From 18 to 21 November 2026, OCBC Arena at The Kallang hosts the first Women’s Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Next Up camp, where 80 of the world’s top teenage female players will train under six WNBA names. If you’ve ever wondered where the next generation of the women’s game is being shaped, for four days next month the answer is a gym in Singapore.
The announcement came on 26 October 2026 from the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and Sport Singapore (SportSG). All four organisations describe it as the inaugural edition of the women’s Next Up camp. That makes Singapore the starting point for whatever this programme becomes, which is a nice bit of trivia to hold onto!
Four Days, Six Formats
According to the organisers, the campers are high-school-age prospects from around the world. They’ll move through athletic testing, movement-efficiency work, skill-development stations, 3-on-3 competitions, life-skills seminars, and full 5-on-5 games.
That list reads like a proper development programme with a scouting layer on top, rather than a meet-and-greet. Athletic testing produces numbers a player can take home and measure herself against. The 5-on-5 games are where 80 strong teenagers, all used to being the best player in their local gym, finally meet their match.
The life-skills seminars deserve more attention than they’ll probably get. A 16-year-old who suddenly has eyes on her needs help with everything that comes with that attention, and making it part of the official schedule suggests the organisers see these players as people first and prospects second.
Who Is Running the Drills
Six names lead the announcement:
- Ariel Atkins (Los Angeles Sparks): 2019 WNBA champion and FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 champion
- Jordin Canada (Atlanta Dream): two-time WNBA champion and 2021 WNBA Commissioner’s Cup champion
- Bridget Carleton (Portland Fire): 2024 WNBA Commissioner’s Cup champion and a member of Canada’s women’s national team
- Chelsea Gray (Las Vegas Aces): four-time WNBA champion and two-time FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup champion
- Brittney Griner (Connecticut Sun): 2014 WNBA champion and two-time FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup champion
- Kristi Toliver: two-time WNBA champion, former Slovakia women’s national team player, and current associate head coach of the Phoenix Mercury
If you’re counting rings, that’s a lot of jewellery for one indoor arena.
The Three Names That Matter Most
If you’re a camper, the first person to find is Chelsea Gray. Four WNBA titles plus two World Cup golds means she has won at both the league level and the international level. For players who grew up outside the American system, she’s proof that the two paths can sit together in a single career.
Kristi Toliver is the sharpest pick for a different reason. She’s the only one of the six listed in a current coaching role, as associate head coach of the Phoenix Mercury. She has also played for Slovakia’s national team, so she knows what it’s like to represent a country that isn’t one of basketball’s traditional powers. For a teenager from a smaller basketball nation, that’s the conversation worth having between drills.
Then there’s Bridget Carleton, still active with Canada’s national team. She’s the closest thing on this bench to where most of these campers want to be in a few years: wearing their country’s jersey on the international stage. Her experience is recent, it’s relevant, and it’s the most direct route these players can see from where they’re standing.
Griner, Atkins and Canada bring plenty of their own silverware, of course. But if you only get a few minutes with someone, those three are where the most useful advice lives.
Why It Matters for Singapore
Singapore isn’t often where a global basketball programme launches. Having SportSG involved as a partner puts the city on the women’s game’s international map in a way that a one-off exhibition doesn’t. For local players, coaches and parents, the inaugural women’s edition happening here is something to point to the next time someone says girls’ hoops doesn’t get a look-in.
Once the camper roster is out, this goes from an announcement to a story about real players. Look at which countries show up and how far some of these teenagers are travelling, because that’s where the true scale of this camp becomes clear.
It also shifts what feels reachable. A teenager in a Singapore school team won’t see her name on that list this year. But the camp takes place at OCBC Arena, The Kallang, and that tends to change how far ahead someone is willing to plan.
Camp Details
🗓️ Date: Wednesday, 18 November to Saturday, 21 November 2026
📍 Location: OCBC Arena, The Kallang, Singapore
🏀 Campers: 80 top female high-school-age prospects from around the world
⭐ Coaches: Ariel Atkins, Jordin Canada, Bridget Carleton, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner and Kristi Toliver, among other current and former WNBA and FIBA players and coaches
📋 Programme: Athletic testing, movement efficiency, skill-development stations, 3-on-3, life-skills seminars and 5-on-5 games
🤝 Organisers: WNBA, NBA, FIBA and Sport Singapore
📰 Camper roster: To be revealed in the coming weeks, according to the organisers
Keep watching for the roster announcement. Seeing it can be the first step!
Photos and Visuals courtesy of the NBA.
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