Basketball Hall of Fame member, three-time WNBA Most Valuable Player and four-time Olympian Lauren Jackson will be making a return to basketball, coming out of retirement after over 6 years away from the game.

Lauren Jackson Return to Play

• Opals legend Lauren Jackson went into retirement in 2016 due to a chronic injury.
• Jackson will return to play for her hometown side Albury Wodonga in the NBL1.
• The Opals are hosting a home World Cup later this year in Sydney, NSW.

More Australian women’s basketball news can be found on The Women’s Game.

Jackson originally retired from the sport in 2016 because of a chronic knee injury.  She has credited a medical cannabis trial and weight loss as her road back to basketball.  At the time of her retirement Jackson was considered one of the finest female players in the history of the sport.

When interviewed by The Australian, Jackson spoke of returning to the sport and her decision to leave all doors open, including a possible Opals return: 

“When I played in America and Europe, overseas living the dream, there were times when I just wished I played for Albury at home so…

Basketball Australia made a major announcement with regards to Opals assistant coach Paul Goriss and WNBL referee Simon Cosier earlier this week.  This followed their Opals Home World Cup squad announcement in early December which included a major player missing.

Opals major announcements in December

• UC Capitals coach Paul Goriss and referee Simon Cosier banned.
• Goriss is also a current Opals assistant coach.
• The upcoming Home World Cup squad was released without Liz Cabbage named.

More Australian women’s sporting news can be found on The Women’s Game.

The Women’s National Basketball League had been underway for less than two weeks this season when it was hit by a major breach of sporting integrity scandal.  

Opals assistant coach Paul Goriss, who is also currently head coach of the UC Capitals, and WNBL referee Simon Cossier were found guilty of prohibited conduct under Basketball Australia’s National Framework for Ethical Behaviour and Integrity in Basketball.

Cossier was found to have given Goriss a training scrimmage video of WNBL opponents Sydney Uni Flames.  The referee had been given the footage to use…

The 42nd season of the WNBL starts on Saturday, December 4, 2021.  The league’s new campaign follows a season of ups and downs for Australian women’s basketball.

Women’s National Basketball League 2021-22

• 42nd season of the Women’s National Basketball League first established in 1981.
• Southside Flyers enter this campaign as reigning champions.
• Season will consist of an 84-fixtures available on ABC, Fox Sports and Kayo. 

Further WNBL information can be found on their website. 

Unlike the 2020 season, which consisted of a six-week condensed calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021-22 season returns to a home-and-away calendar with semi and a grand final series. 

The season follows a year of ups and downs for Australian women’s basketball, one that saw the Opals finish in their lowest position at the Olympic Games since the WNBL was established but concluded with the national team winning bronze in October at the FIBA Asia Cup. 

This WNBL season will include a number of the Opals in that squad.   Several WNBA players are also joining WNBL teams.  The Canberra Capitals have signed WNBA all star Brittney…

More individuals have climbed Everest than have swam across the English Channel swim. The 34km Channel swim is regarded by many as the most challenging and iconic marathon swim in the world.  

Chloë McCardel’s incredible record breaking career

• Most single crossings of the English Channel by a swimmer.
• Longest continuous, unassisted, open ocean swim in neutral currents.
• McCardel uses her profile to advocate for domestic violence survivors.

36-year old Australian Chloë McCardel has swam across the English Channel for a record breaking 44th time on Wednesday, October 13, 2021, beating the previous world record of 43 crossings.  It took her 12 years to accomplish this feat, having first crossed the channel in 2009, aged 24.

She had broken the men’s world record of 34 crossings last year, and with this 44th crossing has surpassed the world record previously held by British swimmer Alison Stretter.  McCardel tied Stretter’s record 6 days prior to her record setting crossing.

A single crossing to cover the 34 km distance takes 10 to 11 1/2 hours to complete and requires McCardel to make at least 36000 arm…

The Townsville Fire point guard is tipped by many pundits to go in the top 10 and possibly in the top five.

 

The daughter of four time Olympian and Boomers legend Shane, Heal had a strong 2020 WNBL campaign with the Fire, winning the league’s Youth Player of the Year award and adding to her already impressive credentials.

 

Heal finished the season averaging 16.7 points per game (Top 5 in the league), 4.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game as she led the Fire to a grand final appearance. 

 

The teenager saved her best performances for the big games, nailing 30 points, seven assists and four steals in a semi-final loss to Southside Flyers. She backed this up with 28 points, five rebounds and two steals in a preliminary-final victory over Melbourne Boomers which saw the Fire make the decider, where they ultimately went down to the Flyers.

