Fiji National Basketball rep, Valerie Nainima after completing her third year in Fordham, New York, has been promoted to Assistant Coach for the Fordham women's basketball program.
While making the announcement Fordham Women’s Head coach, Stephanie Gaitley says that she is extremely excited to promote Nainima to the assistant coach position as she is the best player she has coached.
Gaitley adds that Nainima has a great knowledge and passion for the game and going to the United States from Fiji was a big step for her and she certainly left her mark as a player.
The former Saint Joseph Secondary School student played for the Fijian National Team and has also played for the Fijian Under‑20 basketball team.
Nainima, who hails from Ra, Fiji, spent three years as video coordinator for the Rams, in which Fordham tallied a record of 57‑41.
Nainima has close ties with Coach Gaitley, having played under her for two years at LIU Brooklyn, in which she became the first player in Northeast Conference history to be named both Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season.
She averaged 20.4 points per game, becoming the fastest student‑athlete in LIU Brooklyn history to reach 1,000 career points.
After college, Nainima played professionally for three seasons in Germany with New Basket Oberhausen and has been a fixture with the Fiji national team.
