Phil Brown is an Australian basketball coach and coached the Australian Institute of Sport Women's Team 1986 to 2005 and 2009 to 2013.
In his high school days, Brown played cricket and but was drawn back to basketball in the early 1970s. [1] Brown played for the Canberra Cannons in the National Basketball League from 1981 to 1983. After his playing career, he moved into coaching with his first major appointments being ACT Basketball State Junior Coach from 1983-1989 and Assistant Coach Canberra Cannons from 1986 to 1987.
In 1986, he was appointed Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Women's Assistant Coach and in 1991 was appointed Head Coach in 1991. In 1993, National Junior Women's Team won the World Championship and all players were current (four) and former AIS scholarship holders. Another highlight for Brown was coaching the young AIS team to win the 1988-1999 WNBL Premiership. [2]
Leading Australian players coached by Brown at the AIS include Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor, Kristi Harrower, Kristen Veal, Suzy Batkovic, Belinda Snell, Jenni Screen, Carla Boyd, Jenna O'Hea, Laura Summerton and Michelle Brogan. These players were significant contributors to Opals medal success at the Olympic Games from 1996 to 2012 and World Championships 1998 to 2014. [3]
In 2005, Brown left the AIS to take up the position of Associate Head Coach of the University of Oregon Women's Basketball Team. In 2009, he returned to Australia to again become Head Coach of the AIS Women's Program. [4]
In November 2013, Brown was named Basketball ACT's Head of High Performance and Coaching. [5]
The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Basketball League (NBL).
Suzy Batkovic is an Australian professional basketball player and politician. Suzy played her junior basketball with the Port Hunter Basketball Club in Newcastle. She has played basketball for several European clubs including the French Valenciennes, the Spanish side Ros Casares, the Russian side UMMC Ekaterinburg, and Italian side Cras Basket. In the United States, she has played for the Seattle Storm after having been selected as a first round draft pick in 2003. She has played professional basketball domestically for the Australian Institute of Sport in 1996–1999, the Sydney Uni Flames from 1999–2001, and 2009–2010, the Townsville Fire in 2001–2002, the Canberra Capitals in 2010–2011, and the Adelaide Lightning in 2011–2013; she returned to the Fire for the 2013–14 season. She has been a member of the Australia women's national basketball team, being named to the team for the first time in 1999. She won a silver medal with the team at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
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