Meet The Woman Who's Changing JUCO Basketball Through NFTs

Historically, women’s JUCO basketball has been massively underfunded and underresourced.

But this woman is leveraging the power of web3 to bring attention to this issue and build a community to solve it.?

We sat down with Leslie Motta, co-founder of the popular NFT project WOB, to discuss how she and her daughter went about starting the project, pushing women’s sports further, and advice for anyone who’s trying to get web3 or NFT project off the ground.

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The Hype Report

What is WOB and how did you come up with the idea?

Leslie Motta

Women of Basketball (WOB) is a digital asset project and the idea came about when I visited a JUCO college in Washington in May 2022 with my daughter when she was being recruited to play college ball. While visiting, we were made aware of the cost and how some girls had to get one to two jobs to make up the cost difference that the scholarships didn’t offer.?

(WOB) is very special and important to me because I want to bring awareness to the masses of how underfunded and how under-resourced female basketball athletes are at the Junior College level and want to help eliminate some of these stressors for them. This is the last chance, option, or resort some of these female athletes have to play at the collegiate level, possibly get recruited to a D1, D2, etc, or get a college degree.

Even the scholarships that are offered at “max” do not cover all of the tuition, dorms, or other expenses leaving the ladies to have to resort to one or two jobs just to cover the additional expenses.

By creating the WOB project, we ensure the funds go directly to the female basketball athletes and aren’t disbursed to multiple sports throughout the athletic department. We want to take care of our girls and any future females that may have a need.?

The Hype Report

When did you first come across the web3 space and what piqued your interest in it?

Leslie Motta

I first got involved in early 2022. I have known about crypto for years and the web3 space and was very skeptical about it. My good friend “MsCryptoMom” and I worked together in the banking industry for about 10 years. She was a trusted source, I knew her family she knew my family.

I had left the bank where we worked together and one day I saw her on the news making tidal waves. All of a sudden my friend ( a trusted source) left her banking job and entered the “crypto world” full time and was all over the crypto world social media space via news articles, etc.

That’s when I knew this wasn’t toy money and was something here to stay and grow. I started tapping into the space primarily through Twitter and this is where I learned a lot through spaces about the web3 and NFts.?

The Hype Report

What do people receive when they mint a WOB NFT?

Leslie Motta

Each WOB includes a unique piece of art and once we mint out, you will receive surprise airdrops, opportunities to be part of WOB live broadcast hosted by me, future coaching/mentoring sessions for goal setting and elevator pitches, opportunities to meet the "in real life" women of basketball we are helping via, zoom, live broadcast, meet and greets (where available), weekly Twitter Spaces, one time 0.40 Eth for our Team Captain, one time 0.20 Eth for our All-Star Baller, future access to limited edition merch, future Swaps, be part of our future Metaverse.

The rarity structure of WOB is we have four team captains and sixteen All-Star high-skilled ballers who are the rarest of them all. Some ballers included rare accessories such as diamond necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, tattoos, headbands, hairstyles, basketball, and more.

*Team Captains & The 16 All-Star Ballers come with an additional bonus.

The Hype Report

What advice do you have for someone looking to build their own web3 or NFT project?

Leslie Motta

Do your research, and create something that has meaning, and value, and something you can create a community with. Show up every day even when you don’t feel like showing up, someone will notice. Even when you think you can’t, you can. You have to go out there and create your own opportunities, so just jump in there and when you have that flame…that fire…do it.

The Hype Report

Can you talk about the power of building a community in web3?

Leslie Motta

There are many powerful reasons for building a community in web3. By building a community in web3, a benefit is it can help to increase adoption and usage for particular blockchain or decentralized applications. When you have a strong community, you can also provide valuable feedback and ideas to improve the technology while building trust in the project.

A community also helps increase and create a sense of ownership engagement among users, which also can lead to increased contributions and participation in the ecosystem.

Overall, when you build a strong community and engagement it can increase the long-term success of a project in the web3 space, therefore, building a community is crucial.?

The Hype Report

In what ways do you think web3 can help push women's sports further?

Leslie Motta

Web3 technology has the potential to help promote women’s sports by providing new opportunities for investment, sponsorship, and fan engagement, as well as increasing transparency and visibility for women’s sports teams and players.?

NFTs have really opened the door for new opportunities as well as allowed athletes to create their own business models eliminating the middlemen, any third parties, and or distribution platforms.?

It has also allowed the holder to create a closer connection to the athletes that would have been more difficult in real life. I also think tokenization of women’s sports teams, players, and events can help increase investment and sponsorship opportunities for women’s sports, as well as provide new ways for fans to engage and support their favorite teams and players.

The Hype Report

What is the long-term vision for the project?

Leslie Motta

Our long-term vision is to create a community where we all feel empowered and have a safe space to create and build. We also want to be a change for real-life JUCO WBB players and help get them more funding to attend college without having to stress if they are going to be able to afford to pay the costs. Eventually, we want to also convert our girls into a 3D model and create a metaverse where we can learn, connect, build, and possibly play to earn.

The Hype Report

What’s the best way for someone to learn more about you and Women of bball?

Leslie Motta

They can go to our Twitter accounts: @LeslieM0tta ,@womenofbb or https://www.womenofbasketball.com/