,,,,,Ezinne Kalu named one of the All-Second Team of the Olympics Women’s Basketball
The Head coach of Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, Rema Wkama, has been named the Best Female Basketball Coach at the Paris 2024 Olympics tournament.
“Best coach of #Paris2024 Women’s Basketball, Rene Wakama, Nigeria,” a tweet on the X handle of the International Basketball Federation announced on Sunday evening.
Also, D’Tigress’ point guard and three-time Afrobasket champion, Ezinne Kalu, was named one of the All-Second Team of the Olympics Women’s Basketball.
The latest recognition from FIBA doesn’t come as a surprise as D’Tigress were giant killers at the Paris Olympics defeating Australia and Canada to make it to the quarter-final stage at the Olympics.
The Nigerian women’s basketball team gave a good account of themselves despite exiting the Olympics with a 74-88, to the US.
The team’s head coach has received commendation for leading her team to a unforgettable run at the Olympics making them the first team from Africa male or female to qualify for the quarterfinal stage.
Wakama was born on April 11, 1992, in Raleigh, North Carolina, US. She is from a family of five, her parents — Johnson Wakama and Rosana Oba are from Okrika, Rivers State and she has two sisters, Yvonne and Mina.
She attended Wake Forest high school in North Carolina. Her love for basketball started at a tender age and was inspired by Onimisi Aiyede, her cousin, who was her partner in crime.
“We did it. Staying up all night playing video games, racing down the street head first on a skateboard, teaching me how to ride a bike, holding my hand on our walk to the bus stop on my first day of kindergarten, teaching me how to drive, installing my stereo system in my first car, kicking my behind in basketball,” she narrated on her Instagram page after Aiyede passed away in 2020.
For her tertiary education, she attended the University of Western Carolina (WSU) where she spent four years playing for ‘Catamounts’ — the institution’s female basketball team.
Wakama received a bachelor’s degree in therapeutic recreation from WSU in 2014.
She had a brief playing career which saw her join the D’Tigress fold in 2015, immediately after she left college. She accompanied D’Tigress to the 2015 Women’s Afrobasket tournament in Cameroon where Nigeria finished third.
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