Natalia Hejkova (USK)
17/09/2021
Europe
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Mentoring program for Empowerment of Female Coaches and Referees begins with virtual webinars

MUNICH (Germany) - The Empowerment of Female Coaches and Referees project is entering its next stage with the start of the mentoring program. The project is part of the FIBA Women in Basketball strategy,  which specifically states the development and leverage of female elite coaches as one of its main objectives. 

The project is led by FIBA Europe  and it also involves the National Federations of Serbia, Finland, France, Spain and Slovenia. The selected female coaches and referees will be benefiting from funding through the European Commission's Mobility and Exchange in Sport Fund. 

Six female coaches and six female referees who stood out in the selection process earlier this summer at the FIBA European Women's Basketball Summit in Postojna are set to participate in the year-long program, which will feature monthly webinars and also visits to mentors, FIBA Hall of Fame inductee Natalia Hejkova and FIBA referee Jasmina Juras.


Mireia Capdevila Choy and Marina Fernandez Royano from Spain, Irene Otamiri from Sweden, Martina Gargantini from Italy, Constanze Wegner from Germany, Dragana Svitlica from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dace Cinite from Latvia were chosen as the coaches.

 

Meanwhile, the referees participating are Yasmina Alcatraz Moreno from Spain, Laure Coanus from France, Ariadna Chueca Moreno from Finland, Marta Malczewska from Poland, Sara Mansson from Sweden and Kristine Simanovica from Latvia.

The program begins with virtual webinars before in-person visits take place later this year with trips to Prague, Czech Republic and Barcelona, Spain. 

The selected participants will also travel to the EuroLeague Women 2022 Final Four in April with further mentoring from two-time FIBA Women's EuroBasket champion coach Marina Maljkovic.

The project is set to reach its conclusion in July 2022 as FIBA Europe continues to place an emphasis on promoting women's and girl's basketball across a number of different programs.

FIBA