WNBA great Candace Parker and wife Anna Petrakova, a former Olympic basketball player for Russia, have announced the birth of their third child with customary flair—and his name includes an homage to legendary college basketball coach Pat Summitt.
The couple famously announced their then-upcoming addition last fall by posting on Instagram, “Mama and Mommy are switching from man-2-man to zone defense this spring!” and continuing with a series of clever, basketball-themed comments. Spring has arrived, as has Hartt Summitt Petrakov Parker—his middle name a nod to Parker’s coach at the University of Tennessee, Pat Summitt. Summitt was the coach with the most all-time wins in college basketball at the time of her retirement in 2012 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom the same year.
“Our Starting lineup is complete,” Parker posted on Instagram, adding, “We are so in love and grateful for our little brother. Zone defense is ummm interesting, but we are managing. Goose is ummm adjusting but he’s doing better with his role as a vet (Mama is a rockstar and we love her soooo much) Thank you @aprilbellephotos for always capturing our fam!”
I think many of us can relate to the changes of adding a sibling to the household! Parker gave birth to her daughter in 2009, between her first and second WNBA seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks, while in a previous relationship. She and Petrakova, who had played on Russia’s Olympic basketball team, then had a son in 2022.
Parker announced her WNBA retirement in April and in May was named president of adidas Women’s Basketball, where she will “will collaborate with the brand to create a powerful platform aimed at influencing and elevating the future of women’s sports,” according to a press statement.
Congratulations to the entire family on their new addition and to all the new beginnings in their lives!
(Addendum: There are shockingly few picture books about kids with LGBTQ parents getting new siblings, but there are a few, which you can find with the “Siblings (New)” tag in my Database of LGBTQ Family Books (along with one book about a trans boy getting a new sibling). Many of the stories involve animal protagonists—fun, though perhaps lacking the impact of human representation—but there are a handful with actual human families.)