Liz Mills, Australian coach at the heart of African basketball
Australia's Liz Mills with the Kenya team in qualifying for AfroBasket 2021 © Courtesy of FIBA
Text by: David Kalfa Follow
6 min
The Kenya men's basketball team have qualified for the African Nations Championship (AfroBasket) for the first time in 28 years.
A performance that she owes in large part to her coach, Liz Mills, Australian, who has been training on the continent for ten years.
She has become a key figure in African basketball.
Publicity
Read more
“
I challenge federations around the world to find ways to encourage and engage more young women to become coaches and to provide them with coaching opportunities.
This February 25, Liz Mills launched an appeal on social networks, three days after an exceptional feat that earned her a hell of a spotlight.
This Australian has indeed qualified the Kenyan men's basketball team, known rather modest, for its first African Nations Championship (AfroBasket) for 28 years.
A 74-73 victory for the Kenyans against the renowned Angolans guaranteed them a place at the AfroBasket 2021, scheduled from August 24 to September 5 in Rwanda.
“
It’s certainly my greatest achievement as a coach
,” Liz Mills told rfi.fr.
Since I started coaching in Africa in 2011, my goal was to lead a men's team at AfroBasket.
A decade later, this dream is a reality
”.
🚨 EPIC MOMENT 📸 @ Coach_LizMills is the 1st female coach to lead a country (Kenya 🇰🇪) to the @AfroBasket Final Round 👏🏻
She assumed the head coach role for the February 2021 #AfroBasket Qualifiers!
pic.twitter.com/BJVfWAfSAL
- FIBA (@FIBA) February 22, 2021
A fame that spreads
Liz Mills did not however seem predestined to become one of the essential figures of African basketball, she who embarked on this sport in Australia at the age of 15.
The young woman, recognizable by her long black braid and her keen gaze, recounts her discovery of the continent: “
My twin sister and I visited Africa for the first time in 2008 as part of a volunteer program.
We fell in love with the people and the culture and ended up moving to Africa in 2011. Then I started running a club team in Zambia, Heroes Play United, and we won the national championships and represented Zambia. in 2012 during the Zone V Club Championship. It was there that I first trained against Angolan teams like Petro, Agosto and Interclube.
This competition against the best clubs in Africa encouraged me to continue coaching in Africa and to participate in the development of the game there.
"
In southern Africa, Liz Mills quickly carved out a pretty reputation.
It multiplies the various experiences in Zambia, South Africa and Namibia.
Its fame progressively exceeds the borders of the sub-region.
In 2019, she qualified the Rwandan club Patriots BBC for the final phase of the Basketball Africa League, a new competition created by the NBA and the African confederation (Fiba Africa).
That year, she was also an assistant on the bench for the Cameroon men's team during World Cup qualifiers in China.
A precursor
Today, when a meeting, debate or seminar takes place around gambling in Africa, Liz Mills is rarely far away.
His opinion is authoritative, especially on men's basketball.
"
I hope that I opened the minds of federation presidents, club presidents and other decision-makers regarding the fact of appointing coaches for their teams, whether they are male or female,
" she slips modestly. .
Thank you @ yndoye35 🙏🏻🇸🇳 I've always been proud to coach in Africa & thankful to Africa, & specifically @Teammorans 🇰🇪, for giving me the opportunity to be the first female head coach of a men's team at a major @ fiba continental tournament 🌍❤️ @ FSBBOFFICIEL @Basket_Senegal pic.twitter.com/YaRhDhTyw4
- Coach Liz Mills (@Coach_LizMills) February 19, 2021
His career in Africa is all the more unusual as federations and clubs are more used to recruiting technicians from Europe and North America than from Oceania.
“
It doesn't matter where you come from in the world
, relativizes the native of Sydney.
And then Australia is now one of the powerhouses of basketball, on the side of both men and women.
We have always had a reputation for developing great players and coaches, and building great teams.
It all helps
”.
Continue in Africa
At home, on the other side of the planet, her journey has in any case ended up challenging.
“
Since Australia and Africa don't have a close connection, it created curiosity
,” she says.
It is a unique trip and therefore aroused a lot of interest
”.
However, the technician does not see herself coached elsewhere than on African soil, for the time being.
“I have been
coaching in Africa for a decade and I intend to continue coaching here for as long as possible
,” she concludes with conviction.
Africa is like home and I want to continue to develop the game here.
There is so much talent and potential here that it makes no sense for me to train elsewhere
”.
Australia's Liz Mills with the Kenya team in qualifying for AfroBasket 2021 © Courtesy of FIBA
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Basketball
Australia
Kenya
Sports