Valerie Nainima (born June 29, 1986) is a Fijian former basketball player and current assistant head coach for

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

. She is also a member of

Fiji women's national basketball team Fiji women's national basketball team is the national basketball team from Fiji, administered by the Fiji Amateur Basketball Federation. They played in the 2007 Oceania Championship in Dunedin. History Due to their gold medal win at the 2015 ...

Playing career

Nainima began her college basketball career at

LIU / ( or ) is an East Asian surname. pinyin: in Mandarin Chinese, in Cantonese. It is the family name of the Han dynasty emperors. The character originally meant 'kill', but is now used only as a surname. It is listed 252nd in the classic text ...

. During her freshman season she averaged 17.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals game. Her 17.8 points per game was the highest scoring average of any freshman in the nation. She also ranked second in the conference in three-point percentage (.420) and third in both three-pointers made (2.07 per game) and free-throw percentage (.853). Following an outstanding season, she became the first player in the Northeast Conference history to win both Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year in the same season. She was also named to the NEC First Team All-Conference and NEC All-Rookie Team. She won 10 NEC Rookie of the Week awards, setting the NEC record for the most rookie of the week honors in a season. During her sophomore season she averaged 20.4 points per game. She became the fastest player in LIU history to reach 1,000 career points, reaching the milestone in 53 games. When LIU head coach

Stephanie Gaitley Stephanie Gaitley (née Vanderslice; born January 25, 1960) is the head basketball coach of the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights, Fairleigh Dickinson Knights women's basketball. She has served as head basketball coach at Fordham University, Monmouth Un ...

left to become the head coach at

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

, Nainima transferred to 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 she was subsequently named to the All-SEC Second Team. On August 6, 2010, she underwent surgery to repair an ACL injury in her right knee. She began practicing with the team in December, four months after surgery. She made her season debut for the Gamecocks on December 12, 2010, where she recorded eight points, three assists and two steals in 12 minutes. She was subsequently named the AgSouth Athlete of the Week. She finished her career as one of the program's most prolific three-point shooters, ranking eighth with 115 career triples, and fourth in percentage (.338). Following her collegiate career, Nainima played professionally overseas with New Basket Oberhausen in Germany for three seasons.

Coaching career

Fordham

On January 16, 2015, Nainima was named video coordinator for Fordham. This reunited her with former LIU head coach Gaitley, who helped recruit Nainima. On June 14, 2017, she was promoted to assistant coach.

Michigan

On May 10, 2021, Nainima was named an assistant coach for Michigan.

Providence

On March 27, 2023, Nainima was named an assistant coach for

National team career

Nainima has been a member of the

since she was seventeen. She represented Fiji at the

2005 South Pacific Mini Games The VII South Pacific Mini Games were held July 25-August 4, 2005 in Palau. Torch lighter was athlete Christopher Silas Adolf, Palau's first Olympian. Participating countries Tahiti and Tokelau did not send teams to the games, with Tahiti cit ...

, where she averaged 23 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists and won a gold medal. She again represented Fiji at the

2007 South Pacific Games The 2007 South Pacific Games were held in Apia, Samoa, from 25 August to 8 September 2007. The Games were the thirteenth to be held since the inception of the South Pacific Games in 1963, and included traditional multi-sport event disciplines, su ...

, where she averaged 25.7 points per game and won a gold medal. She didn't compete at the

2011 Pacific Games The 2011 Pacific Games (officially known as NC 2011) took place in Nouméa, New Caledonia, from August 27 to September 10, 2011. Nouméa was the 14th host of the Pacific Games. Upon closure of the registration for entries, "some 4,300 athletes" h ...

due to playing for basketball overseas for New Basket Oberhausen in Germany. She represented Fiji at the

2015 Pacific Games The 2015 Pacific Games, also known as Port Moresby 2015 or POM 2015, was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, from 4 to 18 July 2015. It was the fifteenth staging of the Pacific Games as well as the third to be hosted in Port Moresby. More tha ...

and won a gold medal. She was named to the roster for the

2017 FIBA Women's Asia Cup The 2017 FIBA Women's Asia Cup was the qualifying tournament for FIBA Asia and FIBA Oceania at the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Spain. The tournament was held from 23 to 29 July in Bangalore, India. Before this edition, the tournam ...

, however she was unable to make the trip to Lebanon. She represented Fiji at the

2019 Pacific Games The 2019 Pacific Games was the sixteenth edition of the Pacific Games. The Games were held in Apia, Samoa, returning there for the first time since 2007. It was the third time overall that the Pacific Games were held in Samoa. The event was init ...

where she averaged 16.4 points, 7 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game and won a silver medal. Her 4.6 assists per game led all players in the tournament.

References

External links

Michigan Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nainima, Valerie Living people 1986 births Fijian women's basketball players Fijian women's basketball coaches Fijian expatriate basketball people in the United States LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds women's basketball players South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball players Fordham Rams women's basketball coaches Michigan Wolverines women's basketball coaches People from Rakiraki