Laura Geitz

Laura Geitz (born 4 November 1987) is a former Australian netball player and former captain of the Australian national team. Geitz was selected for the 2008 Australian national team,[4] and has won a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, a gold medal at the 2011 World Netball Championships and a gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games as captain. In domestic netball, Geitz plays for the Queensland Firebirds in the ANZ Championship.[5] She previously captained the AIS Canberra Darters in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy.

Laura Geitz
Geitz in 2016
Personal information
Full name Laura Nicole Geitz
Born (1987-11-04) 4 November 1987
Ipswich, Australia
Height 190 cm (6 ft 3 in)[1]
School The Scots PGC College[2]
University Queensland University of Technology[3]
Spouse Mark Gilbride
Netball career
Playing position(s): GK, GD
Years Club team(s) Apps
2008–2018 Queensland Firebirds 169
Years National team(s) Caps
2008–2018 Australia 71
Medal record
Representing  Australia
Netball World Championships
Gold medal – first place2011 SingaporeNetball
Gold medal – first place2015 AustraliaNetball
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place2010 DelhiNetball
Gold medal – first place2014 GlasgowNetball
Silver medal – second place2018 Gold CoastNetball
Last updated: 16 April 2018

Personal life

Geitz grew up in Allora, Queensland in the Darling Downs region.[6][7] Geitz gave birth to a son on the 25th of February 2017.[8]

Career
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Laura Geitz.

In 2011, Geitz played a major role for the Queensland Firebirds in their undefeated ANZ Championship win. In addition, Geitz was part of the Diamonds squad for the 2011 Netball World Championships in Singapore. Although Geitz did not play as Goal Keeper in the first half against New Zealand (Susan Fuhrmann played Goal Keeper for the first half), her impact helped recover a six-goal deficit to force the match into overtime. This move proved to be successful as the Diamonds prevailed over their rivals in a one-goal victory.

Geitz was honoured with the Liz Ellis Diamond in 2011.[1] She has 32 Test Caps for Australia.

In 2013, she led the Australian team for the first time, winning the 2013 Constellation Cup against New Zealand.[9] In 2014, Geitz was named captain of the Australian Netball Team to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Under her captaincy the team defeated the New Zealand National Netball Team in the gold medal match, ending Australia's 12-year gold medal drought at the Commonwealth Games. In 2015, Geitz captained the Queensland Firebirds to the championship, winning over the New South Wales Swifts to secure the ANZ Championship for that season.

Geitz remained at the Firebirds through the first two seasons of the new Suncorp Super Netball league. She announced her retirement from international team duties in July 2018, having been capped 71 times for her country.[10] Later that year, Geitz retired from domestic netball as well, ending her career with 169 domestic league caps and two Player of the Year awards (2011 and 2014) in the old ANZ Championship competition.[11]

Honours

In May 2017, a bronze statue depicting Geitz was officially unveiled by Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Boondal.[12] The statue was created by sculptor Liam Hardy who spent 700 hours carving out a likeness of Geitz, depicting her on her toe tips with her right arm stretched for a fingertip touch of the ball.[12]

In 2020, it was announced a 4-foot tall statuette, a replica of the full sized bronze statue, would be unveiled in her hometown of Allora.[13] However, before its official unveiling at Allora's sports museum, the statuette was allegedly damaged by vandals and the ball that Geitz was depicted as touching which was allegedly pried from the statue and stolen.[14]

References
  1. "Laura Geitz". netball.com.au. Netball Australia. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  2. Walsh, Gerard (8 November 2005). "Laura Geitz makes it three-years in a row". Warwick Daily News. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  3. Somervail, Jemma (2007). "Laura Geitz on Fire". QUT Student Guild Sport. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
  4. "Youth replaces experience for Aus netball". ABC News. 10 December 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  5. 2009 Queensland Firebirds profile Archived 16 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
  6. "Laura Geitz". www.laurageitz.com.au. Archived from the original on 1 March 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  7. "Australian netball captain Laura Geitz says her father Ross inspired her to reach the top". Couriermail.com.au. 30 November 2021.
  8. Kristy Symonds (28 February 2017). "Laura Geitz gives birth to baby boy". Courier Mail. News Corporation. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  9. Australian Diamonds win Constellation Cup title, Netball Australia, 7 October 2013, retrieved 17 January 2019
  10. Rachel Riga (9 July 2018). "Laura Geitz retires from international netball". ABC News. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  11. "Geitz Announces Retirement". Suncorp Super Netball. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  12. Craddock, Robert (12 May 2017). "Queensland Firebirds former captain Laura Geitz honoured with statue". The Courier-Mail. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  13. Clooney, Emily (10 March 2020). "Geitz statuette to stand proud in Allora". Warwick Daily News. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  14. Clooney, Emily (7 April 2020). "Sporting statue robbed before official unveiling". Warwick Daily News. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
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