“FEEL SEEN, FEEL SAFE”
F or more than a decade, Wumi Agunbiade has been a known quantity in Canadian women’s basketball. One of the few players to get recruited to a D1 program after remaining in Canada for high school, she went on to an illustrious NCAA career at Duquesne University before going pro. Agunbiade started her professional career playing a few seasons in Romania, where she averaged 15.3 points and 7.9 rebounds in her most successful season, and helped lead Alba Lulia to the finals of the Romanian Cup. She followed up her time in Romania with stints in Italy and Germany before a knee injury ended her playing career.
A natural leader, when her playing days came to an end, Agunbiade transitioned into coaching, spending time as a junior coach with the Raptors 905 as a part of their mentee coaching program. She then worked as an assistant coach for the Guelph Nighthawks of the Canadian Elite Basketball League prior to taking on her current position as an assistant with the Queen’s University women’s basketball team.
Agunbiade always thought about assisting her players off the court, teaching through her lived experience. She knew she wanted to help women in sport, but wasn’t exactly sure how.
A few months before the pandemic, she started Hoopers Loop, a program aimed at helping female-identifying student athletes prepare for the next level. After a programming pivot during the pandemic, Agunbiade is now ready to see Hoopers Loop reach new heights. She sat down with Sportsnet to discuss the future of the organisation, her path in basketball, and the importance of Black mentors.
SPORTSNET: You grew up in Pickering, Ont. and played soccer before basketball. Do you remember your first tryout when you actually started playing ball?
AGUNBIADE: Yeah, I remember the first tryout very vividly. I went to try out for the Scarborough Lancers at the time, now known as the Scarborough Blues. I remember being extremely nervous and having no idea what to expect and going out to the tryout and all the nerves went away. After the fact, I got nothing but great feedback from everyone that was there.
I’ve heard you mention this one practice from those early days where your coach couldn’t make it, so you got to lead. You said you ran 45 minutes of three-man weave. What else can you tell me about that practice?
Honestly, I can’t remember the specific things that we did, but I was confident with that three-man weave. [Pauses] I just remember her not being able to show up because of the weather. I wanted to practise. I wanted to do something, I wanted to make use of the gym. So, I just saw it as an opportunity to make use of the gym and step in as a leader of the team. Now that I look back, it was definitely like coaching out there.
The drive to actually run a practice really showcases the coach in you. Was that always there in your identity as a player?
Yeah, in a way. Especially when it came to just understanding people and being the observer. As a player, I would oftentimes take a few steps back and take in what the dynamics are like and who needs a little bit of love, who needs to settle down a little bit. So, like, when it comes to the emotional awareness around the sport, I feel like I’ve always been that way.
How much do you think character matters in team building? Is there a constant in terms of character you’ve seen in all the successful teams you’ve been a part of?
Absolutely. Character is huge. When you have leaders that are high-character folks — meaning they’re open, they’re coachable, their effort is never a question — that can really put the team in the right direction. I think culture always wins.
Looking back on your playing career, what are some things you wish you knew growing up?
I wish I knew more about all the different opportunities within the basketball sphere, like job-wise. I wish I knew there were all these different elements to the sport outside of just coaching. Granted, I really do enjoy what I do, but it would have been interesting to see how much more I could have learned about and where my life would have taken me. And having a bit more exposure to what the NCAA was [early on]. Just more exposure to that post-secondary level, both in Canada and in the US, navigating that recruitment process.
In starting Hoopers Loop, you’ve created a space where young players can learn those exact kinds of lessons. I want to know, what were the first steps in getting that organisation off the ground, in making it real?
Going to gyms. Literally seeing athletes out there and being like, “People need to know about this kid,” taking out my phone, recording them and sharing. That’s really where HL started. The idea behind it was for it to help female-identifying student-athletes get to that post-secondary level through exposure. Honestly, one thing rolled into another, and the first kid I ever recorded for HL is now a scholar at a Division I school [Ella Take at the University of Buffalo]. And before that, no one really knew about her. That’s where it started and it took a completely different shape once March 2020 happened.
