The Victoria Women’s Basketball League (VWBL) is a not-for-profit organization that invites adult women from the community to play 3-on-3 half-court basketball on Sunday evenings at the gym at the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence, located at Camosun College’s Interurban campus. The league is divided into casual and competitive play to cater to differing play styles and priorities. Each four-month season costs $150 for enrolment and gear, and around 30 percent of that is donated to help local women’s basketball programs.
VWBL registration director Luc van Hanuse says that young girls often drop out of basketball between Grade 8 and Grade 10, long before they were even considering college-level sports, and this is likely because of a lack of engaging basketball programs for young girls, as well as the high cost of entry into competitive leagues. Additionally, the opportunities for women to have a successful basketball career are far less than they are for men, says van Hanuse, who also points to specific disparities in resources between men’s and women’s leagues.
“When a woman comes out of college or university really good at basketball, she gets drafted into the professional basketball league, the WNBA, and she might make $100,000. A man comes out of college or university, and if he’s good, he’s going to make $3,000,000.”
VWBL was created out of a desire to bolster and breathe new life into Victoria’s female basketball community, and to work toward earnings equity, says van Hanuse.
“That’s what inspired the league: these female athletes are really talented and they work really hard, and why shouldn’t they get equal scholarships, exposure, benefits, and perks for being good at their sport as the men do?” he says. “The whole league is just dedicated to, in our little way, showing these Grade 7,8,9 girls that their talent, dedication, and hard work counts just as much as the boys.”
Camosun general studies 2016 alumnus and current VWBL player Kelly Young says that she has noticed the drought of women’s basketball opportunities beyond middle school.
“I think I’ve noticed there’s a decent focus on women’s sports up until high school, and then it just gets smaller and smaller, there’s less leagues, there’s less people, there’s less opportunities compared to what’s out there for men,” says Young. “I think this league is very welcoming to women of all ages and abilities, so that’s awesome and really aligns with what I value.”
While controversy exists over the inclusion of transgender women in professional women’s leagues, this is not a concern in the VWBL, because the idea is to have fun first and foremost, says van Hanuse, adding that another restriction that VWBL does away with is the prohibition of religious clothing such as hijabs.
“It’s been quite nice for players to not have any barriers,” he says. “Because it’s super chill and we just play half court, we can be very flexible and accommodating, and people can play and wear whatever they feel that they need to wear to respect their own beliefs, so the great piece about it is that it’s super inclusive.”
Young says that beyond basketball, the social connections are unforgettable for her, and she appreciates VWBL for bringing the community together.
“It’s been great,” she says. “For me, it just brings me back to that time of my life which was so fun. I think pretty much all of my best friends got into my life through sport in one way or another, so I think that’s one of the biggest blessings of playing sports, is just the communities that are attached to it, and this league definitely has a strong community.”
Visit victoriawomensbasketballleague.com for details.