Retiring 13-year WNBL veteran, Sarah Graham will join the staff of Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence (COE) following the 2019-20 season, when she takes up the role of assistant coach of the women’s program.
Graham has juggled playing and coaching in the latter part of her career, which started with the Dandenong Rangers in 2007.
The sharp shooting guard worked as head coach of the NSWIS Wheelchair Basketball program for two years and has served as an assistant coach with the Australian U25 women’s wheelchair team for the last three years.
At association level, Graham has coached junior representative teams with great success at the Hornsby-Kuringai Basketball Association and was head coach of the Hornsby Spiders senior women’s team in the Basketball NSW Waratah Championship League the last three years.
A former WNBL Rookie of the Year, Graham represented Australia at two FISU World University Games, claiming bronze in 2009 and 2011 while completing her Bachelor of Arts (Criminal Justice).
Graham will take the role at the COE in Canberra once her commitments with the Sydney Uni Flames are complete in March.
Basketball Australia Director of High-Performance Coach Development Peter Lonergan said Graham would be a valuable addition to the COE coaching panel.
“Sarah has done some terrific player development work through the NSWIS and National wheelchair programs and will bring a wealth of high-level playing experience to the role,” Lonergan said.
“She has managed to juggle playing at the elite level with various coaching roles and we are excited to have her join the coaching panel at the Centre of Excellence.”
In the spirit of reconciliation Basketball Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.