Nainima to Play for Fiji in XV Pacific Games

XV Pacifc Games Website

BRONX, N.Y. -- Fordham women's basketball video coordinator Valerie Nainima will participate in XV Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papa New Guinea, as she will play for the senior national team of her native Fiji.

"I am very honored and humbled to be able to represent Fiji at the Pacific Games this year," Nainima said. "Over the past few years I've been blessed to be able to pave the way for a lot of young players from Fiji, and I intend to continue helping them by leading by example. I'm so grateful to my Fordham family for all the unbelievable support during my preparations, especially coach (Stephanie) Gaitley and Coop Gaitley (Gaitley's son) for pushing me every single day during my workouts.  I'm so excited to finally be able to embark on this incredible journey and am looking forward to whatever lies ahead"

Nainima recently completed her first season at Fordham and helped the program to its third consecutive trip to the postseason and 20-win season.

Before Fordham, the Domain, Fiji native worked as a development officer and high performance manager for Basketball Fiji. She coordinated and launched the first Hoops for Health Workshop program for Fiji and the South Pacific; planned and managed the Tuckers Fiji Secondary Schools Championships; trained and mentored the Fiji National Under 19 teams to the 2014 FIBA – USP U19 Oceania Championships; and helped organize the inaugural 2014 FIBA – USP U19 Oceania Championships.

Coach Gaitley and Nainima's relationship dates back nearly 10 years when Gaitley recruited Nainima to attend Long Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y. Nainima made history for the Blackbirds, as she became the first player in Northeast Conference history to earn player of the year and rookie of the year honors in the same season while leading the nation in scoring for all freshmen (17.8 points per game). During her sophomore season, Nainima averaged 20.4 points per game and was the fastest player in LIU history to reach 1,000 career points.

When Gaitley left to take over the women's basketball program at Monmouth University, Nainima transferred to the University of South Carolina. After sitting out a year as a transfer, Nainima made an immediate impact during her junior year with the Gamecocks and averaged 17.3 points per game, which ranked fifth in the Southeastern Conference and propelled to her to Second Team All-SEC accolades. She then suffered an injury late in the summer before her senior season, but Nainima fought to come back for the final three months of her final year. She ended her career as one of the program's most prolific three-point shooters, standing eighth with 115 career triples, 10th with 340 career attempts and fourth in percentage (.338). Nainima graduated from South Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management and Marketing.

Nainima went on to play professionally in Germany for New Basket Oberhausen and spent three seasons with the team. She also coached an U17 team in the organization as well. 

About the Games
From July 4-18, 3000 athletes, 500 team officials and 1000 technical officials and dignitaries from 21 neighboring Pacific nations will converge upon Port Moresby in an adrenaline-charged sporting exchange of 28 varied sports and disciplines. With a recent announcement made in July 2014 at Pacific Games Authority General Assembly meeting in Port Moresby, Australia and New Zealand will now be participating in the Games in four Sports.

With Papua New Guinea also commemorating its 40th year of Independence in the same year, the Games will be an integral part of the grand celebrations. And this being the third time that the Games come to Port Moresby, they may as well be coming home!

Naturally, this prior experience will be invaluable to the 2015 Pacific Games Organizing Committee as it goes about its business of planning, developing and delivering a world class sporting event, better than what the region has ever seen.

The national government, through the Ministry of Sports and Pacific Games, recognizes PNG 2015 Pacific Games Ltd as a professional corporate body that will spearhead the delivery of the Games and make it an unforgettable experience for the country.