MICHELLE BROGAN

6 feet 2 inch (188cm) Forward

1996 and 2000 Olympic Games

The young girl was sitting on the floor right in front of the TV watching the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games.  She turned around to her parents (sitting behind her, telling her to get out the way because she was blocking everyone’s view) and said very clearly, 'I'm going to go to an Olympics one day, I'm going to be right there," pointing to the TV.  Her parents just looked at her and said, "If that’s what you really want then you go do it!"  There was never any doubt in the young girl’s mind that she’d get there! However at that stage she didn't even play basketball! Michelle Kathleen Brogan was born February 8th 1973 in Adelaide, South Australia. “I never put my name down to play basketball my best friend did. It was at school and she made me go. I had dreams of being a ballet dancer. Can you see that a 6’2” girl being picked up and thrown around?” asks Michelle. Michelle was tall for her age and her friend was a good basketball player and they were seen playing and were asked to go to a holiday camp and then try out for our local Club team Noarlunga City Tigers in Adelaide. Michelle’s friend’s mother took them both to the tryouts, paid for both girls and they were both picked in teams. “I made the Under12 first team and Suzanne the Under 12 seconds. I think it was because I was tall. I really didn’t have any skills,” Michelle concludes. Michelle thinks that one of the most fortunate things that happened to her when she first started playing basketball was that she had two different left handed coaches (Mrs Baker and Darryl Crump) for about four to five years. Michelle is right handed. “But when you have left handed coaches they make you do everything just as well with the other hand. It stood me in good stead throughout my career”. This left-handed shooting ability was one of Michelle’s greatest strengths in her career as she repeatedly stepped around opponents near the basket to do her “little running left-hand hooks”. This ability and skill was never better demonstrated than in her dominant games for Australia at the 1996 Olympics against Russia in the Quarter Final and against the Ukraine in the Bronze Medal winning game for the Opals. Through her junior career some of the powers that be at her Club didn’t want Michelle to be brought on too fast, and others wanted her to train with the Open women’s team which contained Olympians Jenny Cheeseman, Julie Nykiel, and Donna Quinn. “Wow what a Club to come into! I saw these Australian players at my own Club nearly every week. You really can’t get better than that! I’m grateful for whoever it was that held me back. I believe they had the foresight to see that I would one day play for our senior team and not to rush it. I was then able to enjoy those earlier years with my own age group,” says Michelle.

“In Under14s I was asked by the Under 16 State Coach to come and try out and I made the team,” recalls Michelle. Michelle went on to play for seven South Australian State teams in the Australian Junior Championships. The first of these was the Under 16 team for which she played for three years, a most unusual performance as a few players might be selected for two years Under 16 representation but three years was a rarity. Her team made the National Final in1988 where they narrowly lost to Victoria. At the National Under 16 Championships Michelle was seen and chosen as one of the top fourteen players in her age group at the tournament to go to the All Australian Camp at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra for one weeks training in January the following year. “I didn’t even know what the AIS was! I couldn’t believe it! I was the youngest there at thirteen. Once there I saw what I wanted.......a scholarship for as long as I could,” remembers Michelle. It wasn’t long before that scholarship came. In a most unusual occurrence Michelle was offered a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) at the age of fourteen. At that time most girls on scholarship came to the AIS at sixteen or seventeen years of age. Michelle says, “I was living at the AIS at fourteen and loving it. I stayed for three years and would have loved more years there. The AIS was the most inflectional part of my life. Adrian Hurley as my guiding father, Phil Brown and Jenny Cheesman, a fellow South Australian, as my wonderfully patient coaches. I really never have the words to really thank or describe what the AIS did for me. I went in a tall, unskilled but prudentially serviceable basketball player and came out a young woman with the basketball world at her feet!” At the AIS Michelle demonstrated her great willingness to learn and get better. At this stage she had reached 6’2” in height was very versatile on the court particularly playing centre or forward, had a big heart and loved to scrap for rebounds and of course a rare ability to shoot with either hand. Her step through moves around the basket were bamboozling senior players even at this stage as the AIS Women’s Team played in the premier women’s league in Australia, the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL). Michelle played in the WNBL for three seasons with the AIS in 1988, 1989, and 1990. While at the AIS she also played for South Australia in the SA Under 16 team (1987-1988) and the Under 18 team (1989-1990) at the Australian National Championships. After her great years at the AIS Michelle moved back to Adelaide to play for Noarlunga in the WNBL in 1991. The Adelaide teams were amalgamated into the Adelaide Lightning and she spent the next five years playing for Adelaide in the WNBL and winning the WNBL title in 1995 and 1996.

