Zena Alkarain: Jordan's future star living up to lofty billing

AMMAN (Jordan) - Lofty is the billing on Zena Alkarain.

"She is one of the biggest prospects for Jordanian basketball," offered Jordan women's U16 team head coach Francisco Garcia Alvarez. "She must keep improving in her skills and game reads, but she has the [characteristics] to be a professional player for years - even playing abroad."

Such high praise could be warranted by looking at the FIBA U16 Women's Asian Championship 2023 alone. There, the 16-year-old guard is one of Division B's leading scorers with 19.8 points, on top of 6.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.0 steals for an efficiency rating of 15.5.

It is an enormous leap from her numbers in the previous U16 competitions also held in the Jordanian capital last year. Only 15 then, she barely averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds, although she managed to post 2.5 assists in 9.0 minutes of play across the 4 games they played.

"Last year probably because she was younger and had a different role on the team, she did not show up too much," the Spanish bench tactician opined.

But that improvement surprised no one in the program, particularly Alvarez.

He already knew what Alkarain can bring to the table the moment he saw her performances via player tapes, which he asked for upon assuming the team's head coaching position.

"When I signed up with Jordan, I asked for videos of the U16 domestic league," he recalled. "And there, I found her. She has great athletic conditions and for her position, she has good size. Her quickness and finishes called my attention immediately."

For Alkarain, experience is a big part of her growth.

"I got experience and I came in ready and excited since it wasn’t my first time," she said. "It felt good and more comfortable since I could prepare my teammates for what’s coming."

Along with that maturity she's had inevitably came the responsibility to become a leader of her team, which Zena was able to embrace easily thanks to the support around her

"I get the confidence from the coaches, staff, and my teammates who trust me, and from the love and support from my family and the crowd," she said. "It's a big responsibility, but it comes easy when you have helpful teammates that support you through it all."

With her leading the way, the Jordan U16 women's team reached new heights.

Alkarain and her batch finished fifth in Division B of the 2023 edition, the program's best finish since the competition adopted the promotion-relegation format in 2017.

Jordan didn't win a single game in last year's tilt. Fast forward to the present and they won two none bigger, of course, than their 62-56 escape against Singapore in the classification phase to secure the fifth place. They ended the tournament with an overall record of 2-2.

They may not have attained the goal of earning the promotion to Division A but the present batch definitely showed that there are plenty of reasons to be excited about moving forward.

For Alkarain, it's a major step towards building the kind of future the team would want to see in the coming years - a future in which she will definitely be a big part of.

"By winning a game for the first time, everybody’s self-esteem boosted," she said. "It gives us more energy to keep going and get a better ranking, which will come in handy for the next years."

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