Suzy Batkovic Explained

Suzy Batkovic
Office:Councillor of the City of Townsville
for Division 6
Term Start:28 March 2020
Predecessor:Verena Coombe
Party:Team Jenny Hill
Nationality:Australian
Birth Name:Suzy Batkovic
Birth Date:17 December 1980
Birth Place:Newcastle, New South Wales
Module:
Embed:yes
Suzy Batkovic
Number:8
Position:Center
Height:193cm (76inches)[1]
Weight Lbs:197
Draft League:WNBA
Draft Year:2003
Draft Round:2
Draft Pick:22
Draft Team:Seattle Storm
Career Start:2003
Career End:2019
Years1:1996–1999
Team1:Australian Institute of Sport
Years2:1999–2001
Team2:Sydney Uni Flames
Years3:2001–2002
Team3:Townsville Fire
Years4:2005
Team4:Seattle Storm
Years5:2009
Team5:Seattle Storm
Years6:2009–2010
Team6:Sydney Uni Flames
Years7:2010–2011
Team7:Canberra Capitals
Years8:2011–2013
Team8:Adelaide Lightning
Years9:2013–2019
Team9:Townsville Fire
Highlights:
Wnba Profile:suzy_batkovic
Bbr Wnba:batkosu01w
Letter:b

Suzy Batkovic (born 17 December 1980) 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.[2] 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.

After retiring from professional basketball, Batkovic was elected as a Townsville City Councillor in 2020.

Personal

Batkovic was born on 17 December 1980[3] in Newcastle, New South Wales.[3] [4] She is tall.[5] [3] [6]

Basketball

Batkovic is a forward and center.[5] She has played professional basketball for over twenty years.[7] She has won several basketball honours, including being named the 2001 Maher Medal International Player of the Year[3] and the she co-won the 2008 co-winner for the Maher Medal International Player of the Year.[3]

Europe

Batkovic has played basketball for several European clubs[3] including the she played for the French side, Valenciennes in 2002/2003.[3] That season, they won the French championships and finished at the top of the French League ladder.[3] She played for Valenciennes again during the 2003/2004 season, the year the team won the EuroLeague Championship.[3] For the 2004/2005, she played with the Spanish side Ros Casares.[3] She was with a new side for the 2005/2006 season when she played for the Russian side UMMC Ekaterinburg.[3] That season, she was named to the EuroLeague World All-Star team.[3] In 2007/2008, she again played for Ekaterinburg, Russia.[8] In 2008/2009, she played for the Italian side Cras Basket.[3] She averaged 17.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game for the season. Her team won the Italian Serie A championship.[3] She earned being named first-team All-EuroCup while with the team.

WNBA

Batkovic was drafted by the Seattle Storm in 2003[3] [9] [10] and was 22nd pick overall. She was the only Australian drafted by the WNBA that year.[9] Her friend Lauren Jackson was playing on the team at the time.[10] She did play for the Seattle Storm in 2005.[3] [4] In 29 games where she came off the bench to average 15.9 minutes per game, she averaged 6.9 points per game and 3.2 rebounds per game.[10] [11] At that stage, coming back wasn't something I wanted to do in my life. Europe is what I focus on for eight months out of the year."[10] That season, she played 461 total minutes, had 76 total field goals, had 174 total field goal attempts, made 45 total free throws on 58 attempts, had 94 total rebounds of which 26 were offensive and 68 defensive. She finished the season with an efficiency rating of 17.7.[12] She took a year off from WNBA basketball in 2008 because of an injury. She signed with the Seattle Storm again in February 2009.[3] [13] [11] Lauren Jackson was instrumental in her decision to sign with the team.[10]

