inaugural Her Hoops Albany girls holiday program well supported by young female basketball players

The inaugural Her Hoops Albany girls holiday program was well supported by 36 enthusiastic young female basketball players across two days at Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre last week. Her Hoops is a girls basketball program coached entirely by professional women’s players and provides pathways for girls through sport and basketball. The Albany holiday program was the first regional camp since the program held its first session in October last year and participants completed two four-hour sessions. Makailah Dyer is a professional American basketballer who came to Australia after college to play with Perth Redbacks in the State Basketball League in 2018 before moving to Southwest Slammers last season. Dyer is the founder and coaching director of the Her Hoops program and was joined in Albany by Mikayla Pirini, Jess Jakens and Leanne Snyder. Pirini earned a silver medal at the Australia Youth Olympics 3x3 tournament in 2013 and a gold medal at the Under-19 FIBA Oceania Championship while also helping Joondalup Wolves win the grand final of the 2020 West Coast Classic, the tournament that replaced the SBL this year due to COVID-19. Jakens has played nine seasons for the Perth Redbacks while Snyder is an American strength and conditioning coach. Dyer said it was fantastic to see such a great turnout for their first regional camp. “It was amazing to have so many girls, this is our first regional camp ever so you could just tell the girls were so appreciative and so enthusiastic,” she said. “We made it happen and it was a really successful camp, basically all we want to do is create pathways for girls through sport and especially basketball. “We also just want to provide them with leaders and mentors.” Infernos Basketball Club president Karl Kirby took his daughter to Perth last year for the first camp and played an instrumental role in getting Her Hoops to visit the region along with the support of the Albany Basketball Association. “I took Lily up to Perth and she experienced the camp and it was great,” Kirby said. “I had the idea to bring it down to Albany and (Makailah) got in contact and we put it to the ABA and put it out to the girls so it was a real team effort.” The girls were split into two groups and participated in shooting, ball handling, lay-up, defensive and agility skills throughout their morning session before having shooting competitions and 3x3 and 5x5 games in the afternoon. Dyer said they hope to make the Albany program a yearly event.