Before we get to that change, tell me about Hoopers Loop before COVID?
It only ran in-person for a few short months. It started in October [2019] as an idea, then was out and about in November/December. Then COVID hit in March, and it became an online community for female student-athletes in the sport of basketball.
And what’s it like now? Can you describe Hoopers Loop after COVID?
It was all about — No. 1, giving them a place to just be. We did some programming around them becoming a better person and learning how to navigate a kitchen and cook for themselves and fuel their bodies the right way. Building confidence and self-esteem, what does that look like. How can you show up as you are and feel confident in your own skin? It was more holistic as far as the programming [touching on more than just basketball], which is different than what it originally was.
What do you see for the organisation going forward?
I’ve taken some time to reflect, and being in the position that I’m in here [at Queen’s] as a coach within the collegiate realm, I’ve seen and learnt a lot. My M.O. for Hoopers Loop is creating more accessibility to learn how to navigate the basketball landscape. There’s a lot out there that’s being offered as far as leagues. You know there’s summer league and regular season and all these different teams — but where do you fit? What I want to do with Hoopers Loop is help student-athletes figure out where they fit and expose them to the opportunities within and outside the sport.
They say an athlete’s life starts all over again once they stop playing the sport. You’ve had the opportunity to stay in the sport but how have those conversations gone with students about life after they’re done playing?
I’ve always been one to believe you need to understand yourself. You need to be open to discovering all parts of yourself. You need to have a good level of self-awareness and self-acceptance — understanding who you are and who you’re not, and being okay with that.
When it comes to a basketball game, you prepare for it but you’re not sure what the outcome is going to be. In this first life, you don’t necessarily know where the end is, but you know that it’s coming. All that you can do is take care of where you’re at in that moment, the next thing will unravel itself and then eventually you’re hanging up your sneakers and retiring. Exiting your time as a basketball player is really a new beginning for you to continue your journey. There are some things that you certainly learn as an athlete that lend itself to life after basketball.
How familiar are your students with your game?
[Pauses to consider.] They have an idea but I don’t know if they really understand.
You’re trying to be humble. They know you were good, but they don’t know how good?
That’s exactly right. I don’t want to say it. I still believe that if I had to go on the court with any of them, I would find a way at the end of it to win. They definitely have a great respect for me. The accolades are great and all that but I don’t know how much they actually know.
What is the difference between you in coach mode and mentor mode?
Honestly, I don’t see a difference. I don’t see a difference between Mentor Wumi or Coach Wumi. At the end of it all, I want the best for that individual.
Tell me about the importance of Black mentors and coaches.
As a player, I’ve certainly had more non-Black coaches. I’ve had both Black female coaches and male coaches, and the space they were able to hold for me felt different. I felt like I could be more myself in their presence. I definitely felt more comfortable because it was familiar. Now being a coach, I think there is a lot of importance in having someone you can look to, to ask certain questions and connect on things that are ‘culturally Black.’ There’s huge value in Black leaders and Black mentors.
It’s super important to be in this role because I know how important it was for me to look at someone who resembled me in some sort of way and feel seen, feel safe. I want to be that for other people.
How do selflessness and service play into the ideology you share with your players?
When you play the game, you’re looking for the best shot. That might mean, even though you haven’t scored yet in the game, you have to give it up to get a great look. You are a part of something so much bigger on a basketball team and within life. I always view teams as a set of gears, individuals being pieces of that gear. If one of those gears, regardless of the size, is removed, the whole operation shuts down.
As far as service goes, you’re serving yourself because you’re doing something you love. You’re serving your team because you want them to do well. You’re also serving the community.
With Hoopers Loop, how do you define success?
That’s a very good question. I measure success [in terms of] those who stay within the sport of basketball — whether it’s playing at the Division I level or working as a manager at the university that they go to. Also, the ones that are coming back to mentor the younger ones. And you always have parents that tell how they felt about the program, how it impacted their lives and their child’s lives.