By Kehinde Olusegun
Rena Wakama is a Nigerian professional basketball coach and former player, she is the head coach for the Nigeria Senior Women’s Basketball Team and an assistant coach at Tulane University, New Orleans. Before joining Tulane, Wakama spent a year as an Assistant Coach at Stony Brook University, New York.
Wakama was born on April 11, 1992 in Raleigh, North Carolina to Johnson Wakama and Rosana Oba whom are natives of Okrika, Riers State, Nigeria. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Therapeutic Recreation from the Western Carolina University(WCU), and a master’s degree in Busines Administration from Manhattan College.
Wakama’s love for basketball was inspired by her cousin; Onimisi Aiyede at a young age.
While she was at WCU, she played for the Western Carolina Catamounts for four years. Immediately she left college, she joined D’Tigress where she played for the team at the 2015 Women’s Afrobasket tournament in Cameroon where Nigeria finished third. She also represented Nigeria’s First Bank at the FIBA Africa Champions Cup for Women during her career as a player.
In 2017, Rena traded her jersey for a suit and became the Director of Basketball Operations at Manhattan College. She spent six seasons there. For her first two years, she served as the director of women’s basketball operations, and became an assistant coach and Recruiting Coordinator in her third year where she kept on developing talents while serving as the team’s academics and community service liaison.
Her appointment as the Nigerian women’s National Basketball coach in June 2023 was met with pessimism in the Nigerian Basketball arena, citing her limited international experience and that she was more of a bit-part player with no exceptional contribution to the national team in her playing days.
However, halfway into her two-year contract, Wakama has not only silenced her critics, she has also impressed those who agreed she deserved the chance.
She became the first Nigerian National Female Basketball Team coach to win the FIBA AfroBasket Women competition since it began in 1966, leading D’Tigress to their fourth consecutive AfroBasket title in Rwanda.
Rena Wakama named best basketball coach at Paris Olympics
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, when Nigeria was not given a chance, Wakama’s team shocked everyone when they upset Australia in their first game and gave Nigeria their first victory in the Olympics in the last 20 years. However, they had a bump when they lost to hosts, France in their second game. They bounced back when under her leadership, Nigeria’s D’Tigress became the first African team, male or female, to qualify for the quarterfinals of basketball at the Olympics after beating Canada 79-70.
She was awarded the Best Coach of the tournament by Basketball International Federation, FIBA for guiding the Nigerian team to a historic outing at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Nigeria’s women’s basketball team won everyone’s hearts and put African basketball on the map. While the players have been brilliant throughout, credit has to go to Wakama, who has completely transformed the Nigerian basketball landscape in just over a year.
Rena Wakama was an unpopular name in the basketball world but her journey from international coaching obscurity to a trailblazer is indeed an inspiration.
Her leadership has elevated Nigeria’s women’s basketball team, igniting hope and pride.
