Tune In to our BOUNS Tokyo2020 Series.

Jacinta Govind a.k.a ‘Squin’ joins us to preview the first game in the Opals Olympic campaign.

The Aussie Opals play Belgium. The Belgian Cats are making their first Olympics appearance.

Jacinta is on twitter: @S_Squin

The FIBA Womens World Cup (FIBAWWC 2022) will kick off a phenomenal decade for Womens sports in Australia.

In this episode we talk to Martha Lourey-Bird and Jacqui Dover, both former athletes joining forces to spearhead the FIBAWWC Legacy Program rolled out in partnership with Basketball NSW & Office of Sport NSW.

As a Sports scientist & lecturer, Martha advocates for girls in sport and provides valuable research into the challenges and barriers for girls and women in sport and basketball. In 2021 Jacqui made history as the first indigenous female basketball referee in the NBL and in her role at Basketball NSW as Indigenous, Cultural & Linguistically Diverse Programs Manager, she is a highly visible role model for all girls and women in basketball.

Tune in as we talk about the groundbreaking Legacy Program.


Martha is on twitter: MarthaLBird
Jacqui’s referee mentoring academy: https://www.jd8official.com

In this Episode we welcome back Annie La Fleur - Olympian & NSW Hall of Famer to tell us about basketball programs bringing positive social impacts in the COVID era to the FIBA Oceania and South East Asia regions. Adapting to online delivery has brought unexpected benefits by reaching more people across large geographical regions while also keeping kids and communities engaged.

Annie gets into her involvement with indigenous camps across NSW as part of the BNSW partnership with the Patty Mills’ Indigenous Basketball Australia organisation and the promise of discovering new talent in our nation.

We also get an insight into the FIBA initiatives of Hoops for Health & Her World Her Rules and its application closer to home in the Pacific region along with the importance of home grown ambassadors that kids can look up to and represent them.

In this episode we are joined by Laura Hodges, a 4 time Aussie Basketball Olympian and inaugural Australian Basketball Players' Assoc. (ABPA) Board member.

After a long and successful hoops career with the AIS and Adelaide Lightning in the WNBL, Euroleague & WNBA she is well placed to represent the collective voice of our womens professional players, and with two young daughters she is passionate to see the best for the womens league.

During an unprecedented 2020, the ABPA led by former NBL player Jacob Holmes has made huge strides in securing a Collective Bargaining Agreement for the WNBL. The ABPA continues to evolve and grow support for athletes ensuring they are well supported in a highly competitive sporting arena and for the career that follows.

In a different episode we’re joined by Dylan Simpson and Lachlan Ross producer and director of the documentary Go Big a look behind the scenes of the 2020/21 WNBL UCCaps season.

By telling the story of the UCCaps drive for a 3peat we get a look at women’s basketball that we’ve never seen before, and a far richer narrative emerges.

It’s not just about basketball, it also the stories of players, staff past and present and a celebration of women’s hoops and how the Caps have raised the awareness of the sport in their hometown and across the country.

Time to tell their story. Enjoy!

Can be found on twitter:
GoBIG: @gobig_doco
Canberra WNBL: @UCCapitals

This is one of our most personal episodes. We called it Vlad the dad because this little story says so much about what we regularly come across and is why we want to produce meaningful content that improves the Women’s basketball landscape.

You get a little insight into why we produce Shooting The Breeze. It let’s us share incredible stories from the grassroots to the elite of Women’s Aussie Hoops and to have real conversations that hopefully highlights ways to improve the sport.

We’ve also included a look back at some choice bits from Episodes 31-34 as part of our first playback in this series – but check out the episodes there’s a lot more in there to unpack!

These episodes feature an array of amazing individuals like:

Ep31: Christy Collier-Hill GM Deakin Melbourne Boomers
Ep32: Sandy Brondello Opals & Phoenix Mercury Head Coach
Ep33: Lauren Nicholson Townsville Fire WNBL player
Ep34: Leigh Gooding GM Wheelchair Basketball

We do this for all the young aspirational girls who can take on the world!

Subscribe to Shooting the Breeze on all main podcast platforms

Shooting the Breeze in on twitter: @theBreezepod

This week we’re all about steel wheels as we’re joined by Leigh Gooding.

Directing Basketball Australia’s Wheelchair programs is one of the many hats he wears and the one we’re talking about.

