This 11-Year-Old’s Winning Design Is Now a Puerto Rican Basketball Team’s Home Uniform

Emma Zoé Bonett Vargas may be only 11, but she’s already making a name for herself—and leaving her mark on her country. Bonett Vargas’s design was chosen from 85 submissions to become the new home uniform for Puerto Rico’s Gigantes de Carolina, a professional women’s basketball team in the Women’s Superior National Basketball (BSNF).

The design features flowers, symbolizing growth; a brain, representing mental health; and a heart, standing for emotional well-being. Together, the elements reflect her belief that athletes must care for both body and mind. The Gigantes de Carolina will carry that message onto the court for every home game this season.

Her proposal was part of an initiative called “El Deporte en Colores” (Sports in Color), created by the Gigantes to give children in Carolina a space to express, through art, what sports mean to them.

“I was inspired by mental health. To play a sport like basketball, you need health on the outside and on the inside. That’s why I included flowers, a brain, and a heart,” Bonett Vargas explained to Telemundo.

“For us, it is fundamental to recognize that if we want to continue developing the sport, we must also use it as a platform to develop our children. Puerto Rican children need positive role models—to see themselves reflected in our athletes—and to know that they can be part of what happens within a professional organization,” said Claudia Ramos Zorrilla, owner and team representative of the Gigantes de Carolina.

The initiative also aims to break down stereotypes around women’s sports and create spaces where girls can see themselves not only as athletes, but also as creators, leaders, and protagonists.