Rohanee Cox

Rohanee Cox

Cox at a 2012 Opals training camp
No. 23 – Sydney Uni Flames
Position Small forward / Shooting guard
League WNBL
Personal information
Born (1980-04-23) 23 April 1980
Broome, Western Australia
Nationality Australian
Listed height 182 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Career information
High school Willetton Senior
(Perth, Western Australia)
Playing career 1996–2016
Career history
1996–1998 Australian Institute of Sport
1998–2000 Perth Lynx
2002–2003 Perth Lynx
2005–2010 Townsville Fire
2011–2012 West Coast Waves
2012–2016 Sydney Uni Flames
Career highlights and awards
  • WNBL MVP (2009)
  • 2× WNBL All-Star five (2008, 2009)
  • ACC All-Star five (2007)
  • 3× QBL All-League Team (2007, 2009, 2011)
  • 3× SBL champion (1999, 2004, 2005)
  • SBL MVP (2005)
  • SBL Grand Final MVP (1999)
  • SBL Rookie of the Year (1998)
Medals
Representing  Australia
Olympic Games
2008 Beijing Team Competition

Rohanee Cox (born 23 April 1980) is an Australian professional basketball player who currently plays for the Sydney Uni Flames of the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). She has previously played for the Australian Institute of Sport, Perth Lynx, Townsville Fire and West Coast Waves. She was one of the first Australian aboriginals to represent Australia in basketball at the Olympics and won a silver medal with the Opals at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She has also previously played in the State Basketball League for the Willetton Tigers, and has spent time in the Queensland Basketball League with the Townsville Flames, Mackay Meteroettes and Cairns Dolphins.

Personal

Cox, nicknamed Roey,[1] was born on 23 April 1980 in Broome, Western Australia.[1][2][3][4] She is 183 centimetres (72 in) tall.[5] The WNBL and Yahoo!Sport list her height as 182 centimetres (72 in).[3][6] FIBA lists her height as 180 centimetres (71 in).[7] She weighs 83 kilograms (183 lb).[6] On her back, she has a tattoo that means "last chance".[8] She got the tattoo in 2006.[8]

Cox is an indigenous Australian.[9][10] She is well known in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.[2] She has been named the NAIDOC Sportsperson of the Year.[11] When she was 20 years old, she was living in remote Western Australian town of One Arm Point, single and pregnant.[8][12] She has a daughter named Alyriah.[8][13] As a parent, she tried to encourage her daughter to eat healthily, which was easy because her daughter was not a picky eater.[12] She has also encouraged her daughter to play basketball, signing her up for a local league.[12]

Cox was featured in the WNBL's 2009 league calendar.[14]

Basketball

Cox plays a guard-forward role.[15] In 2011, she played in the Queensland Basketball League for Cairns. She was named the player of the week in Round Seven.[16]

Cox left the game for a while, but returned to basketball a year after the birth of her daughter.[8]>[12][13] Her daughter inspired her to do as she wanted, so her daughter would understand what was possible.[5][8][12] She said of this: "Just having her made me realise that I wanted her to have as much of an opportunity [in life] as I did. Just getting back into basketball has helped her get on her way and, more or less, helped me with my life and our lives together."[5] She was also inspired to return by Kathy Freeman's performance at the 2000 Summer Olympics.[1] She later took another year off from basketball in order to have another child.[2]

Cox has won several honours. In 2007, she won the Maher Medal for International Player of the Year.[3][13] In 2008, she was featured as a basketball star on myFiba.[14] In 2009, she won a Deadly Award for Female Sportsperson of the Year.[13]

WNBL

Cox had a scholarship with and played for the Australian Institute of Sport in 1996, 1997 and 1998.[3][17] She played for the Perth Lynx in 1999/2000, and 2002/2003.[3][13]

In 2005/2006, she played for the Townsville Fire.[3][13] She was with them again during the 2007/2008 season.[18] In a January 2008 game against Bendigo, she scored 23 points in an 83-78 win for Townsville.[19] She was named to the WNBL's All-Star Five this season.[13] In 2008/2009, she was the WNBL MVP.[13][20] She was the league's leading scorer that season.[4] She played for the Townsville Fire again in 2009/2010.[21] She had to miss the first ten weeks of the season because of a knee injury.[21] Cox played for the West Coast Waves in 2011/2012.[3][10][22]

National team

Cox was one of the first Aboriginal Australian to represent Australia in basketball at the Olympics.[8] She has 53 caps with Australia's junior national team. In 1995, she made her first international cap with Australia's U-19 team at the FIBA World Championships. She played for them again in 1997, where her team took home a silver medal.[3] In 1997's competition, she averaged 10.1 points per game and 3.9 rebounds per game and 1.2 assists per game.[7]

