Head coach of Nigeria’s women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, Rena Wakama, has expressed confidence in her squad’s readiness to defend their AfroBasket title, while also setting sights on Olympic success.
Speaking during an open training session in Abuja on Sunday, ahead of the 2025 AfroBasket Championship scheduled to take place in Ivory Coast from July 26, Wakama outlined both short-term and long-term goals for the team.
Wakama, who was appointed in June 2023, led D’Tigress to a historic fourth consecutive AfroBasket title in Rwanda and guided the team to the quarterfinals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, becoming the first female coach to achieve such milestones for the Nigerian side.
With another title in sight, she emphasized the importance of unity and mental focus within the team as they prepare for their title defense and a potential fifth championship win.
“We have a core that has been with me for a few years now. But the key right now is to connect, come together and be focused.
“Because we know going into this tournament, everyone is coming for us. It is what it is.
“We have to connect and be as tight as possible so we can withstand any obstacles that come our way.”
Wakama added, “Short-term goal is to win AfroBasket. Long-term goals, obviously, the eye is always on the Olympics. Those are the tournaments where we play on the world stage. The long-term goal is to get on the podium. Get one of those medals.”
Beyond on-court ambitions, she also expressed a desire to inspire the next generation of female basketball players in Nigeria and called for broader support from fans and stakeholders.
“Outside of sports, we want to continue to be able to empower and uplift sports and basketball in Nigeria. We need support from everybody. We need the fans.
“It’s so beautiful to have everyone here today to support us. But we need more of it.
“After these girls are gone, who’s the next generation that I’m inspiring? We need more people to support our young girls in basketball,” Wakama said.
She described the team’s mood heading into the tournament as one of excitement and determination.
“It’s excitement. No pressure. We’re going to give our all. Any team that I coach is going to play as hard as they can.
“If we give our all and we win, great. If we give our all and we lose, great — we gave our all. Maybe it wasn’t our day. But for me, we’re going to give our all in everything that we do.”
Team captain, Amy Okonkwo, also spoke with reporters, sharing the team’s excitement to compete and reconnect ahead of the continental showdown.
“I think we’re looking forward to playing against great competition in other great countries. And I think we’re excited to be back together. We have a lot of good energy. We have a lot of new faces.
“We’re just trying to compete, stay focused, and do our best as we can in these couple of days that we have to prepare to go and compete in the Ivory Coast,” she said.
Okonkwo echoed her coach’s confidence, noting the team is preparing to win but understands the challenges ahead.
“We’re preparing to win. We’re working hard. We’re working on our defense, our offense, and how we can build the best chemistry as a team in order to go and play in AfroBasket.
“I’m very confident in us, but it’s going to take hard work. Anybody can beat anybody, and we have to go in there with high heads and good confidence, and work together and win,” she concluded.