Australian basketball great Sandy Brondello admits she feared her legacy would be tarred by a comment she directed towards WNBA star Angel Reese earlier this year.
Brondello, who is one of basketball’s most respected figures and coach of the Toronto Tempo as well as the Australian Opals, has been inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, just months after she was suspended for describing Reese as a “protected species” to referees.
“Protected species” is a commonly used phrase in Australian sports to express frustration for a lack of calls against a player. In the US, however, there are different connotations and it was deemed derogatory towards black people.
Brondello told this masthead she had been “quite stressed for a while” about the incident, and had feared it would impact her legacy.
She said the incident had taught her to not get so worked up about refereeing, and she had adopted a calmer demeanour since.
“I think I showed my leadership by just apologising and understanding. You know, I need to be better, too,” she said.
“And even though it is an Australian phrase, and it meant no harm … I wanted to take ownership for it because, like, I’m hey, I’m a 58-year-old coach, and you know, Angel’s still just paving her way in this career. So yeah, unfortunate. I was quite stressed for a while.”
She said she did worry about how the incident would hurt her character.
“Because that’s so important for me,” she said.
“I’ve always had great sportsmanship, win or lose. I have respect for all these players. So, it was just an unfortunate situation, but I think I’ve come through the other end because all you can do is, you know, what I’ve done before.”
“That’s what I’ve prided myself on for my whole career, even as a player – there is a right way to compete and be a great sportsman, and have sportsmanship.”
Brondello has been a trailblazer of Australian women’s basketball, a dynamic shooting guard and key figure in the rise of the Opals who later became one of the world’s best coaches, leading multiple teams in the WNBA, and guiding the Opals through World Cup and Olympic campaigns.
As a player, Brondello represented Australia in 302 games, including four Olympic Games and four FIBA world championships.
She was a prominent member of the first Australian basketball team to win an Olympic medal, claiming bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Games, before pocketing silver in Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004. There were also two world championship bronze medals and the MVP award in the WNBL in 1995.
She enjoyed more success in Europe, before playing 159 WNBA matches with Detroit Shock, Miami Sol and Seattle Storm, earning All-Star selection in 1999.
All this after being raised on her family’s sugar-cane farm outside Mackay in Queensland, honing her shooting on a makeshift backboard and hoop fixed to the farm’s rainwater tank stand.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself, it’s been quite the journey. From humble beginnings, and I had a great upbringing, growing up in the country and being able to achieve at such a young age, making the Australian team at 18. I mean, who would have thought that?” Brondello said.
“And then to be able to play for 18 years as a pro and then straight into coaching. And I always wanted to coach the best in the world. Things have worked out for me. I’ve had a longer coaching career than a pro basketball career, but they’ve both been very, very rewarding.”
As a coach, Brondello spent five years in Russia, before leading the Phoenix Mercury to the 2014 WNBA championship when she was named the coach of the year. Another title came with the New York Liberty in 2024, Brondello finding the right modern balance between being “human driven, data informed” in an era when players no longer accept being berated for mistakes.
She led the Opals to silver at the 2018 World Cup, bronze at the 2022 World Cup and bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Injuries cruelled the Opals’ bid for a medal last month at the FIBA World Cup in Berlin, but the Olympics in Los Angeles, and possibly Brisbane, await.
At this year’s World Cup, there was the possibility Brondello would coach against her husband, Olaf Lange, who is also her associate head coach with the Tempo. That did not eventuate, but it could happen in LA.
“We have similar philosophies, but we’re different in our leadership roles. Like he’s obviously German, I’m more of an instinctual coach, he’s more cerebral,” Brondello, also a mother of two, said.
Inducted into the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, Brondello shows no signs of slowing down, her passion for the game as strong as ever.
“I’ve never fallen out of love with it. During my injuries, I never did, and I just knew when I retired after the Athens Olympics, I just knew it was time because I had achieved everything,” Brondello said.
“So I thought, I just wanted a new challenge … I’ve had highs and lows. But it’s all been rewarding. And, I mean, that’s what it’s about. I’m 58 years of age, and you know, every year I’m just about: ‘How do I get better?’, and that excites me.”
