- With the guidance of her relentless coach, a teen weightlifter emerges from a scrappy training camp in Egypt to compete at the championship level.
- From a scrappy, vacant-lot training site in Alexandria, Egypt to the Olympic Games, 14 year-old Zebiba ("raisin" in Arabic) stands at the precipice between childhood and weightlifting champion - guided only by her dedicated yet relentless coach, Captain Ramadan, and her own competitive edge. Can she make the leap?—Filmmaker
- 14 year-old Zebiba ("raisin" in Arabic) entered former Olympic athlete Captain Ramadan's weightlifting training "camp" when she was only 9.
The "camp", a roof-less vacant lot surrounded by chain-link fencing on a busy Alexandria, Egypt street corner in her neighborhood, had been producing champion female weightlifters for over twenty years - including Captain Ramadan's own daughter Nahla Ramadan (famed Egyptian athlete, former World champion and Olympic athlete) and Abeer Abdel Rahman (the first Arab female two-time Olympic medalist weightlifter). In total, Captain Ramadan had produced 4 Olympic, 9 World and 17 Pan African champion female weightlifters.
What at first for little Zebiba was a time of fun and play, has now become much more serious. Under the Captain's watchful eye and intense training, Zebiba has learned to ask more of herself, but she still struggles under both the extreme sacrifice she must make to succeed - and the devastating disappointment from those surrounding her when she fails.
Filmmaker Mayye Zayed follows Zebiba through her first four years on the competitive weightlifting circuit, capturing the little girl on camera as Zebiba grows up, learning to accept great loss and using that pain to fuel her growth as both athlete and young woman.
But, some losses are greater than others...
Can Zebiba overcome her own personal pain to win for herself, or will she have to leave this community of female champions, all trained by the only man who believed so strongly in their strength and power?
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