SEATTLE — Seattle Storm Head Coach Sonia Raman appeared on CBS Mornings on Friday, discussing her journey to becoming the WNBA’s first head coach of Indian descent. The Storm is scheduled to play the Connecticut Sun tonight at 7 p.m. at Climate Pledge Arena.
Raman’s path included nearly two decades of coaching at the college level before she was selected to lead the Storm. Her appointment followed the firing of former head coach Noelle Quinn at the end of last season. Raman assumes leadership during a challenging period, as the core of the Storm’s roster dispersed during the latest free agency period.
Raman played her first basketball game in grade school and quickly found her place in the sport.
“Until 8th grade I hadn’t played organized basketball, but I do remember that that league that I played in I was hooked I loved it. I think that was the moment where I was like this is awesome, I want to do this all the time,” she told CBS Mornings.
While in college, an injury sidelined Raman, prompting her to study coaches and the game more deeply than she had as a player.
“I had injury I broke my leg and so I ended up being out for a year and so I just spent a lot of time with my coaches I was on the side lines I was studying what they did and I started to really understand the game in a way that I haven’t as much as a player.”
Raman expressed that being the first head coach of Indian descent in the WNBA is a significant honor.
“It means a lot um it’s a tremendous honor I didn’t have you know people who I could look up to and that space that look like me growing up playing basketball and other sports so I look forward to seeing more and more people from our community you know have these doors open and um walk through them.”
Despite the roster changes, Raman looks forward to the team’s potential.
“We haven’t put any limits on ourselves in terms of who we can be, and to seeing what we can become is really the part I’m looking forward to.”
When first addressing the athletes, Raman conveyed her coaching philosophy.
“I’m going to coach you hard, but I’m going to coach you with a lot of joy as well and we are going to do this together. We are going to build this together. Theres going to be bad days on the court, there’s going to be miss shots. But basketball is a beautiful sport a lot of really great things happen on the court and why not enjoy those things why not celebrate those things together,” Raman said.
The Seattle Storm will have a chance to demonstrate their potential tonight when they face the Connecticut Sun. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Climate Pledge Arena.
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