GOLD COAST (Australia) - Across Oceania, the 2026 FIBA Women in Basketball LEAD Program supported by PacificAus Sports brought together 11 women leaders from eight National Federations in Oceania for five days of learning, connection, and purpose.
For many, it was the first time they had been in a room full of women who shared the same challenges, the same ambitions, and the same determination to create space for girls in basketball.
Aligned with the global FIBA strategic priority of Women in Basketball, the workshop on the Gold Coast, provided participants with the opportunity to explore leadership, communication, governance, safeguarding, and community impact, building a regional network of women who are ready to step forward and shape the future of female leaders in basketball.
Among them was Solomon Islander coach and national player Winnie Laora, whose journey captured the spirit of the workshop: grounded in community, driven by passion, and fuelled by a desire to open doors for the next generation.
Winnie carries the Solomon Islands with her everywhere she goes, from the Reef Islands where she grew up, to the national team jersey she proudly debuted at the FIBA Women’s Melanesian Cup, to the leadership circles she now steps into with growing confidence. Her journey is stitched together by commitment, courage, and a deep belief that basketball can open doors for girls who have never been told they belong on the court.
Joining the 2026 Women in Basketball LEAD cohort is a milestone she still describes with a mix of disbelief and gratitude. “I never thought I’d end up with an opportunity like being part of this program,” she said, reflecting on the path that brought her from community courts to a regional leadership workshop.
Over several days of intense learning, she found herself surrounded by Pacific women who shared her challenges, her hopes, and her determination to create space for girls in basketball.
“Most of the sisters in the region, we share a lot of things in common,” she said. “It’s a new thing for me to learn to improve myself and the project I will roll out in country.”
For Winnie, the workshop was more than professional development, it was a mirror. It showed her how far she had come, and how much further she could go.
“I see myself outside where I usually do my thing in basketball,” Winnie said. “I just do the thing back home, but you guys are watching me. I’ve learned that I need to work on myself to improve my coaching.”
The program helped her find her voice, not just as a coach, but as a leader.
You can have the words in the back of your mind, but to say it out, you must be confident. This program has helped me take a step forward with my confidence.
That confidence has been building for years. Winnie is a Basketball For Good Coach with the Solomon Islands Basketball Federation, delivering Hoops for Equality programs that use sport to teach life skills and create safe spaces for young people.
She speaks about the responsibility she feels toward the “smaller athletes” the ones who sit quietly on the side-lines, unsure if they belong. “If you’re not sure how to get in, you need to seek help,” she said. “I’m here and I’m willing to help anyone or any female at the side of the court or back at the bench. To be in this role is not just being a leader but being a player who inspires others.”
Her own inspiration comes from home, her mother, her sisters in sport, and now her two daughters, who she hopes will grow up in a basketball environment where girls lead as confidently as boys. Changing that environment is one of her biggest motivations.
“We need to ask the boys to understand that there’s a space where girls need to be involved in basketball, not just playing, but in leadership roles too,” she said. “In our Melanesian culture, boys lead, girls follow. But if we ask them to understand what we’re trying to do, we will work together.”
Winnie’s leadership journey accelerated earlier this year when she participated in the FIBA WABC Level 1 Coaching Program, strengthening her technical knowledge and giving her new tools to support players in her community. Combined with her national team experience and her ongoing work in Basketball For Good, she now sees all the pieces of her identity coming together.
Basketball is paving the way and it’s about your commitment and how you deliver the roles that you are engaged with.
Winnie credits her federation, her club coach, and the people who believed in her long before she believed in herself. She remembers the early days, the mistakes, the long hours, the moments she wondered if she was the right person for the job. “I made mistakes, but I keep on going, I never backed down,” she said. “Maybe it’s through my commitment. If there’s no commitment from us, even though we got a paper as a coach from FIBA, and then we didn’t roll out the work, there’s no progress.”
Progress is exactly what she is creating for herself, for her daughters, and for the next generation of Solomon Islander girls who will grow up seeing women like Winnie leading from the front.
She hopes they will dream boldly, ask questions, and seek help when they need it. It’s the advice she would give to her younger self. “You need to focus on what you’re passionate about, and dream on it, work on it, and go for it,” she said. “Don’t keep it to yourself. Seek help if you are confused. Go to someone that will help you.”
Winnie Laora is many things, a national player, a Basketball For Good Coach, an aspiring national coach, and now a Women in Basketball LEAD participant stepping into her leadership with purpose. But above all, she is a woman who refuses to let the next generation grow up believing that leadership belongs to someone else. She is paving the way, one training session, one workshop, one young girl at a time.
And her journey is exactly why the FIBA Women in Basketball LEAD Program supported by PacificAus Sports exists, to elevate women like Winnie, to amplify their impact, and to ensure that across Oceania, women are visible, valued, and leading the future of the game.
FIBA
About PacificAus Sports
PacificAus Sports is an Australian Government sports diplomacy initiative developing pathways for Pacific teams and athletes to compete in elite competitions and access high performance coaching in Australia and internationally. The program supports a range of Pacific sports, including basketball, rugby league, rugby union, netball, football, AFL, cricket and Olympic/Paralympic sports, with funding split evenly between women and men.
PacificAus Sports also partners with the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) to promote Pacific sport through ABC Television’s ‘That Pacific Sports Show’ and ABC Radio’s ‘Fresh Off the Field’. The high-performance outcomes of PacificAus Sports are complemented by the Australian Government’s Team Up program, which focuses on sport for development in the Pacific. For more information about PacificAus Sports and its initiatives, visit www.pacificaussports.gov.au and follow PacificAus Sports on Facebook.