She Got Game

You probably did not know that March is recognized as Women's History Month, commemorating the vital role of women in American history. On a global level it is March 8th, "International Women's Day", when according to its definition, social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women are celebrated. It does not mention sports. And if it did, basketball would probably be pretty far down the list.

From the very beginning women's basketball has suffered unequal treatment. Inequality starts at the lower tiers and never goes away no matter how high you go. Even WNBA players, the best players in the world, are not being treated equally to their male counterparts. Stark contrasts in salaries, facilities, marketing budgets, opportunities and overall perception are proof that we still have a long way to go.

For example, did you know that many top WNBA players have part-time jobs because their league salary is not even remotely where it should be? Take Dallas Wings star Satou Sabally for example, who is also a German national player. After the WNBA season she plays for Fenerbahce Istanbul in EuroLeague giving the term full-time job a whole new meaning. Satou is literally "never not ballin'".

And just to make sure the extent of inequality in pay is understood here. The number 1 pick in the NBA Draft makes $8.3 million in his first year alone. The WNBA's top rookie contract is signed for $72.000 for the first year. Diana Taurasi is widely regarded as the best player in the WNBA, edging on GOAT status. She makes €228.094 per season. Steph Curry makes $45 million. This is not comparing Formula 1 to Curling. This is the same sport and women have been treated unfairly for far too long.

At KICKZ we are committed to elevating the standing of women's basketball and supporting women's empowerment in general. As a vehicle for this endeavor we started the SHE GOT GAME initiative three years ago.

Within this initiative we vow to use genuine female basketball players in our photo shoots. As we strive for absolute authenticity this detail is very important to us. You will not see any models in our basketball campaigns that are holding a basketball for the first time in their life. After all, we pride ourselves to be a basketball authenticator for ballers, so products should be promoted by ballers as well.

A prime example of our efforts in this regard is our girl Lia, a 24-year old baller from Göttingen. Part of our ever-growing KICKZ family, she is a creative head who likes to draw and is one of our go-to models for basketball photo-shoots.

To further encourage and support women's basketball we have also started a close partnership with the Capitol Bascats. This Düsseldorf-based team has been through an incredible journey, starting from the local district league and moving up to Germany's top division in record time.

Throughout the year we will execute multiple initiatives to keep pushing the SHE GOT GAME movement by supporting the women's game both in 5-on-5 and 3-on-3. The latter of which is now an Olympic sport and extremely popular with female ballers and we will make sure to help this development any way we can.

SHE GOT GAME. We got her.

#nevernotballin