Rena Wakama, D’Tigress head coach, became the first female coach to win the competition since its inception in 1966.
Wakama was born on April 11, 1992, in Raleigh, North Carolina, US. Her parents — Johnson Wakama and Rosana Oba — are natives of Okrika, Rivers state.
Wakama has two sisters, Yvonne and Mina, and 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 wrote on her Instagram page after Aiyede passed away in 2020.
After high school, Wakama proceeded to 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.
Wakama said her name was missing from Nigeria’s team roster at that competition because of a missed deadline for registration.
“FIBA has a bunch of rules, a bunch of regulations to meet, but unfortunately, when I came, I missed the deadline to get registered,” she told ThisDay in an interview.
She also represented Nigeria’s First Bank at the FIBA Africa Champions Cup for Women before transitioning into coaching.
“I knew I wanted to be a coach. I knew that was my calling; that was what I wanted to be,” she said.
“I knew that was my journey; I knew I had more impact organising a team. Even while we were in Cameroon with the girls, I just knew exactly what I wanted to do with my career; that’s my calling, that’s my passion, and I had to follow it. When God puts something in your heart, you have to follow it. I wanted to start early.”
Wakama then moved to Manhattan College and served as the director of women’s basketball operations for her first two years at the institution.
She became an assistant coach in her third year at the institution, developing talents while serving as the team’s academics and community service liaison.
The 31-year-old was handling the job when the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) came knocking. Wakama would later be named the assistant coach of the Stony Brook Seawolves women’s basketball team.
She was contacted for the role to be the new D’Tigress head coach by Musa Adamu, the team’s general manager. After several interviews and calls, she became the first female head coach of the Nigerian female basketball national team on June 30.
Shortly after Wakama was named head coach, NBBF announced open tryouts for the women’s team in Chicago, Lagos, and Abuja.
Despite a non-star studded team, Wakama led the D’Tigress to a flawless run at the Afrobasket.
Nigeria defeated the Democratic Republic of Congo in the first game before thumping Egypt to progress out of the group.
The Nigerians then overcame Mozambique in the quarter-final before thrashing Rwanda in the semis.
The victory earned Wakama her first historic milestone as the first female coach to lead a team to the Afrobasket final.
A few days later, she extended the achievement to become the first female coach to win the competition.
Without any doubt, the most intriguing part of D’Tigress’ achievement in Kigali is the technical and managerial abilities of Coach Wakama which made the victory possible.
