Lisa Alexander (netball)

Lisa Alexander
AM
Personal information
Occupation Teacher, Netball coach
Coaching career
Years Team(s)
ca. 2002–03 Melbourne Phoenix
2006–07 Australia U21
2008–11 Adelaide Thunderbirds (asst)
2009 World VII (asst)
2011–2020  Australia

Lisa Michelle Alexander AM is a retired Australian netball player and coach. She coached the Australia national netball team from 2011 to 2020.

Career

Alexander is a former Victorian state representative player and a member of the Australian senior wider squad. She was head coach of the Melbourne Phoenix in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy, taking the team to two title wins in 2002 and 2003. She was appointed head coach of the Australian U21 netball team from 2006–07. With the start of the ANZ Championship in 2008, Alexander was appointed assistant coach of the Adelaide Thunderbirds, under head coach Jane Woodlands-Thompson. The Thunderbirds won the ANZ Championship title in 2009. That year she was also an assistant coach for the World 7 team during the 2009 Taini Jamison Trophy Series.[1][2]

On 11 August 2011, Alexander was named as the head coach of the Australia national netball team. She took over the position from Norma Plummer, who stepped down after the 2011 World Netball Championships to coach the West Coast Fever in the ANZ Championship from 2012.[1] Alexander coached the Diamonds for 102 test matches, becoming the most capped Australian coach of all time. She oversaw gold medal successes at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2015 Netball World Cup, as well as silver medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2019 Netball World Cup. Her Diamonds coaching career ended in March 2020 after Netball Australia declined to extend her contract.[3] As Australian coach Alexander won 83 of her 102 test matches, an impressive 81% winning record.[4][5]

Personal accolades

On 30 July 2000, she was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for services to netball as a player and in the area of coaching and player development.[6] She was awarded the AIS Sport Performance Awards Coach of the Year for 2014.[7] In the 2021 Australia Day Honours, Alexander was made a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to netball at the elite level.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b "Alexander is new Australia netball coach". The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 August 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  2. ^ Netball Australia (11 August 2011). "Alexander appointed Diamonds coach". Archived from the original on 18 August 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  3. ^ "Australian Diamonds Coach To Step Aside". Netball Australia. 11 February 2020.
  4. ^ "Netball Australia's 'appetite for change' seals Lisa Alexander's Diamonds fate". The Guardian. 11 February 2020.
  5. ^ "Outgoing Australia netball coach Lisa Alexander reflects on her plans after the Diamonds job". ABC News. 15 February 2020.
  6. ^ "Lisa Alexander". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  7. ^ "Rabbitohs, Fearnley, Fox win top ASPAS". Australian Sports Commission News, 11 February 2015. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  8. ^ "Ms Lisa Michelle ALEXANDER". It's an Honour. Australian Government. Retrieved 25 January 2021.