FIBA Africa is keen on getting the women's sport at par with their male counterparts, and who better than to have visionary former players guiding the process. We had a sit down with one such role model, Lea Kané, for a one-on-one on her view of the game from an administrative perspective.
Last Updated on
September 30, 2024
Kendi Mwiti
Staff Writer
An injury might have denied Lea Edwige Kané her chance to enjoy basketball at the highest level as a professional, but it did not curtail her drive to be involved in and help grow the sport in Africa.
Now serving as FIBA Africa’s Competitions Manager, the Ivorian has been on a journey from the bottom, and in her current position, growing the women's game is a priority.
"I played in the youth and senior categories but a knee injury meant early retirement for me. I wanted to go into basketball management after and FIBA Africa was that opportunity," a reserved Lea opened up in an interview with AfricaBasket.
She continued, "I am in charge of competitions for FIBA Africa. I supervise and manage basketball competitions, from youth to senior tournaments. I have a very important role. As a former player, basketball is my passion. I joined FIBA, started from the bottom, and even now there's room for growth. I think I have made my contribution, however small, to the development of basketball in Africa. Working for basketball in the continent is a dream come true for me."
Lea remains optimistic that, just like other continents, African basketball, especially the women’s sport, is growing. Asked to compare the sport based on gender as her role encompasses competitions on both ends, Lea acknowledges the gap, without taking away the tremendous growth the women's sport is experiencing.
"Women's basketball has developed, from the administrative point of view to the game itself. A while back there were fewer female players and fewer women's teams. Now we have many more. There are even players from other continents, from the USA and Europe, who come to play in our championships. Women's basketball is developing. We hope to have a women's team in the top three at the Women's World Cup. That's an important goal for us," the Competitions Manager offered.
However, her dream for women's basketball is bigger. She doesn't wish for a few to dominate the continent.
"Instead of just two or three strong teams, we need to have 10 or 15 strong women's teams. An African women's team at the top is a dream for me. If we can have an African team as world champions, I can die after that (laughs)," she voices.
As for the gap between men's and women's basketball, Lea says more women are getting involved and there is an increase in participation, further predicting the disparity would lessen in a few years as FIBA Africa is working towards that.
She has called on women not to limit themselves to playing and coaching, but to take up key leadership roles.
"Sure, we have some women who are presidents of federations but that's not enough. We need to have more women in the highest positions," she opined.
FIBA Africa's strategy to increase the involvement of women and ensure an all-round improvement in the women’s sport includes welcoming former stars to get involved in management.
"We are trying to work with the national federations to form former players' associations. They will in turn join the national federations and start working on campaigns and other activities. We also hope to get more women to take up refereeing. At one point, the number of female referees needed was 10. We are now holding coaching clinics specifically for women's coaches. The same goes for female referees. We currently have 25 female referees. We hope to have 50 referees in 10 years," Lea revealed.
With the Africa Women’s Basketball League (AWBL) having attracted WNBA and EuroLeague players since rebranding from the African Women's Champions Cup, Lea says this is the chance to make playing in Africa marketable.
"We want to establish women's basketball as a professional sport and not just focus on men's basketball. Just like we have players from the NBA coming to play in our tournaments, we want more players from the WNBA and EuroLeague to come and play here. It will help our local players experience high-level basketball at home and grow to the same level," she concluded.
(Images Courtesy of FIBA)
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