Jeff House of Hoop HQ gives his advice for female basketball players who are seeking to play professional basketball. Quoted and edited from an email:
Playing opportunities right now to gain exposure is very important. Go to www.nwbl .com and look up the contact information for each of the teams in the league. The NWBL is getting better and better each year. The number of WNBA players staying home to play in the league has gone from 2 to over 30 in the last 3 – 4 years. Problem with any minor league is that you won’t make any money. The NWBL games start this week, and most of the teams are set. If you do have an agent, or someone who can advocate for you, I would have them call each of the NWBL teams ASAP.
Rosters for overseas teams American players are pretty much set for this season, unless a team decides to make a change. Basketball Overseas.com has a very good book with all the European info in it. That site is a better resource than I for overseas basketball contacts. Again, agents are your best bet for overseas. They all have teams that they have dealt with and can find out about player openings right away.
If you do not end up with a spot in the NWBL or overseas then start researching and planning for free agent camps. The WNBA runs a predraft camp the first weekend in April, usually, and around that same time there are other free agent camps run to allow players to gain exposure in front of WNBA personel and agents. BE CAREFUL! Some of these events are just a way for agents and other to make money! Be sure that they have commitments from WNBA and other pro basketball personel to be at the camp. Those camps will cost you money, and your travel expenses.
It is January, so time is important. Training camp invites for players in the WNBA will begin to happen soon. You don’t want to waste time on this.
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I was wondering if there’s a open tryout for players that’s not in college or playing on a pro basketball team….I did attend college and played for two years I also went to Infrosprots combine in 2004…I was ask to go overseas and play but at the time I wasn’t ready….Since then I’ve been playing on this Los Angeles team out here in Los Angeles and been trying to stay in some kind of shape….I’ve also been working as a admin assistant for this law firm in Los Angeles….So is there any open predraft tryouts for women……
Myesha – there are some camps coming up. The WBCBL league is another good league that allows a lot of exposure for women. I think you should check that out and the Basketball-Connect website for upcoming tryouts and exposure camps
I just wanted to express some feelings I had inside about these camps. It just seems like that some of these camp’s intentions are not to look for talent, but maybe for the prettiest female. I have participated in a lot of camps and played with some awesome players, but it always seem like the girl wearing the french tip nails gets more attention than the player with the braids…why is this??? Maybe it is because the majority of the camps had male decision makers I don’t know.
Also, there are some camps that are just around for the money. They can’t and don’t gt you any type of exposure and the people who run it can’t get you anywhere in any league. I wasted SO much time and money with this stuff. It’s like if you didn’t go to an NCAA D1 school you just cut your chances in half. Everyone didn’t have the freedom to go to a school like that if any school at all. And people like me wasn’t educated to know those type of schools is where I was suppose to go. I am a college graduate. I am currently in a graduate program. I think I deserve a legit chance to be where I REALLY want to be…and that is playing Womens Basketball!