A Continuous Growth in Women's Basketball: The Importance

In the past, basketball was predominantly known as a sport for men. Was

In the last few years' more and more women of all ages are playing hoops and even joining leagues such as the WNBA in the United States. And then, there are the FIBA competitions such as the FIBA Women's World Cup, and 3x3 competitions of different age brackets. 

Here in the Philippines, we have our own women's national basketball team that started out as Perlas Pilipinas before getting rebranded as Gilas Pilipinas Women's. While the team hasn't been given the same amount of exposure that is given to their counterpart in the men's team, it didn't stop them from achieving success.

Not only did the women's national team won the gold medal in the 5x5 basketball tournament during last year's SEA Games, but the 3x3 women's team also won the gold medal in the first run of the 3x3 for women's in the SEA Games which strengthed our country's status as a basketball powerhouse. However, the status of the women's basketball in the country is not yet up there. That is according to Gilas women's Head Coach Patrick Aquino. 

Curiously, Patrick Aquino is the mastermind behind the six-peat run of the National University Lady Bulldogs in the UAAP Women's Basketball Tournament. How good is the Lady Bulldogs to be exact? 96 straight wins in 6 seasons. The Lady Bulldogs are in a greater status than how Patrick Aquino first met the team in 2015 upon accepting the head coaching job. Back then, they were a cellar-dweller. It's a drastic change when you think on a UAAP scale but on a much larger scale? Not yet.

In fact, the seemingly unstoppable success of the Lady Bulldogs in the UAAP women's is nothing compared to the status of the women's national team and as Patrick Aquino pointed out, the Filipinas have yet to achieve something bigger than winning the gold in the SEA Games. They have yet to be recognized as one of the best women's teams- at least in Asia. Then again, their success during last year's SEA Games in Manila has already rung bells that the Philippines has a competitive women's national team who won't back down against anybody. The 5x5 women's team won their games by an average margin of 11 points including a 20-point win against Thailand. But, they need to grow more as a team.

And that's exactly what Patrick Aquino wanted to happen for the women's national team.  A continuous growth that will allow the team not to only win more games but most importantly, they will grow to become a women's team we will proud to call ours. After all, there's more to basketball than the final score.

Photo is from SPIN.ph