 

Heal has already represented Australia at junior levels, collecting a number of team and individual awards, and last July was named in the Opals 23 player squad in preparation for this year’s Tokyo Olympics. 

 

It’s been a stellar ride for the youngster, who first played in the WNBL as a 14-year-old. She chose not to play college basketball and rejected big money overtures from Europe…

This squad announcement comes ahead of a busy year for the Opals.

Qualification for next year’s Asian Cup are still currently scheduled for November of this year.  A WNBL season will then follow it. The Opals then compete in the 2021 Toyko Olympics for which they have already qualified.  This will be followed by the 2021 Asia Cup.  

During this period the national team will hope to gain momentum not just entering the next Olympic year, but they will want to sustain any possible progress and success entering 2022.  This is when Australia is set to host the 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup.

Preparing for all major upcoming tournaments and creating a squad for both the present and the future is therefore imperative.  This is the reason for the expansion made by Opals Head Coach Sandy Brondello who has included twenty-three players in her squad.  

The twenty-three players will get a chance to demonstrate their skill and game in order to gain selection on the final roster.  Brondello reserves the right to increase or reduce the size of the squad depending on individual performances and competition…

The WNBA have announced that they are in the final stages of preparing a shortened 22-game regular season with a traditional playoff format.  The season, whose May 15 opening was postponed in April, is slated to start in late July.  The schedule and matchups are pending.

The league’s season will be played in its entirety at IMG Academy, a private boarding school and sports training center, located in Bradenton, Florida.  This is approximately 100 km from Orlando, Florida where the NBA has proposed to finish their season.

As the WNBL prepares for the 2020-21 season, which it announced earlier this week to start on the 20-21 of November, 2020 with a 21 match schedule, it’s free agency period opened yesterday.

At present there are 61 free agents currently up for grabs by the league’s eight teams.  This list includes several Opals in Adelaide Lighting’s Lauren Nicholson, Perth Lynx’s Lauren Mansfield, Sydney Uni Flames’ Alice Kunek and Alex Wilson, Townsville Fire’s Darcee Garbin and Tess Madgen.

At present no information has been stated about the contracting of foreign players, with future travel restrictions still unknown.  However, there is also a possibility of return by a number of Opals currently contracted by the WNBA, that is Bec Allen, Liz Cambage, Alanna Smith and Sami Whitcomb.  

Basketball Australia’s head of Women in Basketball Lauren Jackson, when speaking to the WNBL website stated:  

“The WNBL should be considered the template for how to develop world-class athletes for both domestic and international honours while delivering a product which is envied by the rest of the world.

“We are entering an extremely…

The upcoming season, named the 2020-21 Chemist Warehouse WNBL Season, will go ahead and is planned to comprise of the full 21-round competition for the league’s eight teams.  

The opening round is currently scheduled to start on the 20-21 of November, 2020 with the final round ending on the 2-6 of March, 2021.  The Semi-Finals Series is due to occur from the 12-21 of March, 2021 and the Grand Final Series is set to be played from the 25-31 of March, 2021.

The competition is slated to start six weeks later than normal in an effort to align the season’s start with the expected state and federal governments’ COVID-19 return to play guidelines for elite sport and public movement between states and territories.  

These guidelines should allow for fans to attend games in person later on in the 2020-21 season. While there’s no information, this is not expected to occur before Christmas. This could be subject to change.

A competition with no crowds would have a major financial impact on all WNBL clubs.  Basketball Australia has stated though that the current league minimum player payment for Australian players would…

“Being six foot eight [2.03m] since I was 16 has not been easy at all,” the new Elle coverstar told the magazine, in a new feature on Australia’s top female athletes.

“Growing up and being bullied, it’s not a sad story for me. It’s defined me and what made me so strong.”

Cambage has spoken many times publicly about the effect her height had on her growing up, but insists that it’s made her stronger as a person and an athlete.

Cambage is not only an Opals and WNBA superstar, but has often become a fixture at many Melbourne events and around the city’s diverse nightlife.

Cambage famously wrote an open letter to WNBA club Las Vegas Aces fans after missing a match due to mental health concerns, and now says it was a key move on her part.

“I’ve battled mental health problems – first, anxiety, and later the depression that anxiety can trigger, on and off for about half my life,” Cambage continued.

“My mental health has negatively impacted my ability to do my job. When I disappeared for a game and a half, I couldn’t just come back and act like nothing had happened. It was like therapy for me to be open about…