Joanne Metcalfe

Biography

Joanne (Jo) played for the Australia women's national basketball team during the late 1980s and early 1990s and competed for Australia at the 1990 World Championship held in Brazil. Jo was selected to play for Australia at the 1992 Olympics held in Barcelona, but the Opals failed to qualify for the tournament. She won a bronze medal for Australia at the 1989 Junior World Championships in Spain where she played alongside future great, Shelley Gorman. That squad was the first Australian basketball team – junior or senior – to win a medal at world championships or Olympic games, though she just missed them. In season 1991, Jo won the WNBL Most Valuable Player award and was also named to the WNBL All Star Five. That year, she also led the WNBL in points scored with 479 at an average of 21.8 per game. In 1999, Jo had a major knee reconstruction, which effectively ended her playing career. During the 25th year celebration of the WNBL, she was named in the top 25 Australian players for that time. Jo lives in Warrandyte with her husband and two daughters, where she is the coach of the local domestic basketball team (Warrandyte Redbacks).