A passion for promoting the women's game

NEWCASTLE (Paul Nilsen's Women's Basketball Worldwide) - A forthright Milka Bjelica hijacks Paul Nilsen's column this week as the Montenegro national team star and EuroLeague Women player shows her passion for promoting women's basketball. Take it away Milka!

Hello everybody! I am very grateful to be able to take this opportunity to present my own point of view on a number of issues in relation to the promotion of women's basketball.

I have been considering the current situation of women's basketball and female athletes in general, while also looking at our position in relation to men's basketball which is currently not favorable and yet is something I strongly believe can be changed.

Right from the start, I guess we must all acknowledge that any change (no matter how large or small) is difficult and requires great patience and persistence.

In particular, successful people (including female athletes) are well aware of the extent of commitment and endurance necessary for the implementation of any successful plans to change women's sport - especially if it involves some drastic changes.

Therefore we need to keep reviewing our plans of how we promote women's basketball and everyone must keep putting in hard work to ensure implementation.

I actually don't think the blame for women's basketball not being as popular as it could be is the fault of those who don't want to come to watch or support the women's game, nor those people who consider women less valued and not worthy of a high level of competition in the sporting environment.

As well, sponsors who do not want to invest in women's basketball are also not to be blamed.

We must consider that we live in the 21st century, in the midst of capitalism, where almost everyone is interested only in pure profit and is in the race to ensure material gain. So much so, the true magic of our game easily gets out of sight and women's sports, which do not contribute to the increase of bank balances, can be neglected.

But, with a fully devoted team of professionals comprising those who possess real vision, positivity, good experience and above anything else, a sincere desire to raise women's basketball as a sport and take women's basketball players (as athletes) to a more prestigious level, we can be successful.

Of course men's basketball is a real profitable sport. The game itself is faster, more attractive, with higher jumps and with more dunks. However, I really do think that in some aspects of the women's game and particularly from a tactical perspective, we actually have some small, but important advantages.

We must show the world that we have lots of positive attributes. We need to prove even more strongly that we can shine like - the sport stars already known worldwide. We can also provide real joy to people by playing one of the most beautiful and interesting games in sport, but in our own unique way - one which is so subtle and yet at the same time, so energetic and exciting!

Our real strength is not that as women players we always have to lead and prove that we are the best or as strong as men, but it is to show that we know how to do the work for others and with others. Our intelligence on the floor and collective sports spirit is special.

I also think that people should be presented with more details and information in relation to the training regime undertaken by both male and female athletes. It can therefore clearly be seen how women's bodies are durable and actually, there is only a minor difference in the respective intensity of the way each gender trains. This is the domain where we are maybe at similar levels and this generally applies to all sports, not just basketball.

I also feel we need to pay even closer attention to other women's sports which are even more popular (or just more watched) and see what they do differently. We must continue - observing if we can learn from any new innovations!

I feel strongly that as a female basketball player, I should primarily be presented as an attractive athlete, as a woman fighting for her dreams.

However despite all of this, I fear gender discrimination is sometimes more drastic in basketball than other sports such as tennis, volleyball and handball for example. We must challenge this and explore the reasons.
The right path is always to start with ourselves. We have to ensure education of young athletes and to increase awareness and acceptance of the recent changes introduced in relation to our equipment and uniforms which are being implemented to highlight the beauty of the female athletic body.

Through marketing campaigns, we can continue to show that world women's basketball players are not only combatants on the court, but also possess inner beauty and the ability to be successful in many fields. As athletes, we can be promoted not only as attractive sportswomen, but also as a mother, a wife, and an intellectually rich person.

I would like to draw your attention to some marketing campaigns undertaken elsewhere including those by ORIFLAME and WTA Tennis, which are available to view on youtube.

These give a couple of interesting examples where I feel we can clearly see just how much attention can be drawn to a female athlete and how much unexploited potential we all actually possess.

Finally, I would not personally support the idea that women should work primarily only with women (although such an approach is widely favoured among some basketball circles).

First of all, because there should not be any sort of discrimination and secondly, because there are lot of those who discriminate us, and that is why we want to show them that it is not the right way and they make a huge mistake due to their prejudice and feeling of superiority.

Therefore, we should not be at their level and counteract by being like them. Not at all, our strength and the way to fight for the place we deserve in this modern sports show business, lays in cooperation and building our image together!

So, those are my thoughts on what can sometimes be a difficult issue but I'm very happy and grateful to have had the chance to contribute.

I hope we can all continue to have a healthy debate about promoting the game we all love and of course, care so passionately about. For I am sure we all can agree with this!

Milka Bjelica
Paul Nilsen

FIBA

FIBA’s columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.