Announced January 22nd, 2021, an amateur women’s basketball league will be starting in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia for female athletes 19 years of age or older, called the Maritime Women’s Basketball Association (MWBA). Each province has already registered three teams, and the league is open to the possibility of teams from PEI joining as well. The games will start in April of 2022, with a championship tournament at the end of the season.
This is an exciting opportunity that will open doors for a lot of female athletes. Oftentimes, women have to stop playing after graduating due to lack of opportunities in male-dominated sports like basketball. In these sports, the men’s games are considered to be the standard, and women’s games are secondary. The Commissioner of the MWBA, Tasia McKenna, said herself that “when I was playing there was an element of: you’ve finished playing because you’ve graduated and then that was it, so it was really decided for me unless I wanted to move to Europe”. Offering this chance for female basketball players to continue to play will hopefully encourage women and girls to participate in basketball, and bridge the gap between male and female sports.
As well as providing more opportunity for female athletes to play, the MWBA will also employ many women in management and coaching positions, including the new head coach of Fredericton Freeze: Leah Bowers. This is an amazing step for women in sport, as coaching positions are disproportionally given to men, even in women’s sports. McKenna has also appointed primarily women to the board, including a diversity, equity, and inclusion officer. Describing the MWBA, McKenna said “it’s a league that will offer competitive play, promote female basketball from players to coaches to officials and minor officials and beyond. It’s something I certainly wish existed when I was playing”.
JaidynC
Sport, Not Games ⚽ 