And for mum, Kim, and daughter, Athena, there’s no better time spent together than on a basketball court.
Athena is one of Great Britain’s next generation talents and has already achieved so much in her emerging career.
Just this summer, she helped guide the U16 GB team to promotion from Division B of FIBA’s U16 Women’s EuroBasket competition and lead the tournament in scoring with an average of 22.6 points-per-game, meaning she was named in the All-Tournament team.
This followed England success earlier in the year, with the shooting guard winning the 2024 Four Nations championship title, and domestically, getting it done for her old club Milton Keynes Breakers in the final of the U16 Junior Final Four competition – an MVP performance of 40 points, no less.
Last year, she was named Basketball England’s U16 National Player of the Year, so it’s no wonder that America came-a-calling and she’s now working on her game at the Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut.
Her dream: to play in the WNBA.
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The British basketball community owes its flowers to Kim for raising star Athena in the way of basketball.
Influenced by her PE teacher when she was a youngster, Kim loved the sport and admits it became a family favourite with all her sisters playing too.
Fast-forward a few years and Kim moved away to Birmingham for university. Life then got in the way of basketball – studying, working – and she stopped.
Then Athena was born and basketball made a comeback.
“Athena had tried everything: dance, drama, ballet, this and that and nothing stuck,” said Kim, who is originally from Northampton.
“I had stopped. I'd completely come away from the sport and wasn't doing anything with basketball. But I thought ‘let's see if Athena likes it’.”
“Basketball stood out to me because I’m a very competitive person,” added Athena.
“I felt like ballet and dance weren’t as competitive. I like to go against people and win, so I think that's why basketball stood out to me.”
At first, Kim encouraged her daughter with the fundamentals, creating fun drills in the back garden and these form many of Athena's early memories of the game.
“We would be looking at YouTube or Instagram videos and I started doing daily challenges with my mum. It was something I enjoyed, especially, during the pandemic. You couldn't go out, so being in the garden with my mum, dad and brother, basketball was the only thing that I enjoyed doing.”
“It was a great way for me as a mum to be able to see my daughter enjoy something, grow with something, and it just became a pinnacle part of our mum and daughter relationship,” said Kim, who was named East Midlands Coach of the Year in 2022.
From the garden, Kim saw her daughter’s potential and quick progression and so reached out to her old club Northants Basketball Club to help Athena onto the next part of her journey.
And whilst Athena played, Kim got involved with volunteering and coaching.
Eventually, the pair would even get on the court together as players, suiting up for Daventry Swifts.
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Women in Sport (WiS) is a charity dedicated to transforming sport for the benefit of every woman and girl in the UK.
Its signature campaign #TimeTogether is about pushing for mums and daughters to get active together, reminding midlife women that they have every right to put themselves first when it comes to sport or getting active and highlighting how much daughters want to get active with their mums.
According to its statistics, by the time they finish puberty, 64% of girls will have quit sport, equivalent to 1.3 million teenage girls.
Sixteen-year-old Athena’s message to her peers is that no one should stop you from enjoying sport and physical activity, whether you want to take the sport super seriously or just use it to keep fit – don’t miss out!
Through basketball, she says she’s made so many memories, met loads of her friends and travelled across the world.
“I've always wanted to play basketball. There's never been a part of my life where I've not wanted to play. When I was younger it was a hobby. Getting older and becoming more developed as a player, it’s become something that I want to have a career in and I’m not afraid to make sacrifices.
“I think that most teenage girls might stop playing because they want to focus on other things or become distracted. But you don't even have to play because you want to take it somewhere, like the WNBA. You can play for fun or just as a hobby because you enjoy it.
“I've made so many memories and met some of my best friends through basketball – travelling with my teammates across the world for England and GB. It’s a different relationship to the friends you make at school because you share something unique.”
WiS also reports that mums can be ‘reluctant to allocate time for themselves to be active’, and Kim recognises the truth in the statement, as she too had little time for herself after putting a lot of her energy into her children’s activities, driving Athena across England for her games and volunteering and coaching.
“Now Athena’s in America, I think how did I manage that? How did I not burn out?” said the 42-year-old, who works as a delivery manager for HM Courts and Tribunals Service.
“I would tell mums that whether you're involved as a parent, whether you're coaching, whether you're on the side line, whether you're playing yourself, you meet a lot of good friends outside of the day-to-day and you share an experience together. Continuing in sport gives you values and skills that grows you as a person.
“It’s an important message for mums and women of my age, that you can step away from something for such a long time. But when you go back, there's still people that will welcome you. There are people that want you to get involved.
"That drive just comes back again and it is a great feeling.”
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