Dallas plays host to the Women's Final Four this weekend, and NCAA VP/Women’s Basketball Championships ANUCHA BROWNE is in charge of the festivities surrounding the final three games of the tourney. From clinics to panels to Tournament Town, Browne will be all over the city during what might be the busiest weekend of her year. Browne: “This is more than just three games. There’s a lot going on in and around the city of Dallas that’s about the celebration of women and women’s basketball.”
MORE THAN A GAME: Thursday we had the first of a series of what is called "Beyond The Baseline" events, and it’s really about advancing women and women’s empowerment. The first in that was a "women in leadership" luncheon. One of the things we do is connect the dots. When you consider how successful many of our coaches are and how many of the traits that are required for high level corporate positions are the same that are required by our basketball coaches. So we set panel discussions to talk about some of those similarities.
BACK TO BASKETBALL: On Sunday we’re hosting a 3-on-3 tournament. It’s the second annual 3-on-3 tournament and it’s really focused on getting back some of the more recent graduates. When I played way back when, I used to come back to the Final Four and I used to compete in the 3-on-3. So we brought that back, and it’s a great way to re-engage some of our former women’s basketball players.
BEST PART OF THE JOB: My favorite events involve anything we do with youth. Things that involve developing women is really close to my heart. It’s that whole idea of lifting while you rise, and women’s basketball for me has been so life changing. It afforded me the opportunity to go to college. This is the 36th women’s basketball championship as an NCAA sport. I had the privilege of playing in the very first tournament back in 1982. So I’ve been able to, first hand, see the growth of women’s basketball from the beginning to now. The Beyond The Baseline events are near and dear to my heart because I really want to make sure we do a good job of aligning our championship with women so that women will come together.
ESCAPING THE MADNESS: We’ve been back and forth (to Dallas) a few times so I do look forward to being able to break away and get to some of the restaurants. I’ve truly enjoyed getting to know Dallas and all that Dallas has to bring. It’s a neat city with interesting culture. So I always try to break away and get to a few of the restaurants. Other than that I’m locked down for most of the time that I’m there. So I won’t have a lot of time to play.
NEVER AN OFF DAY: Something that’s really core to me is the support and development of women. I spend a lot of my time giving back. So when I have down time, I spend a lot of that developing other people, and we need more people to do that. Service to others needs to be a central part of your life, not just something you do on the side, and so when I have down time, I try to spend as much as possible developing other people.
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