{"id":23105,"date":"2025-11-01T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=23105"},"modified":"2025-10-31T16:38:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T15:38:24","slug":"dtigress-coach-rena-wakama-named-head-coach-of-hive-bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/01\/dtigress-coach-rena-wakama-named-head-coach-of-hive-bc\/","title":{"rendered":"D\u2019Tigress Coach Rena Wakama Named Head Coach of Hive BC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LAGOS, Nigeria (FN)<\/strong> \u2014 Rena Wakama, head coach of Nigeria\u2019s women\u2019s basketball team D\u2019Tigress, has been appointed head coach of Hive BC ahead of the club\u2019s debut in the 2026 Unrivaled League season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wakama, who became the first woman to coach Nigeria\u2019s national team in 2023, led D\u2019Tigress to back-to-back AfroBasket titles and guided them to a historic quarterfinal finish at the 2024 Paris Olympics \u2014 the first by any African women\u2019s basketball team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hive BC officials said Wakama\u2019s appointment reflects their commitment to building a competitive team and promoting global representation in women\u2019s basketball. Details of her contract and whether she will continue with D\u2019Tigress were not disclosed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Members of D\u2019Tigress celebrated the news, describing Wakama\u2019s rise as an inspiration to young athletes across Africa. Forward Amy Okonkwo said the coach\u2019s leadership had transformed the team\u2019s confidence and unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe\u2019s more than a coach to us \u2014 she\u2019s a leader who believes in every player,\u201d Okonkwo said. \u201cWe\u2019re proud to see her take this next step.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu also congratulated Wakama, calling her \u201ca symbol of excellence and determination\u201d and praising her achievements for \u201clifting the spirit of a nation through sport.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sports Minister John Owan Enoh added that Wakama\u2019s success demonstrates \u201cthe strength and potential of Nigerian women in global sports leadership,\u201d pledging continued government support for basketball development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wakama, a former player at Manhattan College in New York, began her coaching career in the United States before returning to Nigeria. She became a trailblazer in African basketball by leading the D\u2019Tigress to continental and Olympic success within her first two years in charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She joined the WNBA\u2019s Chicago Sky earlier this year as an assistant coach, expanding her international coaching experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts say her new role with Hive BC \u2014 a team built to compete in a growing women\u2019s professional league \u2014 marks a significant milestone for African representation in global basketball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRena Wakama\u2019s journey shows how far African coaches can go when given opportunity and support,\u201d said one basketball federation official. \u201cShe\u2019s opened doors for the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hive BC is expected to begin preseason preparations in early 2026, with Wakama at the helm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LAGOS, Nigeria (FN) \u2014 Rena Wakama, head coach of Nigeria\u2019s women\u2019s basketball team D\u2019Tigress, has been appointed head coach of Hive BC ahead of the club\u2019s debut in the 2026 Unrivaled League season. Wakama, who became the first woman to coach Nigeria\u2019s national team in 2023, led D\u2019Tigress to back-to-back AfroBasket titles and guided them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,3,7],"tags":[237,175,146,238,239],"class_list":["post-23105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-naija-news","category-sports","tag-african-womens-basketball-team","tag-lagos","tag-nigeria","tag-sports-minister-john-owan-enoh","tag-wnbas-chicago-sky"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DTigress-coach-Rena-Wakama-2-768x512-1.jpeg?fit=768%2C512&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23105"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23109,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23105\/revisions\/23109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}