Gisele Ishimwe, best known as Gigi, was introduced to cricket through Cricket without Boundaries (CWB) community sessions near her home in Ndera when she was only eight years old.

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One ordinary afternoon, she recalls, she noticed a group of children playing near her house and decided to approach them to find out what they were up to.

"I sat on the ground and watched how they played, how orderly and smooth the game was. Nobody was fighting, there was no chaos or violence. I simply fell in love with it,” Ishimwe recounts.

She went to the playground regularly, watching others play and occasionally joining them. And then one day, a professional coach, Eric Hirwa Dusabemungu, or ‘Tall Eric’ as everyone calls him, noticed her talent and assured her of greatness if she maintained her discipline.

"He asked if I wanted to make a career out of cricket, and I said yes. He told me that he saw my potential and that all I needed to do was put in more time and effort,” she says.

Her interest and confidence grew day by day as she continued to attend the sessions.

"My mother would assign me numerous chores to complete so that I would be discouraged, and hopefully tired, by game time. But I kept doing everything; taking care of my responsibilities at home as well as making time for the game,” she explains.

Raised by only their mother, Ishimwe has three sisters and two brothers. After the latter convinced their mother of her love for cricket, other siblings were also drawn to it.

"They saw how much I’m into it, how it keeps me busy, and how supportive my mom was, then they also started loving and playing the game,” she explained.

One of her sisters is now a coach, and another is an active player who is married to a cricket coach.

"Cricket has now become a family sport. We often joke that if mom wasn’t this old, she’d play too,” she says light-heartedly.

Ishimwe is her team’s all-rounder who bats and bowls. She attends regular training sessions led by ‘Tall Eric’, one of CWB&039;s ambassadors in Rwanda.

In 2019, at the age of 15, she made her international debut, scoring the first-ever century in Rwandan women’s cricket, 114 runs in 69 balls against Eswatini in the T20 World Cup Qualifier.

She led Rwanda’s U19 World Cup campaign in South Africa in 2022, finishing in the top six. She also captains the U19 Women’s National Team and plays for the local cricket club Indatwa Hampshire.

Ishimwe looks up to Heather Knight, captain of England’s women’s cricket team. "I like how she glides in and out of the game. I like the way she handles her emotions and her teammates, even when she doesn’t always perform well,” she says.

Reflecting on her cricketing journey, Ishimwe describes it as exceptional. She has been able to pursue her studies thanks to scholarship awards, which she claims would not have been possible otherwise. She attends IPRC (Integrated Polytechnic Regional College) in Kigali.

"With the money I get, I am also able to support my mother at home,” she shares.

Her ambition to make a career out of cricket still stands. "I’m still here. I intend to continue playing professional cricket,” she says.

"I’m most driven by my family’s support, by the satisfaction I get from the game itself, the connection I’ve made throughout, and by all that the future holds.

"My advice is directed at parents. They must be the primary supporters of their children’s dreams or passions. To girls, even if you don’t play sports professionally, staying healthy and fit is important, so pick one to practice,” she notes.