We believed five years ago what we believe now, that a healthy body builds a healthy mind, and that every young person deserves the chance to play, compete, and discover what they are capable of.
What started as a local idea has grown into a global effort, from school playgrounds and squash courts in Pakistan to grassroots clinics in Austria to a new academy in the United States. As we mark five years of giving back, we want to celebrate the athletes, partners, and communities who have made it real.
The Sports Donation Program: five years of equipping schools
At the heart of our work is the XtremeLabs Sports Donation Program, our longest-running community initiative and the reason we are marking five years. Each year, our team donates sporting goods to government schools serving underprivileged communities across Pakistan, from Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Azad Kashmir to Bahawalpur.
In our very first year, we reached more than 1,500 students with over 1,000 pieces of equipment, from cricket bats and badminton rackets to footballs, nets, and games. And we made a deliberate choice in how we did it: rather than ship gear in, we bought locally made equipment from neighborhood retailers. That decision set off a local multiplier effect, recirculating income roughly seven times within the same communities. Every donation did double duty, equipping a child while supporting a local livelihood.
Five years on, the results speak for themselves. Equipment we donated has helped students win district championships in badminton and hardball cricket, including one team that took home a 50,000 PKR prize using gear we had provided the year before. Students have earned district medals in athletics, and the boys’ and girls’ teams at schools we support have gone on to represent Pakistan in cricket and hockey at the international level. A girls’ team at one supported school even won a regional cricket championship against sides from eleven districts.
The lesson is simple. Put the right equipment in the right hands, show up year after year, and ordinary schools start producing extraordinary athletes.
Pakistan: opening the squash court to a new generation
Squash is where that commitment has deepened most. We became the presenting partner of the Qamar Zaman All Pakistan National Junior Squash Championship, one of the country’s premier junior events. Across the editions we have backed, more than 700 boys and girls have gained graded, refereed competition experience from the Under-11 to Under-19 categories.
Access matters as much as competition. We hosted free women’s and girls’ squash clinics in Karachi, where more than thirty young female players trained with professional coaches and were individually recognized on a championship court. And through our racket donation effort, we put tournament-grade equipment directly into the hands of talented juniors who could not otherwise afford it.
Europe: keeping the game free for thousands of kids
In Salzburg, Austria, we found a kindred spirit in Aqeel Rehman, a twenty-time Austrian national champion. Through our sponsorship of the Austrian Squash Challenge, his free “Kids and School Days” reach around six hundred children every year, part of a grassroots programme he calls one of the largest in Europe, which has welcomed more than five thousand children over time. Our support is what keeps it free, so that no child is turned away for lack of means.
The United States: backing champions who became founders
Our newest chapter is in the United States, where we are supporting sisters Heba and Nouran El Torky, former professional squash players, as they build the El Torky Squash Academy for junior athletes.
This partnership matters on two levels. It grows junior squash and lifelong participation in a new market. And it backs two elite women athletes as they turn their playing careers into a sustainable coaching business, the kind of entrepreneurial journey that deserves a champion in its corner.
What ties it all together
Across every country and every program, the same principles guide us. We remove the two biggest barriers to youth sport, cost and access. We give where the impact multiplies, sourcing locally, focusing on girls, and putting gear directly in students’ hands. And we invest for the long term, building pathways and partnerships that compound year after year rather than writing one-off cheques.
To the next five years
To every young player who stepped onto a court or a field because of this work, and to the coaches, champions, and partners who walk alongside us, thank you. Five years in, we are more convinced than ever that sport changes lives. We are just getting started.