Cox made her Australian Opals debut as a teenager.[8] She left the team and sport shortly after that and did not get another cap with them team until 2006, eight years later.[8] Getting back on to the squad for 2008 was a challenge as she had to overcome a knee injury.[5] She first played for the Opals in 1998 at the Brazil Olympic Committee Invitational and was named to the 1999 and 2000 squads.[4]

In March 2007, Cox was named to the national team what would prepare for the 2008 Summer Olympics.[23] She participated in the 2007 FIBA Oceania Championship for Women. She averaged 9.3 points per game and 4.3 rebounds per game and 3.0 assists per game.[7] She participated in the 2008 FIBA Diamond Ball Tournament for Women. She averaged 6.3 points per game and 2.3 rebounds per game and 1.3 assists per game.[7] At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she had had an Aboriginal flag and an Australian flag on her kit.[8] Her parents and sister watched her play in Beijing.[5] She won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.[1][2][13] She was the first Aboriginal Australian to win an Olympic medal in basketball.[1][2][12] Her team won 7 straight games at the Olympics, only losing to the United States in the gold medal game.[1] She averaged 5 points per game and 3 rebounds per game and 0.2 assists per game.[7] At the time she won the medal, her daughter was seven years old.[12]

Cox played in 2009 in a series against China which Australia won 2 games to 1.[3][15] She was expected to step up for the third game.[24] On 2 September 2009, she played in the Canberra hosted return game against New Zealand in the Oceania Championship.[13][15] Her team took a gold in the Oceania Championships.[3][13] In the competition, she averaged 2 points per game and 1 rebounds per game and 1 assists per game.[7] She was a member of the national team again in 2001 and 2011.[3][4] She was trying to make the Opals squad that will represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics[2][10] and participated in the national team training camp held from 14 to 18 May 2012 at the Australian Institute of Sport.[25]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Australian Olympic Committee: Rohanee Cox". Corporate.olympics.com.au. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Collins, Ben (2012-04-10). "Kimberley mum, Rohanee Cox takes another shot at the Olympics — ABC Kimberley WA — Australian Broadcasting Corporation". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Rohanee Cox". WNBL.com.au. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Basketball Australia : Rohanee Cox". Basketball.net.au. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Davis, Sam (2008-08-01). "Opal, Rohanee Cox, goes for gold in Beijing — ABC Far North Qld — Australian Broadcasting Corporation". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 2012-05-07.
  6. 1 2 "Rohanee Cox Profile, Bio, Results, Medals and Photos — Yahoo! Sports coverage of the Summer Olympics in Beijing". Sports.yahoo.com. 2011-04-20. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Rohanee Cox - 2012 London women | FIBA.COM". London 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Chris, By (2008-08-03). "Cox tattoo says it all | thetelegraph.com.au". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
  9. ↑ "Australian Indigenous Olympians" (PDF). Australian Olympic Committee website. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 "News — Waves Players Rohanee Cox & Jacinta Bourne Speak to CGA — Clontarf Girls Academy — An Initiative of Role Models & Leaders Australia". Clontarf Girls Academy. 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  11. ↑ "NAIDOC Awards celebrate Indigenous achievers". indigenous.gov.au. 2010-07-12. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Rohanee Cox — Radio interview script". Measure Up. 2010-10-08. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Rohanee Cox — Basketball — Reconciliation Australia". Shareourpride.org.au. Archived from the original on 26 February 2011. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  14. 1 2 Nagy, Boti (2008-12-31). "Pin-up girls hit market". Adelaide Now. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
  15. 1 2 3 "Opals side selected to take on Kiwis". Nine MSN. Retrieved 2012-05-08.
  16. ↑ "Basketball Queensland: Player of the Week". Qbl.basketball.net.au. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
  17. ↑ "Past Athletes : Australian Institute of Sport : Australian Sports Commission". Australian Sports Commission. Archived from the original on 12 February 2014. Retrieved 2012-05-11.
  18. ↑ "News Article". SportsAustralia.com. 2008-04-08. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 2012-05-08.
  19. ↑ "Lightning edge out Sydney in a thriller — ABC Sydney — Australian Broadcasting Corporation". Abc.net.au. 2008-02-01. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
  20. ↑ "Opals look to shine against China". Nine MSN. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
  21. 1 2 "Unknown Rush can fire for Fire | Townsville Bulletin Sport". Townsvillebulletin.com.au. 2009-09-25. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
  22. ↑ Travis King (2012-02-17). "Kristi eyes fourth Games — Local News — Sport — Basketball". Bendigo Advertiser. Retrieved 2012-05-07.
  23. ↑ "Phillips keeps Opals place". Adelaide Now. 2007-03-12. Retrieved 2012-05-08.
  24. ↑ Bernard, Grantley (21 August 2009). "Opals limp to decider with China". Herald Sun. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  25. ↑ "AUS — Opals announce training camp squad". FIBA. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
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