Adelaide club’s lifeline keeps basketball dream alive for next generation, Olympian says

Source : ABC NEWS

Four-time Olympian Laura Hodges hopes to pass on her love of basketball to her two daughters, Ava and Mia.

The Australian basketball legend has reached the top of the sport globally, playing in the American Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), as well as in Europe and as a member of the Opals, the Australian women’s national team.

But it was her hometown club, the Adelaide Lightning, that sparked her love of the game.

“It’s the team I followed as a child and the reason I wanted to be an Opal,” Hodges said.

“It was when I watched my first ever Lightning game and being in that crowd, watching these amazing women running up and down the floor, I just wanted to be like them.”

Idolising Lightning champion Rachael Sporn, Hodges has supported the team since childhood and represented her hometown club in three stints across her 18-year playing career.

She has no doubt she would not have made it to the top of the sport without the Adelaide-based club.

“It was the Lightning that said, to me, I want to be an elite athlete.”

Lightning’s lifeline from SA government

Hodges and others in the South Australian basketball community were forced to consider the reality of a city without the Lightning, over a fortnight of serious uncertainty.

A dispute between the Women’s National Basketball League’s new owners and the club had put the team’s future under a heavy cloud, with the competition declining Lightning owner Pelligra’s request to continue in the league.

But a cash injection from the South Australian government averted the crisis, with the state providing $571,000 to the club per year over the next three years while the WNBL looks for a new owner to take over the five-time champions.

“There wasn’t a set of circumstances where as a government we were going to tolerate the Adelaide Lightning not continuing within the WNBL,” SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said on Thursday.

The league’s new chief executive, Jennie Sager, said the partnership was the first step in rebuilding the team in South Australia.

“We couldn’t be happier that from the minute we reached out to the government, that support was there and that door was open,” she said on Thursday.

“It’s absolutely a partnership that needed to happen to keep the Lightning here.

“Right now, our intention is to look for new owners over the next three years.”

Hodges said that deal would be vital for the future of basketball in South Australia, with participation in the sport booming, particularly for girls.

“It’s really special now I’m a mum of two girls knowing that they can look up to people and maybe dream of being an Adelaide Lightning player themselves,” Hodges said.

WNBL is ‘achievable for them’

Among those dreaming to play for the Lightning are fans Lexi and Remi Brown.

The talented 13-year-old twins play for Forestville’s under-16s and both hope for a career in the sport.

“I would love to make it to the WNBA, that’s a big thing, or the Lightning,” Lexi said.

“I want to play for the Opals,” said Remi.

The twins are also putting the extra work in, training privately with current Lightning players through the Complete Athlete Project.

Their mother, Sarah Brown, said the girls were relishing that opportunity.

“Seeing the local girls playing in the Adelaide Lightning team, it’s achievable for them and that next step before … America and those bigger dreams,” she said.

With the Adelaide Lightning’s future now looking much more stable, the women’s basketball community is breathing a deep sigh of relief.

Hodges believes more South Australians will now make it to the national level and follow the footsteps of local stars Isobel Borlase and Steph Talbot.

“I know that we will get more South Australians within the Australian team and be future Olympians that will get to wear medals in the future,” she said.