“All preconceived notions limit women”

The French bull Ubbe surprisingly welcomes us when we arrived at the Gothia arena, home town of Högsbo Basket. He is eight months old and can go with Math to work. Like man like dog, they say. Alva Stark says that curiosity is one reason that, at 26, she is already where she is – another is her constant questioning.

“Why then?” That was the question she attacked her parents when she was growing up.

Why shouldn’t a girl in her 20s be able to coach a basketball team at the highest level?

Alva Stark was one herself promising player. She left Prince Daniels Ockelbo as a 15-year-old boy to start high school basketball in Norrköping and took an early spot in the league team Norrköping Dolphins. She had just come back from a leg injury when she put her knees down. At just 19 years old, she decided to end her active career, but she did not want to leave basketball.

– I have always thought that I have good leadership qualities and I have always seen myself as a leader, she says.

After having leadership positions in the Dolphins, in a regional team and in the national U15 team, she became the head coach of Östersund Basket at the age of 21. In the first year, she led the women’s team to the Ball League -basketball and in the following years to two SM semifinals.

The youngest coach in the Basketball League was also the youngest national team captain when she took charge of the Danish women’s national team last year.

The rapid career of a young and highly successful basketball coach.

After four years in Östersund, the 26-year-old has now moved to Gothenburg to take on the hard-working Högsbo. She is happy that she got the opportunity so far from having female leaders and says that she herself has never had a female coach in her playing career. Norms and preconceived notions limit girls, she believes, not only in sports.

– You don’t have to bet on the girls and give them an honest chance. They draw their own conclusions that women wouldn’t be interested in, that they don’t know as much. A guy who is seen as driven and forward makes the boys team get 18, while the girls get 10. A lot of it is about making excuses in your head. means you don’t put women in situations where they are. get to develop and understand what they can do, she says.

How often have you encountered these prejudices yourself?

She takes an art break and laughs.

– Very often. For example, you might be told that Alva might be a good leader, but how much basketball does she really know?

Alva Stark was born into a baseball family. Father Johan Stark is an elite player who became the club director of the SHL team Brynäs and became the general secretary first of the Swedish Basketball Association and later of the Ice Hockey Association. Today he is a coach in Ockelbo, where his wife Anna is the chairman and where Alva’s two younger brothers, Edvin and Viggo, play.

She says that the network that her family had access to made rapid progress on the leadership side. At the same time, she always felt that she had to prove herself when she took a seat in a new forum.

Both in Östersund and in Denmark at first some players met her with suspicion, but mostly because of her age and not because she is a girl. He disappeared. It is a challenge to manage a basketball team where the players are many times older than herself, and also to make uncomfortable decisions for someone you have played with before.

– The worst thing you can do then is try to play a new role. Then you can quickly see through. It is important to be who you are, and then you will also be trusted. I think age has been a strength for me in building relationships with my players. We have a lot in common, she says.

It’s clear that she has thought a lot about leadership – and especially women. For a time, she worked as a teacher and took leadership courses under the aegis of Brynäs.

– All women want to be seen for their knowledge and not for their gender. If I am appointed somewhere, I want it to be for my experience, not to achieve a percentage so that the employer feels that he is thinking about gender equality, she says, adding that you have to think in some contexts 50-50. to get a change.

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And she thinks she will see a change.

– During my first year in the Basketball League, I was the only woman who was the head coach, and last year it was closer to 50-50. It is clear that more clubs now want to bet on girls. I also think that the concept of leadership has taken on a new meaning compared to when I was young. A leader doesn’t have to be someone who points with all his hands, she says.

Do you feel like a beginner?

– No, I don’t know, many women have done this before me, although they may not be so young. I hope and believe that I can pave the way for other women and that I can inspire and encourage young people but also older people that you can achieve a lot in a short time while you have encouraging you and ending up in environments where you have a place.

How did it happen when you got the job in Denmark?

– The association’s sports manager called and asked if I was interested and asked me to submit an application. Then there were a lot of interviews and then they chose me. The Danish national team has been resting for a while. My mission is to build it from scratch. It feels big and smooth.

It’s a basketball game where the coach has more opportunity to change the picture of the game compared to many other ball sports. Stark is fascinated by the tactics and admits that she has something to learn here. The more she coaches, the more experience she gathers. She sees that she is not getting comfortable and constantly challenges herself as part of the learning process. That was one reason why, despite his success with Östersund, she moved to Gothenburg with her partner Anes Zekovic, who plays in the men’s team.

Högsbo have recruited six new players ahead of the season, all as a Stark campaign, and have their sights set on SM gold.

– Högsbo wants to be a winner and so do I, she says as she stands in front of an impressive collection of awards, which covers an entire wall in the hall of her home. The season has started well with three wins in the first four games.

Stark has signed a one-year contract and does not deny that she wants to coach a team abroad in the future. Another goal in the future is to coach a men’s team, which would be a new challenge. She says that there are indeed differences between the leading women’s and men’s teams, but she is not sure if they are that big. In most teams, the players want knowledge, clarity and direction.

– Ask me in six, seven years, and we’ll see if I find any differences, she says and shows the time perspective we’re talking about.