Rena Wakama (born 11 April 1992) is a Nigerian professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Nigeria Senior Women's Basketball Team and an assistant coach for the Chicago Sky.
Early life and education
Wakama was born in Raleigh, North Carolina to Johnson Wakama and Rosana Oba whom are natives of Okrika, Rivers State, Nigeria. She holds a bachelor's degree in Therapeutic Recreation from the Western Carolina University, and a master's degree in Business Administration from Manhattan College.
Career
Wakama's love for basketball was inspired by her cousin; Onimisi Aiyede at a young age.
As a player
While she was at WCU, she played for the Western Carolina Catamounts for four years. Immediately she left college, she joined the 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.
As a coach
For her first two years at Manhattan College, she served as the director of women's basketball operations, she became an assistant coach in her third year where she kept on developing talents while serving as the team's academics and community service liaison.
In 2023, she became the first female Head Coach of D’Tigress, and became the first Nigerian National Female Basketball Team coach to win the FIBA AfroBasket Women competition since it began in 1966. At the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, 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 FIBA for guiding the Nigerian team to a historic outing at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
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