It’s been a tough time for wheelchair basketball for the last year but with the Tokyo games rapidly approaching we talk about preparations for the games, upcoming local tournaments, new and exciting pathways for our youth and watching the sparks fly when the action gets frantic!

These inspirational athletes deserve more airtime and commercial support given how successful they are on the world stage. We count down 88 days for the Rollers and Gliders to embark for Tokyo and the Paralympics in pursuit of another Gold. #ReadySetTokyo

Join us as we go Rolling Down The Keyway with Leigh Gooding

Leigh is on twitter: @ScootaGooding

Subscribe to Shooting the Breeze available on all key podcast platforms.

Follow us on twitter @TheBreezePod as we swish into the world of Aussie Women’s basketball.

While waiting for the announcement of the next Opals team selection, we caught up with Sydney basketball hot shooter Lauren Nicholson.

Loz looks back at the challenging start to her first WNBL season with her hometown Sydney Uni Flames that ended with the 2017 WNBL Championship, and her pinch-me moment “some people go through and play 15 years of WNBL and never get a Championship” followed by three years in Adelaide that helped her develop her game.

There was never any doubt about her Opals contention having been to 3 grand finals in the last 5 seasons.

For the upcoming WNBL season she’s returning to the Townsville Fire and re-teaming with Coach Shannon Seebohm after experiencing her “funnest most successful year”.

The hub season fired up Loz who added to her strong defensive game an exciting offensive effort delivering a second highest in the league 18.9 points per game, only beaten by Liz Cambage.

A down to earth baller that has played around Australia to sharpen her game, at heart she is a family girl with big dreams to play amongst the best in the world and help female basketball players of the future, “if we can grow it now, and get the grassroots up and coming…”

Follow Loz on twitter: @Loz_Nicholson

Subscribe to Shooting the Breeze available on all key podcast platforms.

Follow us on twitter @TheBreezePod as we swish into the world of Aussie Women’s basketball.

Our very special guest on this episode is Opals and Phoenix Mercury Head Coach Sandy Brondello.

This fiercely competitive Aussie has gone from the sugar cane fields of Mackay in North Queensland to the world stage of women’s basketball leading the mighty Opals towards the Olympics and the Sydney hosted FIBA Women’s World Cup in 2022.

Advocating for and demonstrating the impact of female representation in basketball Sandy is one of only five women coaching in the WNBA.

She shares her dreams for all Aussie girls who look up to their Opal role models. Relishing the opportunity the Olympics represents and how the Women’s World Cup addresses ‘the need for more games on home soil’ to showcase the game and the depth of unbelievable Australian talent.

She also dishes on what makes our Aussie players so special on the world stage and prepared for any league in the world.

On the eve of the 25th WNBA season Sandy talks about the roles and responsibilities of Head Coaches and how she balances that reality at the Phoenix Mercury with her own family. Giving us a great insight into last season’s Florida bubble experience and her strong sense of family culture within her teams by acknowledging that “we’re not just players or coaches we’re also mothers and wives.”

An open and enlightening conversation into the evolution and thoughts of an inspiring Australian player, brilliant Coach and mum of two, Sandy is a fantastic role model with a true-blue nickname... listen out for that gem!

Follow Sandy Brondello on twitter: @SBrondello

Subscribe to Shooting the Breeze available on all key podcast platforms

Follow us on twitter @TheBreezePod as we swish into the world of Aussie Women’s professional basketball.

Welcome back to Shooting The Breeze! We talk with Deakin Melbourne Boomers General Manager Christy Collier-Hill about the 2020 North Queensland WNBL hub season and the team’s experience.

Also on the agenda is the challenge of the COVID era and getting fans back to home stadiums ‘everyone’s got to play their part’… and the elephant in the room - broadcast - but more on that later.

A strong advocate for developing women’s professional sports Christy sees the opportunity presented by the Olympics and the Women’s World Cup as a way to raise the profile and grow women’s professional basketball in Australia.

Lots to unpack here as we embark on the next series of Shooting The Breeze and a new era of basketball coming our way!

Christy is also a passionate advocate of breast cancer survivors as a director at Dragons Abreast Australia and founder of The Pink Movement.

Join us and subscribe to Shooting the Breeze, available on all key podcast platforms and follow us
on twitter @TheBreezePod as we swish into the world of Aussie Women’s professional basketball.

With two landmark back-to-back events in the Tokyo Olympics and FIBA Women’s World Cup 2022 in Sydney - the stage is set for sensational basketball!