Gloucester City Queens star Melita Emanuel-Carr has highlighted the late Andrea Boreland as one of her basketball inspirations.
Emanuel-Carr was speaking during Black History Month, which took place during October.
As a black woman, the month has plenty of meaning to the 26-year-old, who highlighted former London Lions coach Boreland as an inspiration.
“Andrea, who recently passed away, paved the way for lots of black women in the basketball industry, being the only black female coach in the BBL (British Basketball League),” said Emanuel-Carr.
“She has been a big icon for me and for the whole of British basketball.”
“100 per cent she’s an inspiration. She’s given me the motivation to keep on pushing through and the confidence to say whatever’s on my mind and to voice anything that I think is wrong. She’s been a real inspiration to me.”
Although Black History Month is now over, Emanuel-Carr is keen to ensure that people continue to remember and educate themselves on black history.
“For me, Black History Month is a time to celebrate what black people have done for England, particularly people who, like me, came in from Jamaica, especially those in the Windrush generation who helped build the new England.
“It’s been great to see the whole world come together for this month to not only stick up for black people, but also to promote equality. However, I don’t think that Black History Month should just be one month and a one off celebration, it should be every month.
“When I first joined the Great Britain team, I was one of the only black female athletes on the team, maybe there was one or two others, but now there’s a huge collection and the diversity of the management at GB level has massively changed now.
“There’s definitely been a big change in the right direction in the sport.”
