(GOLD COAST) Australia - FIBA in Oceania will launch the WiLEAD Internship program for outstanding female participants nominated by their respective National Federations starting on the 6th of November.

The program will be a two-part series with the first half spanning six weeks of online seminars, workshops, discussions, and activities aimed to cater to programs, initiatives, and opportunities for the candidates to take home to their respective national federations.

Fiji’s Sera Vugakoto, Guam’s Jill Acda, New Caledonia’s Melissa LeJeune and Nicky Francois, New Zealand’s Krystal Leger-Walker, Northern Mariana Islands’ Lia Rangamar,  Papua New Guinea’s Janine Aringa-Garap, Samoa’s Lori Joseph, and Tahiti’s Teimiri Hunter make up the nine-strong internship organized by FIBA Oceania for the Pacific countries.

Vugakoto is a former national team player for Fiji and a current national federation official, Acda and LeJeune likewise are ex-players and now coaches in different clubs for Guam and New Caledonia, respectively.

Francois is a current youth team coach in NCL while serving as a game statistician for local games, Rangamar is a 3x3 basketball advocate for NMI and a member of the National Federation board on top of playing and coaching roles in the past.

Walker, too, is a statistician, referee, coach, and manager in NZL and is currently studying and playing in the USA; Garap is a basketball club president, women’s league organizer, and health sciences advocate in PNG.

Joseph is an ex-national team player, 3x3 MVP, and junior coach in Samoa while Hunter works as a graphic designer apart from her role as competition manager in the Tahiti national federation.

Indeed, all of them boast impressive backgrounds and will join the WiLEAD program brimming with hunger, excitement, and thirst for more untapped basketball potential and knowledge.

In this program, they will be taken to diverse courses each week revolving around the methods of training, coaching, leadership, event organization, development of women’s basketball, and Federation administration from numerous keynote speakers from all over the world.

FIBA said the internship, which required the Federation to nominate participants that are under the national federation as a coach, player, referee, and administration official, is part of FIBA's global pillar strategy, Women in Basketball.

“These women leaders have already accomplished a lot in their respective Federations and are well-deserving of an even bigger opportunity to learn more capacities and capabilities in further growing the sport in their home countries,” said FIBA Oceania Executive Director David Crocker.

“The non-stop growth of basketball, across all walks of life, especially through the leadership of female leaders, has always been among the top priorities of the federation for a goal of creating a bright future for world basketball – even amidst the extraordinary time of the pandemic,” he added.

FIBA