TimesofIndia.com in Singapore: Women’s sports for years fought a battle above all others: visibility.It demanded television coverage, sponsorship, bigger crowds and, most importantly, the right to be taken seriously. And in much of the sports world, that battle has changed.The Women’s Premier League has transformed the business landscape of women’s cricket in India. The WNBA enters its 30th season with unprecedented momentum, expanding its footprint, attracting record investments and producing a new generation of global stars.Women’s football has broken attendance records, while the governing bodies in the sport continue to invest in creating stronger pathways for female athletes.The challenge today is not just to get girls to play. It’s making sure they stay.Because while leagues, sponsorships and television audiences have grown, a stubborn reality continues to cut across sports and geographies. Too many girls leave organized sports during adolescence, taking with them not only playing careers, but the opportunity to become future coaches, referees, administrators and managers.This was the conversation that unfolded in Singapore’s Tan Yeok Nee House during the NBAThe leadership panel of his playing time. In terms of building an ecosystem where girls never feel like they have to leave the game.
Lauren Jackson during NBA’s Her Time To Play panel discussion (Special Arrangements)
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 sporting world, however, is also asking the same questions.
Lauren Jackson the biggest question
And this is what made a remark from Lauren Jackson — the WNBA legend and one of the greatest players the women’s game has produced — stands out above all else.“We know the drop-offs between 13 and 16 years of age,” he said.The future of women’s sport may well depend on what happens next.Jackson has spent a lifetime proving what women can achieve in basketball.Four Olympic medals. Multiple 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 symbolic of a space for women and girls in sports,” Jackson said. “We are at a stage where there are opportunities and resources that are being put into women and girls in basketball.
The NBA’s Playing Time Initiative (Special Arrangements)
But it is important to create those spaces just for girls. It gives them a chance to enjoy the game without fear. The more we create these opportunities, the greater the impact we will have.”It’s easy to assume that the biggest challenge in women’s sport lies at the elite level. Jackson believes it starts much earlier.During a previous conversation with The Times of India, he reflected on growing up as an unusually tall teenager who often struggled with self-confidence despite extraordinary talent.“I wish I had learned as a child how to really get into my power,” he said. “I want you to learn how not to be quiet and how not to be afraid.”The lesson, she admits today, came much later than she would have liked. That thought resurfaced during the panel.“I didn’t really know my identity until much later in life,” he said. “If you invest in understanding who you are first, life becomes a little easier to navigate. No one really teaches young people to do this.”“We know the drop-offs between the ages of 13 and 16. In basketball we have begun to close this gap by offering leadership opportunities, scholarship programs, mentoring, coaching and officiating.“We see more girls staying in the sport, which is what we want. We want them to lead the sport in the future.”Some can become players. Others may never play professionally. Instead, they can become coaches, officials, teachers.The success of women’s sports, Jackson suggested, should not only be measured by the stars it produces, but also by the communities it builds.
Build more than players
This broader idea found an echo in the story of Rachel Lim.Long before she co-founded Love, Bonito into one of Southeast Asia’s most recognizable fashion brands, Lim spent ten years playing competitive netball.Looking back, she credits those years less for developing athletic ability than for building the resilience and leadership that would later define her entrepreneurial journey.“So much of sports has taught me lessons that I’ve carried into becoming an entrepreneur, a leader and a parent.”In much of Asia, he argued, parents continue to see sports and education as competing priorities. Maybe they are asking the wrong question.“Instead of asking if my daughter should spend two hours studying or two hours playing sports, maybe we should ask what she gains from that experience.”Sport teaches young people to bounce back from failure, work in teams, adapt under pressure and lead others, qualities that last longer than any sporting career.His advice to parents was disarmingly simple.“When your child comes home from sports, maybe don’t ask, ‘Did you win?’ Take instead, “What did you learn?”If Lim explained why cultures need to change, Natalie Dau focused on the individual.The Singapore-based endurance athlete, motivational speaker and Guinness World Record holder has built his reputation by pushing the limits of physical endurance. Yet he repeatedly returned to an idea that had little to do with extraordinary success.Permission.“When I hear his game, his future, the first word that comes to mind is allowed,” he 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 the NBA’s Her Time To Play (Special Arrangements)
Later, reflecting on a 1,000-mile endurance race that almost ended on opening day, Dau explained that endurance is rarely built for great moments of inspiration.“I stopped fearing failure and started using it as fuel.”As the session drew to a close, Jackson returned to the simpler message of the afternoon.“Dream,” he said. “If you have something you really want, dream it into existence. “And for all those around – raise it. Be the country.”The future of women’s sport, he 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.
The ecosystem effect
And over five days in Singapore, Jackson’s words kept coming back.The answer to the question she asked was not limited to the 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 a supporting act. It wasn’t even new.Like the boys’ tournament, it formed an integral part of the event, reinforcing the NBA’s longstanding belief that the women’s game deserves equal space in the conversation around the future of basketball.During the week, Japan’s Seika Girls’ High School displayed the discipline that has long underpinned Japanese basketball. Yangming High School in Chinese Taipei has introduced a program built on years of technical development.Australia, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore each brought different styles, reflecting different stages of basketball’s growth, but a common commitment to invest in girls’ sports.What stood out was not just the standard of basketball. It was the surrounding ecosystem.The coaches exchanged ideas after the games. The NBA’s development staff moves between the courts and classrooms. The leadership sessions were held alongside the elite competition and conversations about the officiating, coaching.Earlier in the week, David Lee, the NBA’s head of strategy for Asia and country manager for Singapore, had described the league’s ambitions in similar terms during a conversation with the Times of India.Success, he explained, was not only measured by the production of elite players, but by strengthening the entire basketball ecosystem throughout the region by bringing together schools, federations, coaches, communities and commercial partners to create sustainable pathways for the next generation.Seen through that lens, programs like Jr. NBA, Basketball Without Borders, Her Time To Play and NBA Rising Stars Invitational are not standalone initiatives.They are interconnected pieces 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 producing elite athletes.This philosophy should sound familiar to Indian sports.
What India can learn
The Women’s Premier League has shown what sustained investment can achieve in a remarkably short period. Beyond television ratings and franchise ratings, it fundamentally changed aspiration.Girls growing up in India today no longer have to imagine what a professional cricket career looks like. They can watch it unfold each season.The ripple effects extend far beyond the boundary string.Sponsors see long-term value in women’s sports. Parents who used to see cricket as a distraction are starting to see it as a legitimate career. The league didn’t just create stars; it changed perceptions.Basketball, of course, operates in a very different landscape.It lacks the cultural footprint of cricket in India and the commercial scale of the WPL. Yet the principles remain surprisingly similar.Visibility creates interest and trails create participation while communities create longevity.The evolution of the WNBA offers another reminder of that journey. Almost three decades after its launch, the league has entered one of the most significant periods in its history.Expansion franchises, landmark media rights deals and the arrival of a new generation of stars have propelled women’s basketball into mainstream sports conversations.Players like 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 a new audience.But commercial success alone does not guarantee the future. Any thriving professional league depends on an even healthier grassroots system.It may be the biggest lesson that India can take from Singapore. The Jackson ecosystem has spoken.“We’re seeing more girls staying in the sport,” she said. “We want them to lead the sport into 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 appeared in its place. Not if girls can dream. Whether the sport can build strong enough systems to ensure that they never have to give up on those dreams.