Bianca Chatfield

Bianca Lee Chatfield (born 2 April 1982) is an Australian netball player. In 2001, she was selected for the Australian team to tour three-nations test series against England and New Zealand in the UK. Bianca plays in the positions of GK and GD. She was the youngest ever netballer to play more than 100 games in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy.^[1]

Career

Bianca started playing netball at the age of 11, and since then has represented Victoria at the National Netball Championships. She was selected a member of the Australian U21 Team to play Jamaica in a three-match series, and was part of the Commonwealth Bank Trophy premiership-winning team, the Melbourne Phoenix, in 2002. She has also participated in premierships with the Melbourne Phoenix in 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2005; she was co-captain of the club. She currently plays with the Melbourne Vixens in the ANZ Championship. In May 2011 she was presented with the Vixens' Most Valuable Player award after captaining the team alone following the Achilles injury sustained by fellow co-captain Sharelle McMahon.^[2]

In 2008 Bianca was appointed vice-captain of the Melbourne Vixens and was made co-captain the following year, with the Melbourne Vixens winning the ANZ Championship in 2009. She was a member of the silver medal-winning team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. She is also a current world champion, representing Australia at the 2007 Netball World Championships in New Zealand. She also competed in the 2009 World Netball Series in Manchester, with Australia receiving the bronze medal.

In 2010 she was dropped from the Diamonds and did not take part in the test matches against Jamaica and New Zealand as well as the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. She also missed selection for the 2011 World Netball Championships in Singapore and the test series against New Zealand. However, in October 2011 she and Susan Pratley were selected by new Australian head coach Lisa Alexander as co-captains of the Australian FastNet Diamonds for the 2011 World Netball Series tournament in Liverpool, with Australia receiving the bronze medal.^[3]

References

1. ^ Melbourne Vixens official player profile. Retrieved on 2011-11-28.
2. ^ ANZ Championship official player profile. Retrieved on 2011-11-29.
3. ^ Bianca Chatfield player profile, Netball England website. Retrieved on 2011-11-30.