That’s the Spirit
On the court: local girl Kelly Wilson holds her own on the WNBL basketball court. Photo courtesy of Akuna-Photography.
Women’s basketball star Kelly Wilson is going well in her sport and the ex-Leongatha girl’s career is not slowing down.
Wilson, who is a star player for the Bendigo Spirit in the WNBL, started her professional career back in 2002 when she joined the AIS and played in their WNBL team.
The point guard then moved to the Sydney Uni team followed by Townsville and then on to her current team, the Bendigo Spirit.
The Spirit goes up against other WNBL teams over the summer such as the Dandenong Rangers and the Bulleen Boomers.
Kelly and the Spirit narrowly missed out on getting into the 2010/11 grand final by five points up against the Canberra Capitals.
Being the off season for the WNBL over the winter, Wilson plays for the Bendigo Lady Braves in the SEABL.
Kelly, now 27, started her basketball in Leongatha playing for the Lightning throughout her childhood, as well as moving on to various state teams as a teenager.
“I look back on my days playing for the Leongatha Lightning and it really set me up well for professional basketball,” Kelly said.
As well as playing at the elite domestic level, Wilson represented her country at the World Uni games in 2007.
“I would say that the highlight of my career was representing the country in Thailand at the World Uni Games,” she said.
The Australian team walked away with the gold medal thanks to the hard work of Kelly and her teammates.
The young gun also represented Australia as part of the Sapphires in the FIBA World Championship for Young Women in 2003.
Kelly has been playing in the WNBL for nine years now and said she still has a couple more years to go.
“I’ve had a good career and will still be playing for a few more years while I still can make it at this level,” she said.
“I will always be involved with basketball whenever I can .”
By day the basketballer spends time in the classroom teaching maths/science at Bendigo South East Secondary College.
“Basketball has really set me up well for teaching I think,” Kelly said.
“I’ve had to take many leadership and teaching roles within the game over the years and all these factors led me to this career choice.”
Kelly’s family still lives in the area and she comes back to Leongatha whenever she has the chance.
“I like to get down to Leongatha as much as I can to see the family and old friends and it always feels like home,” she said.
The WNBL 2011/12 season starts in October and Kelly is preparing for another great season with the Bendigo Spirit.
Short URL: /?p=1408
Posted by 
