Holder reports on FIBA Women’s Conference

Oct 08, 2010 Sports

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– GABF Vice-President returns from forum

One of the Vice-Presidents of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF), Dawn Holder has reported on her attendance at the inaugural International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Conference that was held in the Czech Republic.
The conference was held during October 2-3 in Karlovy Cary, the site of the final round of the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women. Delegates from more than 49 national federations attended the conference.
The GABF was the lone Caribbean representative at the function. Below is the full text of Attorney-at-Law, Holder’s report:
The purpose of the conference was to have fruitful discussions on the challenges and opportunities in the women’s game in order to keep abreast with the growth of the men’s game.
There were a number of topics covered, including how to promote Women in Sport, Perspective from Coaches, Obstacles and Challenges and Organising a Women’s Event.
Speakers included, Mr. Geno Auriemma, a United States of America-based Coach, Mr. Lubomir Kotleba, a FIBA Sports Director, Ms. Lorraine Landon, FIBA Women’s Commission President, Mr. Andrew Walker, Ms. Daniela Banz, Marketing and Communications at Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and Ms. Sylvia Sweeney, FIFA Marketing Officer, TV Producer and Journalist.
Walker and Banz brought an interesting perspective of marketing women in sport from their respective organisations and shared some of the innovative measures they relied on for successes.
There was much discussion about changing the rules, and in particular, lowering the rims in the women’s game in an effort to enhance the game, leading to dunking and fewer missed shots. It was agreed that the lowering of the rims would require a great deal of experimentation and it was suggested that national federations may be willing to run the tests.
FIBA’s Secretary General said that the Italian Federations is already playing with a lowered rim, though it’s not used in official competition. It was generally agreed that harmonisation of the basketball calendar is critical to the development of the game as it was felt that the women’s game was being short changed when their championship is held so soon after the men’s.
The thought was to potentially shift it to January or May, or an alternate year to the men’s championship. Uniforms for the national teams were also discussed. It was suggested by many of the male delegates that the uniforms are not feminine and that they wished the federations would consider more comfortable, feminine attire.
Australia pioneered the first change from singlet and shorts with a bodysuit but changed that last year. Belarus who reached the semi-finals competed in a one piece dress resembling a netball uniform. The Czech Republic Federation leading up to the World Championship contracted a fashion school to design uniforms for their team and these were displayed in a fashion show with the players modeling the designs.
There were some national federation reports presented to the conference which covered the challenges, obstacles and measures employed in dealing with their particular issues. Many of the reports raised issues of common concern such as in the area of inability of countries to prepare their teams due to many factors such as the cost of training, player availability due to increased international opportunities and player burnout.
Ms. Sweeney, a member of Canada’s Basketball Council of Excellence, played for the Canadian national team from 1976 to 1984 and was named MVP at the 1979 World Championship in Seoul, North Korea. She delivered a thought provoking presentation, ‘How to promote women in Sports’. She challenged the national federations to be innovative and seek alternate sponsorship from associations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who devote considerable resources to women’s well being.
The conference resulted in a two page declaration unanimously approved by the delegates, who underlined the need to use all FIBA opportunities to promote and improve the participation of women in basketball. It underlined the importance of keeping the balance between both genders and striving for equal opportunities.
Among the points agreed were: the importance of having female players, coaches, referees and administrators as role models for women and girls; the need to create opportunities for women and girls to participate in basketball as an essential factor in ensuring their well being and health; increasing activities, programmes and funding benefitting basketball players and to create female basketball competitions in all FIBA member federations at national and regional levels in all structures and clubs and integrating women in all areas of the governance and administration of the sport, including the governing bodies and commissions of basketball organizations.
The FIBA Headquarters in Geneva was asked to start practical testing and discussions within the FIBA bodies on a number of key topics, notably: increasing the resources allocated to women’s basketball; lowering the height of the basket for women’s basketball for all official competitions; designing and regulating uniforms for female players; developing a special programme for creating female basketball journalists and setting up continental girls coaching camps similar to Basketball Without Borders.

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