FIBA's Adelante program comes to Mexico during Women's AmeriCup

LEON (Mexico) – Nine participants successfully graduated from the ADELANTE 2.0 program, developed by FIBA's Regional Office in the Americas, and celebrated women in basketball at the site of the 2023 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup.

Developed in May of 2020 as a six-week virtual program, ADELANTE was designed to identify, educate, motivate, develop and unleash the next generation of female leaders in the Americas. Aiding in the development of the program were the two most senior female representatives of Americas in FIBA, first-ever woman FIBA Americas President Carol Callan and Central Board member Michele O'Keefe.

A second edition of the program was announced in 2022 after the intial success of the program promoting women in basketball.

“Following another successful ADELANTE program in 2022-2023, the 2.0 graduates gathered in Leon, Mexico during the women’s AmeriCup to celebrate the successes of the projects implemented in conjunction with National Federation needs. The scope of projects and the determination of the graduates continue to strengthen women’s basketball and leadership skills throughout our region. Thanks to ADEMEBA for conducting the women’s conference, an outgrowth of Adelante,” said honorary FIBA Americas president Carol Callan.

The nine graduates were Michelle Gonzalez (Puerto Rico), Johanna Jaimes (Venezuela), Martha Restrepo (Colombia), Maria Roman (Ecuador), Gertrude Soesman (Suriname), Sherida Gemin (Suriname), Melissa Vega (Costa Rica), Darinka Correa (Mexico) and Karina Ojeda (Mexico).

Many of the participants work with FIBA national teams in the Americas already, with Gonzalez most recently helped coach the Puerto Rico U16 Women’s side to a fourth-place finish at the FIBA U16 Women’s Americas Championships, which included a bid to the FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup 2024.

Detailing a few other positions, Jaimes is the Director of International Relations for the Federación Venezolana de Baloncesto, Gemin is the coach of the Ballers Club Wanica, Vegas is the Secretary General of the Federación Costarricense de Baloncesto Aficionado, Correa is the commissioner of México IMPULSA and Ojeda is an assistant coach for Mexico who was also at the FIBA U16 Women’s Americas Championships.

Participants discussed their projects, successes, and challenges and attended the first Women’s International Conference which was led by the Federación Mexicana de Baloncesto.

One of FIBA’s strategic pillars for the 2019-2023 cycle is to develop and grow the participation of women in basketball, including developing future female basketball administrators and increasing gender diversity in FIBA and national federations.

FIBA’s European Regional Office has even built programming off of the success of the ADELANTE program, developing WiLEAD to identify, educate, motivate and develop the next generation of female leaders in management and administration, and creating new pathways and a support network.

ADELANTE puts qualified women in the pipeline so that when FIBA and/or a national federation looks for new staff or a volunteer leader, they will have numerous qualified choices from both genders.

Women like Cynthia Marshall, CEO of the Dallas Mavericks, have been part of the ADELANTE program since it’s inception three years ago to help provide insight and inspiration to other women in basketball.

FIBA