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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: TV Africa Girls Basketball - Gueye
HEADLINE: Africa’s Premier Basketball League Aims to Empower Women
TEASER: The camp’s goal is to eventually establish a professional women’s league
PUBLISHED AT:
BYLINE: Seydina Aba Gueye
DATELINE: Dakar, Senegal
SCRIPT EDITORS: KEnochs; Page
TRT: 2:07
VID APPROVED BY: KE
TYPE: TVPKG
((INTRO))
[[The Basketball Africa League has been around since 2019. It is part of the U.S. National Basketball Association or N-B-A and expanding basketball into Africa with its first season in 2021. A new initiative is opening the way for women players as well. Seydina Aba Gueye has this report from Dakar in this story narrated by Salem Solomon.]]
((NARRATOR))
Adama Hawa Diallo has high goals for her career. She wants to play basketball around Africa and the world. The Basketball Africa League, or BAL, has set up the ‘BAL 4Her’ initiative she says is perfect for her.
((Adama Hawa Diallo, BAL 4Her Camp Participant)) ((Female, in French))
“I have challenges. I want to win everything and that's what I've been aiming for, for a long time. To be the queen of basketball, to be champion of Africa, to travel. That's what I really want."
((NARRATOR))
BAL operations chief says the program has two goals, to teach the game to women basketball players and to raise the profile of women players.
((Aminata Dieye, Basketball Africa League Operations Chief)) ((Female, in French))
“This camp today is to provide an opportunity for the girls to have more visibility, to provide them with a little more material in terms of basketball and off the court, also, because they are going to do a basketball camp, then a seminar on nutrition and on women in sport.”
((NARRATOR))
For many of these female players, it is not about comparing them to male players but about access and opportunity, says Malian Hamchetou Maiga-Ba, a professional women's basketball player.
((Hamchetou Maiga-Ba, Professional Basketball Player)) ((Female, in French))
“We can grow together and it’s a pleasure to see these women who have opportunities, not only on a basketball court but all around because they have abilities and it’s a pleasure to see them having the opportunity to demonstrate.”
((NARRATOR))
After specific initiatives for women such as regional camps and the National Basketball Association Academy program for girls, the BAL leadership says they are looking to strengthen the place of women in sports.
((Amadou Gallo Fall, Basketball Africa League President)) ((Male, in French))
“We will continue to produce talented women and all this talent, when the time comes, will be able to compete on the continent in a professional women's league that we will continue to develop.”
((NARRATOR))
The league has plans to add more camps and create space for women in the coming years.
((For Seydina Aba Gueye in Dakar, Senegal, Salem Solomon, VOA News.))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Dakar, Senegal
BylineSeydina Aba Gueye
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English