SANTIAGO (Chile) – As part of their ongoing efforts to foster the growth of women’s basketball, Molten, FIBA’s longest-standing Global Partner, launched a new Women in Basketball #KeepPlaying 2025 initiative. The goal focuses on retaining young athletes in the sport and nurturing the next generation of female leaders. For the past four years, Molten has led the “Female Local Champions” program, which shines a spotlight on women who promote and increase female participation in basketball at the grassroots level. In the summer of 2025, the company expanded its commitment with the global campaign “Women in Basketball”, under the slogan #KeepPlaying, with activities across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The initiative aims to create sustainable pathways for girls and young women to stay involved in the sport and reach their full potential both on and off the court. The latest stop on this international campaign took place in Chile. This was in conjunction with the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup 2025 tournament, through a partnership with the Adelante program of FIBA Americas. This program is designed to identify, inspire, and empower the next generation of female leaders in basketball.
The event, supported by Carol Callan, a FIBA Central Board member and the first woman to serve as President of FIBA Americas, featured the distribution of a survey on sports dropout to participants in the U23 and adult categories. The goal was to gather valuable insights into the factors that lead young women to leave the sport across different countries in the region. The findings will be analyzed by Molten and FIBA Americas to better understand the specific challenges faced by young female players and to then develop effective, targeted solutions, such as increasing gender diversity in clubs, national federations, and developing elite coaches and referees. Participants in the session presented their findings and discussed their ideas to generate actionable proposals. Based on these outcomes, Molten and FIBA Americas will select a group of female leaders with standout resolutions to be invited to the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in 2026. FIBA