St. Maarten senior women’s title at Her Way Curaçao Event

GREAT BAY--What began in St. Maarten as an initiative focused on creating more opportunities for girls and women through 3x3 basketball has taken another major step forward, with Her Way staging its first tournament in Curaçao and its largest event to date.

The Her Way Takes on Curaçao tournament brought together 25 teams across four age categories, 12U, 15U, 18U and Senior Women, with players representing Curaçao, St. Maarten, Anguilla and other participating small islands.

The expansion to Curaçao grew directly out of Her Way’s earlier work in St. Maarten.

In December 2025, the Women’s Basketball Association of Curaçao participated in a Her Way tournament held in St. Maarten. According to the organizers, the Curaçao delegation connected strongly with the concept and later approached Her Way founder Paul Bell about taking the initiative to Curaçao and including teams and islands that had already become part of the Her Way experience.

Nine months later, that idea became reality.

The Curaçao tournament produced four champions, with both St. Maarten and Curaçao represented among the winners.

In the Senior Women division, Team Xtreme of St. Maarten went undefeated at 4-0 to claim the championship, giving the island another strong showing in women’s 3x3 basketball. The unbeaten run also highlighted the level of competition in the senior category as Her Way continues to expand opportunities for women in the sport.

Curaçao teams captured the remaining three championships. Team Orguyoso won the 18U division, Team Mystics took the 15U title and Team Neon won the 12U category.

Beyond the tournament results, Her Way continues to place emphasis on developing a pathway that allows girls to enter basketball at a young age and progress through different age groups toward senior competition.

That development structure remains one of the central objectives of the initiative, which was created to provide girls and women with more opportunities to play, compete and build connections through 3x3 basketball.

For Bell, the move into Curaçao represents another step in broadening what began as a St. Maarten-based concept into a regional platform.

The event also created greater interaction between basketball communities across the Caribbean. Players from different islands competed against one another, while coaches, organizers and coordinators were able to develop relationships beyond the games themselves.

That regional cooperation is becoming an increasingly important part of Her Way’s direction.

The long-term vision is to establish a Caribbean pathway for women’s 3x3 basketball, providing players with more opportunities to gain international experience and eventually compete at higher levels of the discipline, including the FIBA 3x3 Women’s Series.

The growth from a St. Maarten initiative to a 25-team event in Curaçao shows how quickly the concept has developed.

For Her Way, the Curaçao tournament represented more than simply hosting an event on another island. It demonstrated that an initiative developed in St. Maarten could be embraced by another basketball community and used to create a shared regional platform for female players.

With St. Maarten’s Team Xtreme taking the Senior Women championship and Curaçao teams winning the youth categories, the weekend also reflected the broader purpose behind Her Way: building competition, development and stronger connections among girls and women playing basketball across the Caribbean.

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