Alex Ciabattoni had no idea if she'd play again when she gave birth only 20 months ago, but not only has she returned, she had a standout WNBL season at the Perth Lynx, and will be key for Cockburn Cougars in Saturday's NBL1 West Grand Final.
Ahead of giving birth to her and partner James Goodlad's first child, Elijah, in January last year and Ciabattoni was content with the prospect that her playing career might be over.
She was comfortable with what she had achieved as well and rightfully so having grown up in Adelaide where she started playing basketball before going to college for three years, and playing all over Australia and with stints in Italy as well.
Along with three years at Newman University, Ciabattoni had played in the WNBL at both the Adelaide Lightning and Perth Lynx, with the Southern Tigers, Hobart Chargers, Eastern Suns, Rockingham Flames and South West Slammers, and in Italy at Reyer Venezia, Ponzano Basket and Treofan Battipaglia.
Along the way, she was WNBL Rookie of the Year in 2016, won the last SBL championship while at the Rockingham Flames and had achieved more than enough to look back on fondly should her career be over.
She took on the coaching job at the Slammers last season, but as she began to feel better physically, she got the itch to play and hit the floor in eight games for South West. Then Lynx coach Ryan Petrik put out the feelers that he wanted her back at his WNBL team.
Not only did Ciabattoni return, but she had a standout WNBL season on a Lynx team that made it all the way to the Grand Final and on the back of that, signed to join the Cougars in their NBL1 West championship defence.
Ciabattoni's form at Cockburn has been so outstanding that she was named to the All First Team for the first time and now will be a key player in Saturday's Grand Final against Rockingham at RAC Arena.
Remarkable return to playing
Ciabattoni was genuinely unsure what her basketball future was once she became a mother for the first time in January last year, but she freely admits to have even surprised herself with what her return has been like.
With the Lynx one win from a championship, she played almost 20 minutes a game and was putting up 5.8 points, 2.2 assists and 1.8 rebounds while shooting at 53 per cent from the field.
Then once her WNBL commitments were done, she threw herself into the championship defence with the Cougars and has been brilliant going at 19.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.5 assists while shooting at 58 per cent from the floor.
You can make the case she has played the best 12 months of basketball of her life and has done it as a mother.
"Even when I decided to have a baby, I did think I was done playing more than likely so I definitely didn’t expect to come back and contribute like I did in WNBL," Ciabattoni said.
"Then to come into this season feeling fit and ready, and in shape after that WNBL season I think everyone has kind of seen what the comeback has been like. It's been in front of everyone's eyes.
"I have always enjoyed playing NBL1, but I didn’t think I would come back and have the impact that I've been able to have this season that's for sure."
Excitement to reach another Grand Final
Ciabattoni is no stranger to the Grand Final stage having won an SBL championship with Rockingham back in 2019 and having played in two Grand Final series in the WNBL with the Lynx over the past three seasons.
It was always the hope to try and help the Cougars back to earning the chance to defend the championship they won last year, and she is now excited for what lies ahead on Saturday.
"It was one of the reasons I signed up was to have that chance to be part of a competitive team and hopefully compete for another championship," Ciabattoni said.
"It's definitely exciting now to get back to this point and even though I have been to a few Grand Finals recently, you still always get a bit nervous.
"It's exciting, though, and our whole team has been preparing for this all year and it's been our goal from the start. So to be able to achieve that and make the Grand Final is huge for us and it's been a big motivator through all the training, extra sessions and everything we've done."
Getting to play at RAC Arena
One thing that will be new about Saturday's Grand Final for Ciabattoni, though, is the venue with the first ever decider to be held in the heart of the Perth city at RAC Arena.
While she has played in front of some hostile environments in Europe which the Perth crowd might not quite live up to, she expects numbers wise on Saturday to be the biggest crowd she's ever played in front of.
"I think it's a huge thing for basketball and it's exciting that we have the opportunity, but I'm not sure how much we've thought about it just yet," Ciabattoni said.
"There honestly is a huge different from playing in such a big arena like that compared to the stadiums we're used to playing in so a lot of the battle for Saturday is going to be which team can handle that pressure and that stadium the better.
"Until you walk in there, I don’t know if anything can fully prepare you for that. Some of the games in Europe we had some games with 5 or 6000 people there, which is also a completely different experience over there with the heckling and yelling and their chants.
"But this could definitely be the biggest crowd I've played in front of. There's that natural element of nerves and excitement that comes with that."
Playing former team in Grand Final
It's a little bit of a strange feeling for Ciabattoni to be coming up against Rockingham in a Grand Final too after winning a championship with the Flames back in 2019.
However, the reality of how quickly players turnover at most NBL1 clubs is that there are precious few teammates there left for her to be coming up against at Rockingham, but she still cherishes the memories she has from that time at the Flames.
"It is a weird feeling. It feels like I'm playing my former club because I was there for a while and I worked at the club, and meant a lot of great people there and obviously won a championship," Ciabattoni said.
"But as far as that relationship or connection goes with the team, I honestly don’t really have one. There's only one girl there, Chloe (Napolitano), who was part of the squad when I was there and everyone else is new."
Another battle with long-time foes
One familiar aspect of Saturday's Grand Final will be some of the faces that Ciabattoni comes up against on the other side of the court.
During her entire 94-game career in the league, Ciabattoni has found herself coming up against Emma Gandini when she was with Willetton and Shani Amos when she was at Joondalup.
Gandini and Amos are now with the Flames as of 2024 so Ciabattoni is looking forward to another battle with two of most tenacious and experienced guards across the competition not to mention Robbi Ryan.
"It will be good and it's always good to play against those type of players," Ciabattoni said.
"It's always serious and competitive when you're out on the court, but the great thing about them both is that we can have a bit of a laugh afterwards and there's no bad blood or anything at all between us.
"It's always great to see them and we always go at it hard, but as soon as the game is done it's straight back to being friends especially the ones you are former teammates with because you have that natural connection."
Team peaking at the right time
While Ciabattoni is in her first season with the Cougars, it's not as if it's a team without familiar faces given she played with Jewel Williams in the back court at the Eastern Suns and then with Steph Gorman this past WNBL season at the Lynx.
She is also a former teammate of Jessie Edwards at both the Suns and Lynx so that was all part of the reason why she was so keen to come on board in 2024.
Then as the season has unfolded, the Cougars have only continued to improve to now be entering Saturday's Grand Final having won 10 of the past 11 games and she couldn’t be happier with the form they are in.
"I definitely think we've been building and i feel like we are peaking at the right time," Ciabattoni said.
"It's always hard with these seasons where everyone is coming in at different times, and it can take some time for your team to gel. So you try to make sure that when you get to the end of the season that's when everything is falling into place.
"Obviously you never want to lose games early either, but I feel like every game we lost we learnt from which is all you can ask for. It's definitely given us that bit more motivation and desire to come out and win in this second half of the season to show what we can do."
Last 20 months as a mother
As Ciabattoni's son Elijah now approaches his second birthday, she initially thought the full-time care he needed as a newborn would be as full on raising him would get.
How wrong she proved to be, because as he continues to grow his energy levels and cheekiness only increases. And while she might not be able to afford to take her eyes off him, she wouldn’t change a thing about the whole experience.
"I thought the newborn stage was hard but this is a completely different ball game again," Ciabattoni said.
"It is a lot of fun and he's a really bubbly, fun kid but he also just wants to run constantly. It is hectic in our household at the moment because he's always running or climbing on something.
"You turn around for one second and he's standing on the couch so it is full on, but it is so great and exciting at the same time to continually see him grow and develop. It's been amazing."
