Bronx, N.Y. – Head coach
Stephanie Gaitley and the Fordham women's basketball program announced today the promotion of
Valerie Nainima from video coordinator to assistant coach. Nainima just completed her third season in the Bronx.
"I am extremely excited to promote Val to the assistant coach position," Gaitley said, "Val is the best player I have coached. She has a great knowledge and passion for the game. Coming to the United States from Fiji was a big step for her and she certainly left her mark as a player. Now I am excited to help mentor her to leave her mark as a coach!"
Nainima, who hails from Domain, 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, after averaging 17.8 points per game to lead the nation's freshmen in scoring. Nainima averaged 20.4 points per game as a sophomore, becoming the fastest student-athlete in LIU Brooklyn history to reach 1,000 career points.
After Gaitley left to take over the Monmouth program, Nainima transferred to SEC power South Carolina. After sitting out for a year, Nainima earned SEC Second Team honors by averaging 17.3 points per game, ranked fifth in the conferece. After suffering an injury late in the summer, she still returned for the final three months of her senior season, solidifying herself as one of the Gamecock's all-time great three-point shooters, ranked eighth in career makes (115), 10
th in attempts (340), and fourth in three-point percentage (.338).
After college, Nainima played professionally for three seasons in Germany with New Basket Oberhausen and has been a fixture with the Fiji national team.
