equally alongside boys in training sessions-running laps, boxing out and pushing and shoving for rebounds. Schools in the Kathmandu Valley have also begun holding tournaments for girls in the 10-13 age bracket.

Promoting basketball among girls is one of the main aims of the winter basketball camp at the GAA hall in Thamel organised by the Godavari Alumni Association (GAA) for the past three years. Coach Krishna Maharjan says his main objectives are to provide participants with the fundamental skills-shooting, dribbling and passing-and to develop a sense of team play.

"Basketball is a team sport. Yes, an individual on occasion can win a game for any team but to play good basketball all five players on the court and those off it need to become a unit," says Maharjan who hopes to create a community of basketball players. "At school we play with our friends only, here in the camp they encourage us to play with different players, people we do not know, allowing us to learn from others," said one female participant.

The number of players at the GAA camp has grown each year, thanks to its reputation for good organisation and training facilities. This year more than 60 players were divided into three groups: early morning for the girls, morning for the boys and afternoon for children. "Although 20 days training is not enough, what we learn from this is very important and we will try to continue developing," said one participant. "In the future, we would be interested in taking more training like this," she added.

GAA will organise another training camp after the SLC exams.