As part of the WNBA’s Player Marketing Agreement (PMA), Seattle Storm superstar Jewell Loyd took her talent and leadership skills to Africa to immerse herself in the Basketball Africa League (BAL).
Entering its fourth season this year, the BAL—in partnership with the NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA)—is a professional league that features the top 12 teams in Africa. From March to June, teams compete in 48 games across Africa, including in Pretoria, South Africa; Cairo, Egypt; Dakar, Senegal; and Kigali, Rwanda. This is the first time the BAL will be competing in South Africa and across four different countries.
Loyd shared that she’d long desired to visit Africa and experience the BAL competition with the WNBA, and this March the opportunity and timing finally aligned.
“I’ve always had interest to come over [to Africa], I just never had the time [because I was]playing overseas,” Loyd told Winsidr. “I want to have a part in the success of African basketball… there was a need and I always wanted to get here and be part of it.”
Loyd is one of six WNBA players that were chosen for the 2024 PMA, serving as brand ambassadors across multiple platforms and events. The league allocates approximately one million dollars annually to the program, which helps to increase the WNBA’s business viability and make players household names. These PMA athletes are visible at events and activations throughout the offseason, such as at the league’s WNBA Draft activation last month at NBA All-Star, helping to raise the league’s profile and keep the conversation buzzing even when players aren’t on the court.
During Loyd’s trip to attend the BAL, she immersed herself in the [African] community and culture, participated in special events, and observed the first few days of games.
“The people here have been fantastic, super welcoming and warm,” said Loyd. “It’s definitely a different level of appreciation of athletes and sports, and I wanted to be a part of it and [help to]grow it. There’s so many people here who just love the game.”
In addition to the games, the BAL hosted a series of events leading up to the season’s tip-off that included fan activities and basketball clinics, a celebrity game, and a Special Olympics partnership. Among the myriad of programs, Loyd hosted two events of her own: the “Her Time to Play” clinic and the “BAL4HER” workshop.
Her Time to Play focused on inspiring the next generation of hoopers in young girls and women and increasing opportunities in coaching and athletic leadership for women, and more than 200 young ladies pulled up to learn from the five-time WNBA All-Star. The BAL4HER workshop is a program that celebrates women in sports, offers role models to young women across Africa, and advances gender equity in the African sports ecosystem. For this year’s workshop, 25 young girls were selected to travel to the NBA Africa headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, and learn from female sports professionals, including Jewell Loyd.
“𝘽𝙚 𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙘 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧…”
Echoing the timeless wisdom of the late Kobe Bryant, Jewell Loyd shares these powerful words with 25 U23 female athletes during #BAL4HER, in honor of #InternationalWomensDay. pic.twitter.com/xZtsgv34qQ— Basketball Africa League (@theBAL) March 8, 2024
“Women have not always been at the forefront of playing sports, and it’s a cultural thing,” Loyd said. “But the women we have now playing in high school and college, they want to succeed.”
Loyd’s interest in the BAL runs deeper than just basketball. There’s a prevalent gender gap in sports, which hinders or deters young girls and women altogether from participating. Loyd is ready and committed to putting resources and time into developing young female athletes, both inside and outside of the United States.
“The thing [young girls]ask is, how can I learn more information? Where can I learn this? How can I learn this? That’s how you close the gap, by having clinics, camps, and people from the league like professional athletes come back and allow [young girls]to learn how we learned.”
To Loyd, this is an opportunity to inspire the next generation, just as she had been inspired to pick up a basketball by those who had come before her. “At the end of the day, I’m only going to be in the WNBA because someone opened the door for me. And I understand that I can do that here [in Africa].”
Loyd is looking to be that next force in developing the women’s game. Visiting the BAL and hosting clinics and workshops gave her just the momentum she needed.
“Hopefully there is a WBAL [in the future], where we’re able to start the grassroots and grow the development process and grow that league,” Loyd said. “To me, this was an opportunity for me to get to know who I need to, and then come back and have something of my own.”
When asked if the WNBA could have a refinement league for its players, Loyd agreed there’s opportunity present, but she wasn’t going to wait around for the league to make it happen. She plans on creating opportunities to advance hoopers herself.
“For me, I will definitely have something in the next couple of years.”
During Loyd’s BAL4HER presentation, she highlighted a phrase she learned from her departed mentor, Kobe Bryant: “Be epic and create forever.” While she has endeavored to emulate Bryant’s teachings, Loyd has found strength in having her own identity and operating in what works best for her. Through this, she created her own definitions of being epic and creating forever by wanting to build generational wealth, give back to the community through hosting basketball camps, and teach financial literacy.
“It’s super important for me that I give all the information I’ve learned,” Loyd said. “I have to give that back to people who can do something with it.”
From observing the BAL games to influencing the next generation of young girls in sports, Jewell Loyd’s trip to Africa resonated with her core values and future aspirations. She offered mentorship, furthered her creativity on a developmental league, and shared her knowledge and resources with young girls and women who were hungry to learn, all while absorbing a new environment she’s long desired to experience.
As Loyd poured into others, they also poured into her.
“It was really cool to come here and see the culture of song and dance,” Loyd said. “For me, music has been so impactful in my life, so to see how it was so integrated… It was phenomenal to see. I think sports, music, and art, they don’t discriminate at all. Seeing those three things all in one core was pretty amazing. Whether we were at the clinic, or everyone’s singing goodbye songs, or warming up before a game clapping and dancing, it was just beautiful.”