WNBL

Batkovic had a scholarship with and played for the Australian Institute of Sport in 1996, 1997 and 1998/1999.[3] [14] [15] She won a WNBL Championship with the team during the 1998/1999 season.[3] [16] She played for the Sydney Panthers in 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 seasons, winning WNBL Championship in 2000/2001. She played for the Townsville Fire in 2001/2002.[3] She played for the Sydney Uni Flames during the 2009/2010 season. That season, she was named to the WNBL's All-Star Five.[3] [17] She was the league's Top Shooter, averaging 24.6 points per game.[3] In a 101-49 win for her team over the Australian Institute of Sport, she scored 21 points.[18] In an October 2009 game against the Adelaide Lightning, she scored 29 points.[19] In an October 2009 game against the AIS, she had 21 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three blocks. Her field goal percentage in the AIS game was 40%. She went 9 for 10 at the free throw line.[20] She joined the Canberra Capitals for the 2010/2011 season, missing several games early in the season due to injury.[4] She was named the WNBL player of the week in rounds 12 and 17. The team were runners up in the league's Grand Finals.[3] She played for the Adelaide Lightning in 2011/2012.[5] [21] In an October 2011 game against the Australian Institute of Sport, she scored 22 points in a 97-47 win for Adelaide.[22] Her team lost to the Dandenong Rangers in the preliminary finals.[4] She played centre this season.[4] She was the WNBL League MVP in 2011/2012.[4] She was also named to the WNBL's All-Star Five. This was only the second time in her WNBL career she had earned this honour.[4]

Batkovic repeated as both an All-Star Five member and league MVP in the 2012–13 season.[23] At the end of that season, she became a free agent, and signed a contract to return to the Townsville Fire for the 2013–14 season.[2]

National team

Batkovic played in her first international for Australia in 1999 and has over 110 caps for the Australian senior team.[3] Batkovic had her first call up to the Australian senior women's team in 1999,[3] [24] and continued to be on the team during 2000 and 2001.[3] [25] As a member of the 2001 team, she earned a gold medal at the FIBA Oceania Women's Championship.[3]

Batkovic was a member of the 2002 Australian Senior Women's Team that won a bronze medal in the World Championships in Spain.[3] In 2003, she was a member of the Australian Women's Senior Team that competed in the Oceania Championship Series.[3] [26] She was again with the team in 2005 and 2006.[3] [27] [28] She was injured in 2006, which prevented her from making the national squad that competed at the World Championships in Brazil.[29] She continued to be named to the squad during 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.[3] In late July 2011, she played in a three-game test series against China played in Queensland.[30] She had 12 points and 9 points in the first game against China that Australia won 73-67.[31] She played in September 2011 three game test series against New Zealand. She was a major factor in the Australian's first game win. In the second game, which Australia won 92-73 in Sydney, she scored 19 points overall, 11 coming in the first half.[32] She won a gold medal at the 2011 FIBA Oceania Championship.[3] She was named to the 2012 Australia women's national basketball team.[33] In February 2012, she was named to a short list of 24 eligible players to represent Australia at the Olympics. In late April and early May 2012, she was one of four Australian "big" players to participate in a special training camp for the team.[34] She participated in the national team training camp held from 14 to 18 May 2012 at the Australian Institute of Sport.[35]

