Adelaide Lightning name new coach ahead of WNBL clash with Bendigo on Sunday

The Lightning have turned to a trailblazing coach with WNBA experience after stunning the basketball world by axing Kerryn Mitchell just seven games into the WNBL season.

BASKETBALL: Women's USC RIP City Vs Southern Districts. Southern's Aja Parham.

Adelaide has zeroed in on its new coach - a globetrotting former pro with links to both legendary Aussie Lauren Jackson and former Adelaide 36ers’ coach CJ Bruton.

Code Sports understands the Lightning will soon announce Aja Parham-Ammar to take the reins on Sunday for the Lightning’s away clash with Bendigo, in a welcome piece of positive news at the end of a tumultuous week for the club.

The WNBL community was left stunned when the Lightning, on Monday, made the shock decision to part ways with coach Kerryn Mitchell, just seven games into the new season.

Aja Parham-Ammar is Adelaide Lightning’s interim coach. Picture: Richard Walker

Amid questions over Mitchell’s exit, the club quickly turned its attention to headhunting a replacement and, in Parham-Ammar, it has found itself a basketball junkie who pairs decades of playing and coaching experience with her own performance training business that focuses on development of athletes’ minds and bodies.

It’s understood the Lightning playing group was informed of Parham-Ammar’s appointment early Saturday morning, prior to jetting off for Melbourne.

The 183cm Boston College alumni spent consecutive WNBA pre-season training camp stints (2009, ‘10) alongside Opals icon Jackson at Seattle, amid pro stops in Germany, Portugal, Spain and France.

“I’ve played professionally for about 15 years under different types of levels in different countries,” Parham-Ammar told NBL1.com.au in 2023.

Adelaide controversially parted ways with former coach Kerryn Mitchell just seven games into the WNBL season. (Photo by Sarah Reed/Getty Images)

“I’ve done player development with my company, Sports Mindset, for probably about 12 years.”

Parham-Ammar settled in Australia and, after time playing with Southern Districts in NBL1 North, she became a trailblazer as the first female to be an assistant in the Spartans’ men’s program. At the time, she was tapped by a face familiar to the SA basketball community in Bruton.

“Coaching didn’t come into my mind until post-career when CJ Bruton told me, ‘You’re going to be my assistant’,” she said in 2023.

“It was a matter of learning how to communicate with athletes, because they all are there to win, they want to win. Most players that you recruit play on a serious level, and contracted players are there for the right reasons.”

Subsequently, in 2023, Parham-Ammar was named Basketball Queensland’s Female Coach of the Year.

It is understood the Lightning, ahead of Sunday’s clash with the Spirit, will announce Parham-Ammar as interim coach, with both she and the club open to making the appointment permanent.

Originally published as Adelaide Lightning name new coach ahead of WNBL clash with Bendigo on Sunday