TimesofIndia.com in Singapore: For years, women’s sports have fought one battle above all else: visibility.It required television coverage, sponsorship, a larger audience and, most importantly, the right to be taken seriously. And in much of the sports world, that struggle has changed.The Women’s Premier League has transformed the commercial landscape of women’s cricket in India. The WNBA enters its 30th season with unprecedented momentum, expanding its footprint, attracting record investment and creating a new generation of world stars.Women’s football has broken attendance records, while governing bodies across all sports continue to invest in creating stronger pathways for female athletes.The challenge today is not just to get the girls to play. It ensures their stay.Because while leagues, sponsorships and television audiences have grown, one stubborn reality continues to cut across sports and geographies. Too many girls leave organized sports during their teenage years, taking with them not only playing careers, but the opportunity to become future coaches, referees, administrators and leaders.That was the conversation that took place in Tan Yeok Nee’s Singapore home during NBAHer playtime is a leaderboard. About how to build an ecosystem where girls never feel like they have to leave the game.
Lauren Jackson during the NBA panel discussion Her Time To Play (Special Deals)
It wasn’t a new conversation for the NBA. Neither the girls’ competition at the NBA Rising Stars Invitational nor initiatives like Her Time To Play represent a change in philosophy.The league has spent decades investing in women’s basketball, grassroots programs and leadership pathways.The rest of the sports world, however, is also asking the same questions.
Lauren Jackson is a bigger question
And that’s what prompted a remark from Laurene Jackson – a WNBA legend and one of the greatest players the women’s game has produced – stood out above all else.“We know dropouts between the ages of 13 and 16,” she said.The future of women’s sports could depend on what happens next.Jackson has spent her entire life proving what women can achieve in basketball.Four Olympic medals. More WNBA championships. Three WNBA Most Valuable Player awards. A Hall of Fame career that helped shape an entire generation’s understanding of women’s basketball.“I think her game, her future is emblematic of the space for women and girls in sports,” Jackson said. “We are at a stage where there are opportunities and resources that are invested in girls and women in basketball.
NBA initiative Her time to play (special deals)
But it is important to create these spaces just for girls. This gives them a chance to enjoy the game without fear. The more we create those opportunities, the more impact we will have.”It is easy to assume that the biggest challenge in women’s sport lies at the elite level. Jackson believes it starts much earlier.During an earlier interview with the Times of India, she reflected on growing up as an awkward, unusually tall teenager who often struggled with self-confidence despite her exceptional talent.“I wish I had learned as a child how to really use my power,” she said. “I wish I had learned how not to be silent and how not to be afraid.”The lesson, she admits today, came much later than she would have liked. That thought came up again during the panel.“I didn’t really know my identity until much later in life,” she said. “If you invest early in understanding who you are, life becomes a little easier to navigate. Nobody really teaches young people that.”“We know the dropout between the ages of 13 and 16. In basketball, we’ve begun to close that gap by offering leadership opportunities, scholarship programs, mentoring, coaching and refereeing.“We’re seeing more aspiring girls in sports, which is what we want. We want them to lead the sport in the future.”Some may become players. Others may never play professionally at all. Instead, they can become coaches, officials, teachers.The success of women’s sports, Jackson said, should not only be measured by the stars it creates, but also by the communities it builds.
Building more than players
That broader idea resonated in Rachel Lim’s story.Long before co-founding Love, Bonito into one of Southeast Asia’s most recognized fashion brands, Lim spent ten years playing competitive netball.Looking back, she credits those years less for developing athletic ability than for shaping the resilience and leadership that would later define her entrepreneurial journey.“Sports have taught me so many lessons that I have carried over to becoming an entrepreneur, leader and parent,”Across much of Asia, she argues, parents still see sports and education as competing priorities. Maybe they’re asking the wrong question.“Instead of asking if my daughter should spend two hours studying or two hours playing sports, maybe we should be asking what she’s getting out of that experience.”Sports teach young people how to bounce back from failure, work within teams, adapt under pressure and lead others, qualities that last longer than any sporting career.Her advice to parents was disarmingly simple.“When your child comes home from sports, maybe don’t ask him, ‘Did you win?’ Instead, ask, ‘What did you learn?'”When Lim explained why cultures must change, Natalie Dau focused on the individual.The Singaporean endurance athlete, motivational speaker and Guinness World Record holder has built her reputation by pushing the limits of physical endurance. However, she kept coming back to an idea that had little to do with an extraordinary achievement.Permission.“When I hear Her Game, Her Future, the first word that comes to mind is permission,” she said.“We spend so much time waiting for someone to give us permission to move forward. But you already have that choice.”
