Pulteney partners with Adelaide Lightning to create opportunities on and off the court
Pulteney Grammar School is delighted to announce an exciting new partnership with the Adelaide Lightning, bringing together two organisations with a shared commitment to developing young people, creating opportunity and supporting excellence.
As part of the two-year partnership, Pulteney has become the training home of the relaunched Adelaide Lightning Academy, a high-performance program designed to create a direct pathway for South Australia’s emerging female basketball talent towards the WNBL. Led by Adelaide Lightning Head Coach Aja Parham-Ammar, the six-week intensive Academy brings together some of South Australia’s most talented female athletes aged 17 to 25, exposing them to the training standards, strategic concepts and style of play used by the senior Lightning squad.
For some participants, the pathway could be immediate, with up to five Academy athletes given the opportunity to travel with Adelaide Lightning to the WNBL Preseason Tournament, the Townsville Tip-Off.
“This isn’t just a training squad; it’s a genuine pathway,” Ms Parham-Ammar said. “We will be actively evaluating these athletes throughout the six weeks for roles as Development Players, Training Players and future Lightning roster spots.”
Pulteney Principal Greg Atterton said the partnership reflects the School’s commitment to creating experiences that extend learning beyond the classroom. “At Pulteney, we want our young people to see what is possible when talent is matched with hard work, courage, resilience and a willingness to keep learning. We are also incredibly proud to support elite female sport in South Australia and a program that is creating a visible pathway for talented young women to progress towards professional basketball.”
Opportunities for Pulteney students
Importantly, the partnership extends well beyond hosting the Adelaide Lightning Academy. Over the next two years, Pulteney students will have opportunities to connect with Lightning players and coaches through basketball clinics, career pathways and student leadership forums, wellbeing and resilience workshops, selected training sessions and game-day experiences.
Pulteney Head of Sport Jack Garrad said the partnership would provide students with valuable exposure to the people and practices behind elite sport. “Having Adelaide Lightning athletes and coaches engaging directly with our students is incredibly exciting, but what I particularly value is the breadth of what our students will be exposed to,” Mr Garrad said.
“High-performance sport is about much more than what happens on the court. It is about leadership, teamwork, resilience and preparation. For our students to learn from people operating at an elite level, while also seeing a genuine pathway for talented female basketballers here in South Australia, is enormously powerful.”
Supporting pathways for women in sport
The Adelaide Lightning Academy will work in close alignment with Basketball SA’s Female Participation Strategy, reinforcing a shared commitment to retaining girls and women in basketball by providing clear and visible pathways to the highest levels of the sport.
For Pulteney, the partnership is an opportunity to support elite female sport in South Australia while giving our students the chance to see high performance up close, connect with inspiring role models and discover where commitment, teamwork, resilience and ambition can lead.
We look forward to seeing the partnership with Adelaide Lightning come to life across the Pulteney community, on and off the court.
