Montrealers opening up the dialogue about women in basketball

“Basketball as a whole right now women are on the forefront and you see it,” said Heather Alonzo, basketball coach and founder of Ball Her Way.

Montrealers came together to participate in a conversation about women in basketball and how to be better allies.

The conference “Ladies First: Celebrating Women of Colour in Sneaker Culture and Basketball” is hoping to break down barriers.

“We also want to make sure we exchange cultural currency. That we’re listening that we learn how to listen I think men have problems sometimes listening people don’t know the difference between listening and hearing,” said Will Strickland, founder of Full Court 21 Canada.

“Help the visibility for young women in Montreal and show that we have talent we’ve always had talent,” said Alonzo.

“I feel like it’s really important for basketball to be really known in Montreal,” said Burke. “Basketball isn’t like any other sport.”

These b-ballers hope to see an NBA and WNBA team in Montreal one day and continue the dialogue around supporting and uplifting female athletes.

“My goal is to keep creating that talent out of here. And eventually, if Toronto gets a team it would be amazing cause its right there we can travel and go support I went to the WNBA game that came to Toronto and that just goes to show how big it’s becoming and that representation at the end of the day as well right so these young women see what’s attainable now it’s not just in the states anymore. We got to get there,” said Alonzo.

“Basketball is all about imagination it’s about creativity it’s a global game, men women however you gender identify we all play the game because we love it and it really is a way for us to connect,” said Strickland.

Montreal hoopers say the city doesn’t lack skill but it lacks investment.

“We need the support, it needs funding, basketball needs funding. It’s not like hockey, hockey is a very expensive sport but it gets funding, especially in the city in the country basketball what we need is resources, what we need also is for people to give back. A big thing that I talk about is community, we have to build a community but we also got to pay coaches. We always talk about those intercity coaches giving their time but let’s pay them,” said Alonzo.

“I went to school because of basketball. Like I knew I was going to get somewhere if I stayed in school so when we foster one thing it fosters the other. And we keep supporting these young women they will also give back.”