HONIARA (Solomon Islands) \u2013 As the game of basketball continues to evolve, so too does the role of women behind the scenes. In the Solomon Islands, more women are stepping into the role of statisticians, breaking barriers and bringing fresh perspectives to the numbers that shape the game.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the recent FIBA Melanesian Cup and FIBA Women’s Melanesian Cup, two young women entered the world of statistics. They learned about the importance of the role but also realised that having women behind the bench can empower a small island nation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
FIBA Executive Officer \u2013 Oceania, Amanda Jenkins, highlighted the importance of having women in this role.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe FIBA Melanesian Cups were an opportunity for these young women to broaden their skills within basketball, and to build on the foundations from the Pacific Games 2023,\u201d Ms. Jenkins said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHaving women in basketball off the court and working within the system is just as important as having them on the court. They are all representing their countries, and they should be proud of their achievements during this tournament. The continued support of PacificAus Sports and all of our National Federations will ensure we have continued opportunities for women in basketball to excel.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Naiah Tahea, the Solomon Islands, believes that the potential of women is barely explored, and she is excited to get involved in the sports-statistics world.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a part of the FIBA Melanesian Cups has encouraged a lot of my younger girl cousins to be like, \u2018oh, so girls can do this?\u2019 I was like, \u2018yeah, why not?\u2019 It\u2019s an equal thing. It\u2019s not one-sided,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Solomon Islands Stats Crew at the FIBA Melanesian Cups<\/p>\n
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Solomon Islands Stats Crew at the FIBA Melanesian Cups<\/p>\n
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Solomon Islands Stats Crew at the FIBA Melanesian Cups<\/p>\n
Tahea\u2019s passion for women in basketball is the driving force behind her ability to learn new skills and grow and she was proud to be involved in the 2025 edition of the FIBA Melanesian Cups. \u201cBeing a woman and participating in this tournament, it’s a big thing for me. I feel proud of myself for doing that,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Also from the Solomon Islands, Aryna Manele was another local volunteer jumped into the world of stats for the first time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it would be hard, but then when I was taught how to do it step by step, I was like, ‘oh, this is like I’m playing a game, but I’m playing a video game’,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Daniel Giffney, who has been a Basketball Statistician for over 20 years, was highly impressed by the emerging female statisticians at the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked with them to improve their skills in inputting the data and calling games, as well as recognising the functions of the spotter,\u201d he said. \u201cI was so impressed with how well they performed that I was able to roster them onto the gold medal men\u2019s game.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Giffney expressed his admiration for the Tahea, Manele and the entire Solomon Islands statistics team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey went from novices to experienced statisticians in the space of a few days, which is a tribute to their dedication and commitment to their local community,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs I sat on the bench during the final game, I got goosebumps when I listened to the team performing so well. I am very proud of what they and all the Technical Officials achieved during the week and I hope that they are proud too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The continued development and opportunities for Women in Basketball across Oceania is supported by PacificAus Sports through FIBA\u2019s Women in Basketball <\/a>Strategic initiative.\u00a0<\/p>\n About PacificAus Sports\u00a0<\/p>\n PacificAus Sports<\/a> is an Australian Government sports diplomacy initiative developing pathways for Pacific teams and athletes to compete in elite competitions and access high-performance coaching in Australia and internationally. The program partners with Australian national sports organisations to support a range of Pacific sports, with funding split evenly between women and men. PacificAus Sports also partners with the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) to promote Pacific sport through ABC Television\u2019s \u2018That Pacific Sports Show<\/a>\u2019 and ABC Radio\u2019s \u2018Fresh Off the Field<\/a>\u2019. The high-performance outcomes of PacificAus Sports are complemented by the Australian Government\u2019s Team Up<\/a> program, which focuses on sport for development in the Pacific.\u00a0<\/p>\n For more information about PacificAus Sports and its initiatives, visit www.pacificaussports.gov.au<\/a> and follow PacificAus Sports on Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HONIARA (Solomon Islands) \u2013 As the game of basketball continues to evolve, so too does the role of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-252681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}