Travilla Awarded Inaugural Media Scholarship

GOLD COAST (Australia) – Northern Mariana Islands national women’s player, and up-and-coming social media content coordinator, Kaia Travilla has been announced as the FIBA and ABC International Development Program - Women in News and Sport (WINS) social media scholarship recipient following the conclusion of the eight-week program.

“It feels really great to be receiving this scholarship,” said Kaia Travilla from Northern Mariana Islands Basketball Federation (NMIBF).  “The biggest highlights I have taken would be how social media is able to have bonds with its fans and give them an experience of being in the sports community.”

The program provided participating federations with the tools and resources to create engaging content, analyse their social media presence, and connect with their audiences more effectively.  Aligning with two vital pillars in the FIBA Strategic Plan, Empowering National Federations and Women in Basketball.

“As part of the NMIBF, I was able to create content that provided engagement through basketball. I learned a lot through the program and with this opportunity, I’m able to take what I learned and apply it, as well as gain more experience in the world of sports and media,” Ms Travilla said.  “What this means for the NMI community, and not just necessarily the sport of basketball, is that we will be able to promote more of NMI sports and highlight our athletes in a bigger way.”

Northern Mariana Islands Basketball Federation President, James Lee, said that this opportunity has leveraged the social media presence of NMI to new heights.  “Our objective is to grow the sport and with modern day technology, we knew the best way to get the message out and grow the popularity is through social media, and this course provided a great opportunity,” Mr Lee said.   “We needed someone to take part in the course and lead our socials that had a passion for basketball and also knew how to connect with the audience, Kaia was perfect for the job.”

Located in the western Pacific, the Northern Mariana Islands are north of Guam with 14 islands making up the Commonwealth country. 

“Aside from basketball, one of the things we have always emphasized is to provide opportunities to our athletes on island so that they can see that there is more than just where they’re at especially living at an isolated location such as ours,” Mr Lee said.  “This opportunity that FIBA and ABC International has given Kaia is great news for her as well as our NMI.”

Travilla will travel to Australia for a FIBA event later this year to be mentored and immersed in media operations, including social media content curation.

## About WINS

The Women in Sports (WINS) program includes mentoring participants through sports coverage and seeks to promote women in sport from elite to community levels and amplify women’s voices in sports coverage, inspiring women across the Pacific, and Asia to get involved in sports media.

WINS is coordinated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's International Development Unit (ABCID) and is supported by the Australian Government through the Team Up program and builds on two previous phases since WINS began in 2016.