Olympics

She has represented Australia at the Olympics.[13] She was a member of the Australian senior team that won a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.[3] [7] In March 2007, she was named to the national team what would prepare for the 2008 Summer Olympics.[36] In 2008, she participated in the Good Luck Beijing 2008 held in China in the lead up to the Olympics. Her team was joined by national teams from United States, Cuba, Korea, New Zealand and China. She was a member of the 2008 Summer Olympics Australian women's team that won a silver medal at the Olympics.[3] [7] [37] [38] In July 2011, she participated in the Olympic qualification competition. She had not played a game with the team prior to this dating back to the Beijing Olympics.[39] She played in the 2012 Summer Olympic qualifying game against the New Zealand women's national basketball team.[40]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Suzy Batkovic . . . 17 January 2014 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20131113221637/http://london2012.olympics.com.au/athlete/suzy-batkovic . 13 November 2013.
  2. Opal Batkovic Signs With Townsville . Women's National Basketball League . 3 April 2013 . 12 May 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140407103317/http://www.wnbl.com.au/index.php?id=81&tx_ttnews%5bpointer%5d=1&tx_ttnews%5btt_news%5d=4425&tx_ttnews%5bbackPid%5d=11&cHash=becd21d738 . 7 April 2014.
  3. Web site: Player statistics for Suzy Batkovic . SportingPulse . 2012-05-08 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20141216163503/http://www.sportingpulse.com/nfnn/team_info.cgi?action=PSTATS&client=1-5951-84551-184852-15915922&pID=189773892&pname=Suzy%20Batkovic&news_task=DETAIL . 16 December 2014.
  4. Web site: Kerry . Craig . Suzy Batkovic wins WNBL gong — Local News — Sport — Basketball . Newcastle Herald . 27 March 2012 . 2012-05-08 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120410014743/http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/sport/basketball/suzy-batkovic-wins-wnbl-gong/2501574.aspx . 10 April 2012.
  5. Web site: London 2012 - 2012 Australian Opals squad named . . . 16 February 2012 . 2012-05-02 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120424214515/http://london2012.olympics.com.au/news/2012-australian-opals-squad-named . 24 April 2012.
  6. Web site: 'Warhorse' Jackson heads team for world champs - Basketball - Sport . . 8 August 2006 . 2012-05-11 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150924195330/http://www.smh.com.au/news/basketball/warhorse-jackson-heads-team-for-world-champs/2006/08/08/1154802861419.html?page=2 . 24 September 2015.
  7. Web site: Callinan . Josh . Suzy Batkovic . Australian Broadcasting Corp . 26 September 2011 . 2012-05-08 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20111020194406/http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2011/09/22/3323611.htm?site=newcastle . 20 October 2011.
  8. Web site: 8 April 2008 . Opals twelve for Beijing test selected . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131219185711/http://www.sportsaustralia.com/articles/news.php?id=3435 . 19 December 2013 . 2012-05-08 . SportsAustralia.com.
  9. Web site: Batkovic joins Jackson in WNBA . The Age . Melbourne . 26 April 2003 . 2012-05-08 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150908061620/http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/26/1051316048515.html . 8 September 2015.
  10. Web site: Evans . Jayda . Storm | Behind-the-scenes story about Suzy Batkovic return to Storm | Seattle Times Newspaper . Seattletimes.nwsource.com . 18 June 2009 . 2012-05-08 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20090619205419/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/storm/2009352281_storm18.html . 19 June 2009.
  11. Web site: Seattle Storm re-sign Suzy Batkovic . USA Today . 20 February 2009 . 2012-05-08 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20090324232231/http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/wnba/2009-02-20-1680255605_x.htm . 24 March 2009.
  12. Web site: Suzy Batkovic WNBA Statistics . Basketball-Reference.com . 2012-05-11 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20121107002343/http://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/players/b/batkosu01w.html . 7 November 2012.
  13. Web site: Evans . Jayda . Storm | Suzy Batkovic returning to play for Storm | Seattle Times Newspaper . The Seattle Times . 21 February 2009 . 2012-05-08.
  14. Book: 62 . AIS Basketball 2011 . . Australian Institute of Sport . Australian Institute of Sport . 2011 . Basketball Australia . Basketball Australia . Canberra. This is a booklet published by the Australian Sport Commission, has a copyright notice on the page following the cover page.
  15. Web site: Past Athletes : Australian Institute of Sport : Australian Sports Commission . Australian Sport Commission . 2012-05-11 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140212073754/http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/sports/basketball/athletes/past_athletes . 12 February 2014.
  16. Web site: Nagy . Boti . Lightning teach a lesson, ultimately . Adelaide Now . 16 November 2009 . 2012-05-09.
  17. IiNet WNBL Finals Series . 2010/2011 . WNBL . 2011 . Basketball Australia . Diane . Smith-Gander . 6–7 . Canberra Capitals. Official Programme
  18. Web site: Flames run riot against AIS — ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) . Abc.net.au . 2 December 2009 . 2012-05-09 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140407090946/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-12-02/flames-run-riot-against-ais/1166752 . 7 April 2014.
  19. Web site: Fire, Lightning off to winning starts — ABC Sydney — Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Abc.net.au . 4 October 2009 . 2012-05-09 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140407090930/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/04/2704459.htm?site=sydney . 7 April 2014.