Lauren Jackson on NBA Her Time To Play (Special Arrangements)
Later, reflecting on the 1,000-kilometer endurance race that nearly ended on opening day, Dau explained that resilience is rarely built through great moments of inspiration.“I stopped being afraid of failure and started using it as fuel.”As the session drew to a close, Jackson returned to the simplest message of the afternoon.“Dream,” she said. “If you have something you really want, dream that it exists. “And for everyone around her – lift her up. Be a village.”The future of women’s sport, she seemed to suggest, will not be built by extraordinary individuals alone. It will be built by communities that ensure ordinary girls never stop believing they belong.
Ecosystem effect
And over five days in Singapore, Jackson’s words continued to surface.The answer to the question she asked was not limited to discussion. It was played all week at the OCBC Arena, where some of the best school teams from across the Asia-Pacific region competed in the NBA Rising Stars Invitational.The girls’ competition was never treated as secondary. It wasn’t new either.Like the boys’ tournament, it formed an integral part of the event, reinforcing the NBA’s longstanding belief that the women’s game deserves an equal place in the conversation about the future of basketball.Throughout the week, Japan’s Seika Girls’ High School displayed the discipline that has long been the foundation of Japanese basketball. Yangming High School in Chinese Taipei unveiled a program built on years of technical development.Australia, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore brought different styles, reflecting different stages of basketball’s growth but a shared commitment to investing in women’s sports.What stood out was not only the standard of basketball. It was the ecosystem that surrounded him.Coaches exchange ideas after games. NBA development staff moved between the court and classrooms. Managers’ meetings were held along with elite competition and discussions about judging and training.Earlier this week, David Lee, the NBA’s head of strategy for Asia and country head for Singapore, described the league’s ambitions in similar terms during a conversation with the Times of India.Success, he explained, was measured not only by producing elite players, but by strengthening the entire basketball ecosystem across the region by bringing together schools, associations, coaches, communities and commercial partners to create sustainable pathways for the next generation.Seen through that prism, programs like Jr. The NBA, Basketball Without Borders, Her Time To Play and the NBA Rising Stars Invitational are not independent initiatives.They are interconnected parts of a long-term strategy the league has pursued for years, one that recognizes the future of the sport depends as much on participation and retention as it does on creating elite athletes.That philosophy should sound familiar to Indian sports.
What India can learn
The Women’s Premier League has shown what sustainable investment can achieve in an extremely short period of time. In addition to television ratings and franchise valuations, he fundamentally changed aspirations.Young girls growing up in India today no longer have to imagine what a professional cricket career looks like. I can watch it unfold every season.Ripple effects extend far beyond the boundary rope.Sponsors see long-term value in women’s sports. Parents who once considered cricket a distraction are beginning to see it as a legitimate career. The league didn’t just create stars; he changed perceptions.Basketball, however, operates in a completely different environment.It lacks the cultural footprint of cricket in India and the commercial scale of the WPL. Yet the principles remain strikingly similar.Visibility creates interest, pathways create participation, while communities create longevity.The evolution of the WNBA offers another reminder of that journey. Nearly three decades after its launch, the league has entered one of the most significant periods in its history.The expansion of franchises, significant media rights deals and the arrival of a new generation of stars have brought women’s basketball into the mainstream sports conversation.Players such as A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers have become more than elite athletes; They are cultural figures who have broadened the league’s appeal and inspired new audiences.But commercial success alone does not guarantee the future. Any successful professional league depends on an even healthier base system.That might be the biggest lesson India can take from Singapore. The ecosystem Jackson was talking about.“We are seeing more and more girls who want to play sports,” she said. “We want them to lead the sport in the future.”The fight for visibility is far from over, especially in many parts of the world. But where that battle began to change, another emerged in its place. Can’t girls dream. Can sport build systems strong enough to ensure they never have to give up on their dreams.
