Hardwork pays off: Claudea and Nikki’s journey from homegrown stars to the big league

January 22, 2025 | UC Capitals news

Despite its size and population, Canberra has been known for its sporting prowess for years. Its tough – and at times ferocious – sports landscape has statistically higher participation rates than other states, per the most recent AusPlay national survey sport and active recreation.

The 2024 Tokyo Olympics Australian delegation featured a strong Canberra contingent of 27 athletes and with multiple high-performing professional sporting teams based in the capital, it’s a no brainer that to make it here, you need to be the best. And it’s no different in basketball.

The University of Canberra Capitals have cemented themselves as a basketball nursery, producing a multitude of talent over the years while achieving the peak of the WNBL, winning the championship a record nine times. From Opals representatives, national stars, WNBL Hall of Famers, it’s all eyes on who’s next.

For Caps Head Coach Paul Gorris, local talents Nikki Worner and Claudea Waihape Andrews have the potential to forge long professional careers in the league.

Nikki and Claudea have been valuable additions to the 2024/25 Capitals roster. Both athletes were added to the squad as development players, set to make their mark on the team and to build themselves into what both hope will be long WNBL careers.

But these are no ordinary basketball players. They are Canberra hardened, battling through the ACT sporting scene and coming out on top.

Both had very different paths to finding their place in basketball – Claudea was introduced to it after attending her older sister’s games in Queanbeyan, whilst Nikki found her passion for sport independently, before later finding out to have deeper roots in basketball than originally thought.

“Walking into Belconnen Basketball stadium for my first session with my mum people kept yelling out to my mum, and it wasn’t until after that she told me that many years ago, she played for the U20 ACT team in the national championships,” Nikki said.

“She had a box of trophies in the garage, but it was good she kept it separate because basketball became something that I wanted to do, rather than influenced.”

As both athletes grew, so did their love and gift for the game. Nikki made the ACT representative side and won three championships alongside the Bourne sisters. Meanwhile, Claudea built her basketball prowess with the Queanbeyan Roadrunners, and also helped Erindale College win a championship.

“Playing at Erindale gave me a lot of confidence. My coach Clint was really good with me and I really enjoyed being coached by him, but it was really good because it physically prepared me to compete in the women’s league,” Claudea said.

“So then when I got into the Premier League in Canberra, I transitioned really well.”

Following graduation Claudea found herself battling for the Canberra Nationals Academy in Waratah Women’s division, winning the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award.

“It gave me a confidence boost.  I knew I was good, but I didn’t know I was like that. It put my name out there,” she said.

Nikki on the other hand took her talents over to America, playing for the Iona Gaels, an NCAA Division 1 school. But after her freshman season, she found that US college hoops was not for her and decided to return to Australia. The college experiment for Nikki may not have been the one she hoped for, but she came back to Caberra with a new-found experience and perspective.

“I don’t ever look at it and regret it, I think I look back on it, and I go, ‘What an incredible experience!” she said.

“There’s so many barriers and limits that back then where I honestly thought that I would probably die if I did some of those training and conditioning sessions we did.”

“But now, it’s translating, and when I’m faced with different challenges, I feel I can do that, I’ve been through so much like harder stuff, so it’s completely expanded my belief in myself.”

As Nikki returned to Australia, she soon earned a roster spot for the NBL1 Canberra Nationals and Claudea’s breakout Canberra National Academy season, earned her a spot on the NBL1 side too.

Now competing in NBL1, it became clear that they were dealing with some of the hungriest players not only in the ACT but also in Australia.

“A lot of the girls have either had experience playing on a WNBL roster before or as a Development Player,” Nikki said.

“The league has the second highest rate of WNBL players. They set a high bar and it’s a great competition to be a part of.”

As Nikki and Claudea developed, it wasn’t long before the Capitals came calling. Claudea recalled how special the experience was and how it felt representing Queanbeyan through the Capitals jersey.

“Scoring my first WNBL points on the road against Southside and getting to call my parents right after was such a special moment. I was lucky enough to travel with the team because I know a lot of DPs don’t get the opportunity.”

“It’s also special representing Queanbeyan because it’s often overlooked as this little town outside of Canberra. It shows Queanbeyan can still have the pathway to make it to the WNBL., Even playing sport in Canberra, I think we don’t get as many opportunities as other states because we’re small, but our paths show that Canberra does have pathways to get into the highest levels of sport.”

Nikki has also found her place in the Capitals roster hopes she can achieve her full potential through the guidance of Paul Gorris.

“He’s someone that commands respect with everything that he says. Everyone listens and is so tuned into what he offers.”

“He’s very much people focused, so people come first. We all love basketball and we’re here to do a job and to make career out of this, but we’re people too. He sees both sides of that and I think that’s really important as well.”

In Round 10 this year, Claudea marked another milestone, checking into the game against Geelong late in the fourth quarter and sinking her home basket of her career, to the delight of her teammates and the home crowd.

 

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In the following round, Nikki was called over by Goz with under 3 minutes left to check into a WNBL game for the first time in her career. Her mother was in attendance, soaking in the moment and the cheers of the Canberra faithful.

In that moment, both homegrown hoopers shared the court in a WNBL game together for the first time, hopefully the first of many. They’ve proven that the Canberra WNBL pathway is legit. The nation’s capital may be small, but it has the capacity to nurture and produce pro level talent and it’s only a matter of time before we find who’s next.