A female coach of a national Basketball team has caught the admiration of many as she
made her introduction during the FIBA AfroBasket 2017 Group C Qualifiers.
Coach Brigitte Affidehome Tonon
Benin may not have qualified for the FIBA AfroBasket 2017 Final Round, but the team etched its name in the sand of times due to
head coach Brigitte Affidehome Tonon.
While Tonon’s name may not be popular in basketball circles, she surely has her path clearly laid out as the first female head coach
of a men’s national team on the African continent, after making her introduction during the FIBA AfroBasket 2017 Group C
Qualifiers.
There have been cases of female coaches taking charge of men’s teams at club level and winning national titles.
But it is Tonon who no doubt has made history in coaching by this singular feat. It shouldn’t come as a surprise given that her
father, Pierre Coffi Tonon, has a rich basketball history.
He is the current Secretary General of the Federation Beninoise de Basketball (FBBB) and has been a respected technical hand in
coaching, refereeing and a FIBA match commissioner.
‘’I see them as players that I am working with and nothing more’’ – Tonon By virtue of having a parent with such an
impressive basketball CV, Tonon learnt on and off the court and has contributed immensely to her growth in the game coupled with her professional career as a
coaches’ instructor at the Benin Sports Institute in Porto Novo.
Early this month, she made a statement to announce her arrival into the exclusive world and men dominated coaching field by
leading Benin men’s team to a historic 69-61 win over Burkina Faso.
While she and her wards travelled to Abidjan for the second leg of the regional qualifier with a 1-1 record, they failed to win any
game in the Ivoirian city.