‘Lateral thinking’: Sthalekar’s message to cricket bosses
Australian cricket great and long-time player advocate Lisa Sthalekar says authorities must find a way to schedule women’s cricket in the peak of summer to help grow the game.
As she was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, Sthalekar said privatisation of the Big Bash League franchises could also help push the women’s home calendar more into the key holiday season, for investors are likely to be keen on greater broadcast and spectator exposure.
Fellow Australian great Ellyse Perry added her weight to the scheduling issue last month, noting Australia have nine white-ball matches at home this summer against Bangladesh and New Zealand, with the contests held in October and March.
The WBBL is played during the school term, while the Australian team has not played a game at home during the summer school holidays since January 2025.
“Everyone quite rightly says the growth area is women’s cricket, but what do they do to actually make those changes? It takes a bit of co-ordination, it takes probably a bit more lateral thinking because what you have done for the men’s game has historically got 100 years advantage, so you have got to think a little bit more out of the box,” Sthalekar told this masthead.
“Hopefully, that’s the case shortly.”
Privatisation of the Twenty20 competition has divided Australian cricket, NSW’s opposition to investors entering the competition even leading to the resignation last month of Cricket Australia chairman Mike Baird.
Cricket Victoria is pushing to sell 100 per cent of the Melbourne Renegades by the end of this year, while other states are considering their options under a “self-determination” model suggested by South Australia.
While the Australian Cricketers’ Association has rejected the current privatisation model because it does not meet their requirements around the players’ share of any BBL windfall, Sthalekar said privatisation might eventually help to push the WBBL and the women’s national team more into prime time, with regular matches at the traditional major venues.
She questioned the wisdom of having Australia’s opening Twenty20 clash against New Zealand at North Sydney Oval last weekend begin at 7.15pm on a Sunday night during the school term.
Sthalekar continues to wear multiple hats in the sport. She is the president of the World Cricketers’ Association, a board member of the ACA and is also a prominent commentator.
As a star all-rounder, she was a key member of the Australian women’s side for a decade before retiring in 2013, becoming first woman to score 1000 runs and take 100 wickets in one-day internationals.
“I have to thank my family. Really, they were the ones that encouraged me to play sport, and gave me the opportunity to try different things until I found the one thing that I really loved and enjoyed,” Sthalekar said.
Sthalekar debuted for NSW in the women’s National Cricket League in 1997-98, before earning her international colours in 2001.
She took 23 wickets, and averaged 32 with the bat in eight Tests, posting an unbeaten 120 against England in 2014. She also featured in 125 one-day internationals, claiming 146 wickets and averaging 30.65 with the bat, and took to the field in 54 T20 games just as that bite-sized format was gaining traction.
Her many highlights include Australia’s unbeaten run through the 2005 World Cup in South Africa, culminating in the win over India in the final when Sthalekar made 55 and took 1-18. She also had a key role in the 2010 Twenty20 World Cup victory.
Through this, there were also back-to-back Belinda Clark Awards in 2007 and ’08 as Australia’s best player.
Sthalekar memorably announced her retirement from international cricket a day after the Australian team won the 2013 Women’s World Cup final over the West Indies, the star all-rounder having taken the winning catch which sealed the title in Mumbai, the ground her Indian-born father loved attending as a youngster.
It’s been a remarkable journey, for Sthalekar was born in Pune, India, but her biological parents were unable to support her. Put up for adoption in a local orphanage, within three weeks of her birth she had Haren and Sue Sthalekar as her loving parents.
Haren and Sue, already with a daughter, had stints in Michigan, USA, and Kenya before settling in Sydney.
“I’ve been very proud of my parents and where I’ve come from, and I almost call it literally ‘chosen’,” Sthalekar said of her adoption.
“There’s two ways you can think about it, and I’ve always seen it as a really positive one. I had two loving parents that were very supportive, gave me every opportunity, and I had never, and still don’t really want to ever, find my biological parents. Whatever reasons there were behind it, I accept that, acknowledge that, and I move on.
“And, you know, I’m very thankful of where I grew up and what I was afforded because I was adopted.”
She remains thankful cricket was introduced in her life as a regular backyard pastime, Sthalekar’s talent as an off-spin bowler and batter soon blossoming while playing for the West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook Cricket Club.
It’s a journey she will reflect on having now joined the greats of Australian sport.
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