FIBA Women’s Global Partner Molten have continued their successful Female Local Champions Program at the 2023 FIBA Women’s EuroBasket.

Originally rolled out at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Australia, the program saw a national search conducted to recognise the efforts of women promoting and growing female basketball participation within their local communities.

Oshra Amoyal, General Manager of Hapoel Petah Tikva Women’s Basketball Club was chosen as the Local Champion in Israel.

Amoyal was recognised for her efforts working with local schools to promote basketball to girls of all ages, providing after-school programs supported by the municipality’s Sports Department.

Amoyal believes the key to female participation is making your own leadership in local clubs.

“In our club we believe that the older players need to be a tutor to the younger players,” she said. “Every month we run an all-club activity where the players aged 16-18 escort the players aged 10-12 during practices and games.

“We also try to connect girls who live close to each other so that they come to training together.”

The program in Israel took a new approach, with Local Champion Amoyal getting the opportunity to invite two young players to the EuroBasket program with her.

Daniel Doyev and Paz Tshuva, who also play for the Hapoel Petah Tikva Basketball Club, were the lucky youth players selected.

Doyev, who plays guard in her team and loves the energy and passion she gets when playing basketball, found the experience with Molten “outstanding!”

Tshuva, who started playing basketball when she was just six-years-old described playing basketball and being on court as her happy place: “You can’t really fail in basketball; you try and try until you succeed.”

She also described the program experience with Molten as fascinating and exciting.

“I was in new areas that I hadn’t seen before and had the chance to be in the players' shoes, it made me dream about being in that place as a player in the future,” she said.

Amoyal and the two young players spent two days at EuroBasket getting a behind the scenes tour, seeing first-hand the mixed zone, the press conference room and attending games to catch all the action.

The three met with some incredible and accomplished women in basketball, including former Israel National Team Player Liad Suez, FIBA referee Viola Gyorgyi and Maj Forsberg who is not only an official FIBA referee, but also a WNBA and NCAA referee.

They also had the opportunity to see some of their idols up close and personal.

“I saw Julie Allemand from the Belgium national team live for the first time,” said Doyev. “The way she moves on the court, she is a point guard and she had 24 assists during the games – that's amazing!

“Also, Artemis Spanou from the Greece national team. I saw that she talked to all the players and it seemed that she really influenced them, she’s a leader.

When asked what they wanted to tell other young players after their experience with Molten at the FIBA EuroBasket, Tshuva said: “Dare to dream. No matter how hard and difficult the way is, it pays off in the end.”

Molten Head of Brand Marketing, Noa Hasegawa, said: “This is our second time working with FIBA to roll out the Molten Female Local Champions Program and it continues to be a huge success.”

“Molten is proud of the legacy this program is building with women in basketball internationally and we are excited to see where it can go in the future.”

Monika Puchner, Managing Director FIBA Europe Properties GmbH also praised the program, saying: “We are extremely pleased to have in our partner Molten, a company that strongly supports women in basketball.

“During the recent FIBA Women’s EuroBasket in Slovenia and Israel their Molten Female Champion program showed how valuable it is to get insights and connections to big basketball events and the people behind it.

“The program encourages young female volunteers, administrators and coaches to acquire expert knowledge and share their experience with their basketball community. Furthermore it offers them recognition for the work they do at home, in different fields of basketball.

“We hope that Molten will continue with this great initiative in other championships to give more young women the chance to get this amazing experience,” she said.

About Molten

Molten, a manufacturer of balls and sports equipment, has been making and marketing basketballs, handballs, soccer balls, and volleyballs, of uncompromising quality since 1958. Molten continues to raise global standards, supplying the official game balls and sports equipment for major leagues, teams and international tournaments around the world.
For further information, please visit https://molten.com.au/