🏀0️⃣1️⃣0️⃣ Paoline Ekambi
Photo courtesy of Paoline Ekambi.
Meet Paoline Ekambi, the 1993 European Vice-Champion and first French woman to play NCAA D1 basketball in 1984.
Born May 14, 1962, the Parisienne grew up surrounded by sports. Ekambi played football (soccer) with her brothers and followed the exploits of her role model, boxer and humanitarian Muhammed Ali. It wasn’t until as a 13-year old, already tall and reedy thin, that she took up basketball. Ekambi debuted that year with club Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois in the southern Parisian suburbs, a novice to the game in every way, but quickly found her stride.
Paoline’s Story
Ekambi developed a passion for the game and excelled as her skills progressed. She was part of INSEP’s first girls’ basketball sport-study class, an early predecessor to what became the Centre Fédéral du Basket-Ball (CFBB) in 1983, which enabled her to study and train with the country’s best young female players. Ekambi brought charisma, a pluckiness honed from the quartiers populaires, and helped to diversify the women’s game.
Photo courtesy of Paoline Ekambi
At INSEP, Ekambi was exposed to U.S. basketball as part of her training. Basketball officials sought to upskill their young charges in every way possible, which included bringing U.S. coaches to campus in the Bois de Vincennes to run clinics. “There was already all of that falling into place with the players,” Ekambi said of this transatlantic basketball exchange.
They also sent the team to play a series of games in the United States. “We took a beating” Ekambi recalled of the instructive experience. “[The Americans] were extremely strong, but it motivated me.” That trip whetted her appetite to play in the United States, a dream Ekambi realized when she arrived on campus at Marist College in September 1984.
It was a learning experience in every sense, from navigating a different culture to the hardcourt–for the game was different, too. The NCAA had a more physical nature and grittier emotional tenacity than its French cousin. Yet, Ekambi rapidly adjusted, integrated into the team, and mastered the smaller-sized NCAA ball.
She was motivated by many factors, including the desire to show Americans that French women knew how to play the game.
“I carried France within me. I also carried within me my dream [of playing in the United States]. I carried all of this within me, I felt I was like an ambassador.”
Ekambi proved that French women could indeed ball with the best of them. She began the 1984-85 season as a starter, excelled on court, and was named to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s First Team. She continued her track record the following season, her last with the Lady Red Foxes. But Ekambi still rules the record books. As of December 2021, she remains among Marist’s top ten all-time rebounders, with an average 6.7 rebounds per game.
The Sports Diplomacy Connection
Although Ekambi engaged in informal sports diplomacy at Marist College, she was also a formal sports diplomat as a member of Les Bleues. Her first match for the French senior team was on March 27, 1980, where she played alongside women who dominated European competition in the early 1970s, like Élisabeth Riffiod-Diaw. For the next thirteen years–254 games en bleue–Ekambi etched her name into the record books.
She was part of the team that won the 1981 European Basketball Junior Championship silver medal. Ekambi and Les Bleues also won the 1993 European Basketball Senior Championship silver medal, a feat unmatched since her elders Riffiod-Diaw, Jacky Chazalon, and teammates did so in 1970, and silver at the 1991 Mediterranean Games.
Photos: Musée du Basket
Ekambi attributes her two years with Marist College for helping her to become a better player and teammate. “American college really reinforced my technically, basketball, and vision of the game,” she said. It also helped make her a leader on-court. These were all attributes she was able to pass along to her younger Les Bleues teammates who set off to pursue their own hoops dreams in the NCAA and, eventually, the WNBA.
Above: The 1993 women’s European Basketball Championship final, France vs Spain. Left: Légendes du Basket français (FFBB).
Mapping the Connection
From Paris, France to Poughkeepsie, New York
Further Reading
[F] “1984, Paoline Ekambi ou la première française à jouer en NCAA!” Basket Retro, January 21, 2021.
[F] Richard Sengmany, “ITW Paoline Ekambi – Part 1 : « Chaque titre nous marque. On travaille dur pour les obtenir,” Basket Retro, December 17, 2014.
[E] Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff, Basketball Empire: A Hidden Story of the (W)NBA’s Globalization (in process).
How to Cite This Entry
Krasnoff, Lindsay Sarah. “Voices: Paoline Ekambi,” FranceAndUS, https://www.franceussports.com/voices/010-paoline-ekambi. (date of consultation).