PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Hamchetou Maiga-Ba, with clipboard in hand, is venturing back into the game of basketball.
She's an assistant coach with the Norfolk Sports Club during this year's Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.
Maiga-Ba was a fan favorite during her days at Old Dominion University, where she was the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year in 2001 and was also a part of a Monarch squad that went to the Elite 8 of the NCAA tournament in 2002.
She'd get selected in the 2nd round of the WNBA Draft by Sacramento that season and three years later teamed up with fellow ODU great Ticha Penichiero to capture a title three years later.
She admits she's got the coaching bug.
"Basketball is something that I love", she says. "I was still involved with the basketball camps that I did through my foundation, but still, this is different."
Maiga-Ba wants to take the skills she learns here at the P.I.T. back to her homeland of Mali in West Africa.
"I will be coaching with the Mali National Team this summer. That's another huge motivation for me."
She says she wants to well-rounded in a sport that's done so much to change her life.