  20. News: Rangers push Lightning to the limit — ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) . ABC News . 30 October 2009 . Abc.net.au . 2012-05-11 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140119183457/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-10-30/rangers-push-lightning-to-the-limit/1123772 . 19 January 2014.
  21. Web site: Nagy . Boti . Lightning target Laura Hodges to counter Bishop . Adelaide Now . 16 April 2012 . 2012-05-07 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120423032927/http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/basketball/lightning-target-laura-hodges-to-counter-bishop/story-e6frect3-1226328219799 . 23 April 2012.
  22. News: Belinda Snell, Alicia Poto Set Sydney on Fire in the WNBL . The Australian . 2012-05-08 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140417134417/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/belinda-snell-alicia-poto-set-sydney-on-fire-in-the-wnbl/story-e6frg7mf-1226174549455 . 17 April 2014.
  23. News: Bernie Harrower earns WNBL Coach of the Year award . Adam . Bourke . . 25 March 2013 . 12 May 2013 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160313220220/http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/1385615/bernie-harrower-earns-wnbl-coach-of-the-year-award/ . 13 March 2016.
  24. Book: 51 . AIS Basketball 2011 . . Australian Institute of Sport . Australian Institute of Sport . 2011 . Basketball Australia . Basketball Australia . Canberra. This is a booklet published by the Australian Sport Commission, has a copyright notice on the page following the cover page.
  25. Book: 50 . AIS Basketball 2011 . . Australian Institute of Sport . Australian Institute of Sport . 2011 . Basketball Australia . Basketball Australia . Canberra. This is a booklet published by the Australian Sport Commission, has a copyright notice on the page following the cover page.
  26. Book: 49 . AIS Basketball 2011 . . Australian Institute of Sport . Australian Institute of Sport . 2011 . Basketball Australia . Basketball Australia . Canberra. This is a booklet published by the Australian Sport Commission, has a copyright notice on the page following the cover page.
  27. Web site: Anstey in from the cold to join Tigers — Basketball . The Age . 10 March 2005 . 2012-05-08 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140322223328/http://www.theage.com.au/news/Basketball/Anstey-in-from-the-cold-to-join-Tigers/2005/03/09/1110316092419.html . 22 March 2014.
  28. Web site: Jessica Foley Selected To 'Price Attack' Opals Team For 2005 :: Foley has set a school record with 66 three-pointers this season . Cstv.com . 9 March 2005 . 2012-05-08 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131012095243/http://www.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/stories/030905aax.html . 12 October 2013.
  29. Web site: Top-strength Opals set for last frontier . The Canberra Times . 4 July 2008 . 2012-05-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140315222030/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/sport/topstrength-opals-set-for-last-frontier-20080704-31k6.html . 15 March 2014.
  30. Web site: Opals missing WNBA stars for China — ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) . Abc.net.au . 13 July 2011 . 2012-05-09 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20110715193341/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-13/opals-name-squad-for-china/2793792 . 15 July 2011.
  31. Web site: Opals withold(sic) fighting Chinese . SportsAustralia.com . 24 July 2011 . 2012-05-09 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150415214404/http://sportsaustralia.com/2011/07/24/opals-withold-fighting-chinese . 15 April 2015.
  32. Web site: Geoff Longley . Tall Ferns lose series against Australia Opals . https://archive.today/20130113090146/http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/basketball/5598364/Tall-Ferns-lose-series-against-Australia . dead . 13 January 2013 . Stuff.co.nz . 9 September 2011 . 2012-05-09.
  33. Web site: Basketball Australia : 2012 Squad . Basketball Australia . 2012 . 1 May 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120507205800/http://www.basketball.net.au/index.php?id=651 . 7 May 2012.
  34. Web site: Opals, Graf think big . 2 May 2012 . Canberratimes.com.au . 2012-05-07 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120504142637/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/sport/basketball/opals-graf-think-big-20120502-1xzjk.html . 4 May 2012.
  35. Web site: AUS — Opals announce training camp squad . FIBA . 6 May 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131104010851/http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/p/newsid/51254/arti.html . 4 November 2013.
  36. Web site: Phillips keeps Opals place . Adelaide Now . 12 March 2007 . 2012-05-08.
  37. Book: 46 . AIS Basketball 2011 . . Australian Institute of Sport . Australian Institute of Sport . 2011 . Basketball Australia . Basketball Australia . Canberra. This is a booklet published by the Australian Sport Commission, has a copyright notice on the page following the cover page.
  38. Web site: Jackson, Taylor to again lead the Opals . Wwos.ninemsn.com.au . 2012-05-09 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100314081839/http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1026769 . 14 March 2010.
  39. Web site: Opals count down to Olympics . Wwos.ninemsn.com.au . 2012-05-08 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110724170542/http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8276433 . 24 July 2011.
  40. Web site: No surprises in Opals' preliminary Games squad . https://archive.today/20121220072630/http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/6432756/TV-deal-to-show-All-Whites-games-live . dead . 20 December 2012 . Stuff.co.nz . 16 February 2012 . 2012-05-07.

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