“Shortly after leaving the AIS I had the privilege of playing a season with Donna Brown and loved every minute of it. I would have to say that once I left the AIS she would have been one of my biggest influences. Her drive, endeavour, work ethic and love for competition were infectious. I suppose you can say I modelled parts of my game from her,” says Michelle. In 1997 Michele moved to Sydney to play for the Sydney Flames in the 1997 and 1998 WNBL seasons. From Sydney she moved to Melbourne to play with the Melbourne Club in the 1999/01 WNBL season, back to Adelaide for 2001/02-2003/4 seasons and then to Dandenong in Melbourne for the 2007/8 WNBL season. In her long and prestigious career in Australia’s premier Women’s League, the WNBL, Michelle’s teams won four WNBL titles (1994, 1995, 1996 with Adelaide and 1997 with Sydney). That is four championships in four years, with two different clubs! She was the WNBL Youth Player of the Year in 1991, Most Valuable Player in 1998, and a member of the WNBL All Star Five in 1992 and 1998. She was awarded Life Membership of the WNBL in the 2003/04 season. Michelle’s international career commenced with her selection to the Australian Youth Team to tour the USA in 1990. In 1991 she played with the Youth Team in the first Olympic Youth Rally. The next year she played with the Youth Team in the Oceania Qualification Series, in the William Jones Cup in Taiwan and against the South West All Stars from the USA before finishing the year with a tour to Europe. She debuted for the Australian National Team in 1992 in a six match series against China. She was nineteen years of age. In 1993 Michelle continued with the Youth team and played against Japan, Korea, Athletes in Action, in the Malaysian Cup, and against the Ukraine National Team. She also played for the Australian Women’s Team against the Ukraine. She was part of history when she was a member (Co-captain) of the Australian Women’s Youth team that won Australia’s first ever Gold Medal in a World Championship when Australia won the 1993 World Youth Championships which were held in Korea. The year was rounded out for Michelle when she toured China with the Australian Women’s Team. The task now for Michelle was to win selection on the Australian Team for the 1994 World Championships that were to be held in Australia. Michelle played for the Australian Team (now called the Opals) in series in Australia against Japan, Russia and Bulgaria, then in the Pre-OZ94 Games (against Brazil, USA, France and Canada). Michelle was selected on the Opals team for the 1994 World Women’s Championships. The Opals played great basketball in front of their home crowds and finished in 4th position. Matches in 1995 against Korea, in the Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament, the Goldmark Cup against China and a tour to Europe completed Michelle’s year with the Opals.

The 1996 Atlanta Olympics were Michelle’s target. Could she fulfil the statement she made so many years ago at home in front of the television? Her dream came true when she was selected to the Opals team for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. The Opals played in a series against the USA, Cuba and the Ukraine in the US and then in two pre-Olympic tournaments (Canada and the USA) before arriving in Atlanta. Michelle played outstanding basketball in the Olympic Basketball Tournament and was instrumental in Australia winning its first ever Olympic medal when they won the Bronze Medal. She had a huge game against Russia in the Quarter Final to keep the Opals hopes for a medal alive. Her game in the Bronze Medal Game against the Ukraine where she top scored with nineteen points was inspirational and played a huge part in Australia’s victory. Michelle was named the Basketball Australia International Player of the Year in 1995 and 1997. In 1997 Michelle played for the Opals against Japan, Russia, in the Oceania World Championship Qualification Tournament, in the USQ Invitational in the USA, and in the V1 Golden Cup in Brazil. The 1998 World Championships were looming and Michelle and the Opals were set on proving that their medal in Atlanta was no “flash in the pan”. After games against Brazil in Australia, playing in the Japan Women’s Basketball Tournament, the Grand Prix in Slovakia and a tournament in Portugal Michelle and Opals arrived in Germany for the 13th Women’s World Basketball Championships. The Opals excelled once again and backed up their performance in the Atlanta Olympic Games by once again taking a Bronze Medal at a major championship. In 1998 Michelle played for the Phoenix Mercury in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) in the USA. That season she set a WNBA record with 9 steals in one game! This feat clearly demonstrates her great anticipation and desire. After the 1998 WNBA season she went to play for Schio Italy but did not finish the season as she became pregnant. She returned to Phoenix for the 1999 season in a non-playing capacity and then played with Phoenix in the 2000 WNBA season before returning to Australia. Even though she had not played for the Opals since 1998 Michelle was selected to play for the Opals in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

This was a dream come true for her as she was to play an Olympic Games in her own country in front of family and friends. Michelle played for the Opals against New Zealand, in the C7 International Challenge, and then against the USA and Brazil leading into the Olympic Games. The Opals played outstanding basketball in the Sydney 2000 Olympics and won all their games except the final. The Opals won Australia’s first ever Silver Medal at an Olympic Games. However Michelle’s international career was far from over. She played and captained the Opals in the East Asia Games in 2001, played in 2002 in series against Japan and Lithuania and in the Opals World Challenge before playing in the 2002 Women’s World Championships that were held in China. The Opals continued their run of medals in world competition when they won a Bronze Medal at the World Championships. In 2003 she played for the Opals on a tour to Greece, Belgium and France. She was a member of the Opals squad for the 2004 Athens Olympics but withdrew due to family commitments as she had a young son. She withdrew from the Opals squad prior to the 2006 World Championships as she now had a one month old baby boy as well as a young son. In January 2007 Michelle met with Opals coach Jan Stirling and made herself available for the Opals after three years out of the game. She was 34 years of age. She recalls, “In one of the greatest tests in my career I had to lose a deal of weight, get fit and demonstrate that I still had it.” She was selected to tour to Europe with the Opals in August 2007. Unfortunately she was injured on tour and was not selected for the Olympic Team. “I was very proud of how far I had gone.....Not just getting back into shape but more importantly finding out about myself,” says Michelle. She retired from all basketball after the tour to Europe with the Opals. Michelle Brogan retired from basketball as a dual Olympian, a four time WNBL Championship winning player, an Olympic Silver medallist, an Olympic Bronze Medallist, a twice World Championship Bronze Medallist and a World Youth Championship Gold Medallist as well as multi-award winner in the WNBL and for the Opals.

From a young fourteen year old at the AIS Michelle Brogan went on to have a distinguished career in basketball. She demonstrated that effort, self-belief, skill, intelligent play, anticipation and sheer desire can take players to heights they dream or never dream about. She was one of the Opals greats. Michelle concludes. “I have never believed in luck when it comes to basketball, I believe you create your own opportunities. You take what is in front of you. I don’t know what I did right in my life but whatever it was I can’t be grateful enough for to those who helped me with the opportunities I have had. I didn’t just take what was in front of me I grabbed it with both hands and ran as far as I could with it.”