Today, the basketball world knows the legend, Sandy Brondello for her unique coaching style which has elevated the New York Liberty. However, that is not all that is to her name. The Australian Hall of Famer has mesmerized the fans with her unique moves that developed through humble beginnings. As a result, she later grew up to be one of the generation of ballers who took the sport to unprecedented heights in Australia.

Doing so, she received huge recognition for her contributions to the basketball court. So much so that the eagerness to explore her life off the court is brimming in the Liberty fans. Her national and international achievements had quite simple beginnings. So, here we bring some interesting facts from Brondello’s personal life.

Where does Sandy Brondello have her roots?

In August 1968, Dino and Estelle Brondello welcomed their daughter, Sandy in Mackay, Queensland, Australia. The white Caucasian grew up near Eton, half an hour Southwest of Mackay where her parents were sugar cane farmers. While they were mostly busy crushing cane, nothing stopped them from supporting their daughter. She realized her passion for basketball at the tender age of 9 years. So, her father built a grass court in the backyard and also built a basketball hoop at the base of a water tank for her.

“My dad’s a sugar cane farmer and in the crushing, it gets busy so he couldn’t really take me to practice and the commitments I would have in the city. So he decided to put it up outside on the backboard, on the water tank,” Sandy described her father’s dedication to support her basketball dreams.

What followed next was Brondello becoming more resourceful with her father’s improvising of the hoop. That’s when she came up with her jump shots. “I’m a pretty good jump shooter, that’s what I’m known for in basketball,” she reasoned.

It was because of the grass court that she had to change her dribbles and moves to keep her ball from getting deflated or knocking herself over. And that’s how she turned up with something that fascinated her fans.

“It was a grass court, so I could take a one-bounce pull-up, which was my money shot, or I could just catch and shoot because that’s all I could do. If I did a layout, I was going to be knocked out by the water tank. There were rocks on the ground so I couldn’t take more than one dribble because I’d lose the ball. It’s just what we did because we were from the country,” said Brondello.

Brondello pursuing a professional career out of basketball

Through her pro career, Sandy Brindello’s parents have closely watched over her since she started playing for the Opals at the age of 17 years. “I used go out there and practice for the Australian Championships just to get fit, and it certainly did help me.”

Besides receiving a teaching degree from the University of Western Sydney, Milperra, the Australian Hall of Famer also attended the Australian Institute of Sports for a year (1986-87). After that, her professional career began in the WNBL.

Regarded as one of Australia’s all-time best shooting guards, Brondello played 302 games for her country, the third-highest on record. She was also named the 1992 Australian International Player of the Year and won two Olympic silver medals (2000 and 2004), and one bronze medal in the World championships.

She also competed for national and international teams like the Brisbane Blazers and BTV Wuppertal. This one time, Brondello also played for the WNBA’s Detroit Shock and was selected to play in the league’s first-ever All-Star Game.

After concluding her playing career, Sandy Brondello swiftly transitioned to the coaching world. And now, she is considered one of the best and highest-paid coaches in the WNBA.