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Australian Liz Mills made history when she became the first professional basketball coach to coach a men’s team in a continental championship on the African continent.
Mills became a coach of the Kenya National Basketball Team and, in a short time, she managed to lead it to compete in the African Nations Championship “Afrobasket” for the first time in 28 years.
Mills began her African adventure in 2011 in Zambia, when she coached the Heroes team in the 2011-2012 season, and ultimately led them to the local championship.
Mills, 34, expressed pride in being a ‘pioneer’ as a coach, explaining: “I hope I can inspire women coaches, especially in Africa, to start working with men’s teams, as well as with women’s teams across the continent. “
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Mills may be the first coach to participate in the African Nations Championship for men, but she is not the first to coach a men’s team on the African continent, as Brigitte Avedhom Tonon preceded her in 2017, when she led the Benin team during qualifying. areas for the African Championship that year, which won Tunisia won the title by beating Nigeria in the final.
Mills said at this point she shouldn’t be the first woman to coach a men’s national team, and called on federations to do more to involve women and girls, adding: “I plan to open the door and to encourage as many women as possible through that door … Therefore, I hope that the next two years is to see 100 or 500 women coaches doing what I’m doing this year. “
After being an assistant coach for the Zambia and Cameroon national teams, Mills joined the Kenyan squad last January and managed to bring them back to the African Nations Championship for the first time since 1993.
The Kenyan team will begin their campaign in the continental championship hosted by the Rwandan capital, Kigali, from Tuesday to September 5, from Wednesday when they face Côte d’Ivoire in the third group competitions, which includes Nigeria and The Mali.
Two representatives of the Arabs will participate in the tournament: Tunisia, defending champion, and Egypt, which are in the same (second) group, with the Central African Republic and Guinea.
Source: “AFP”
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