Video Shout-Out from Leilani Mitchell

Leilani Mitchell is an American-Australian professional basketball player and has represented Australia in the 2016 Olympics. A dual citizen of both countries, she began representing Australia internationally in 2013. In 2019 she became the first WNBA player to win the Most Improved Player Award twice.

Background

Being the only girl of 7 children, Leilani had no choice but to love sport. She is a dual citizen of Australia and America and her mother is an Indigenous Australian. She grew up playing all sorts of sports with her brothers but fell in love with basketball. She spent her childhood travelling around America playing in countless basketball tournaments. She attended the University of Idaho and then Utah, playing college basketball for them both. She has now been playing professional basketball for over 11 years now and played in the WNBA for 10 years. It has taken her all over Europe, America and Australia.

Now

Leilani is currently playing for Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA. She is also a regular member of the Australian national team the Opals since 2013. She has won bronze with the Opals in the 2014 World Championship and played in the 2016 Olympics where Australia fell in the quarterfinals.

Outside of sport, she has welcomed her first child, a boy, with her partner. She has in total 15 nieces and nephews and is passionate about children, their ideas, and their welfare. She is also vegetarian, passionate about animal cruelty, and protecting & restoring our planet.