Abbey McCulloch (born 12 February 1990) is an Australian former

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

player. Between

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, McCulloch played for New South Wales Swifts. She captained Swifts during the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

and 2018 seasons. She previously played for NNSW Waratahs and

Queensland Firebirds Queensland Firebirds are an Australian professional netball team based in Brisbane, Queensland. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship and between 1997 and 2007, they pl ...

Early life, family and education

McCulloch is originally from

Bowral Bowral () is the largest town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. It is south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It is the main business and entertainment precinct of the Wingecarribee Shire and the Southern Highl ...

in the Southern Highlands. Her family later settled in the

Sutherland Shire Sutherland Shire is a local government area (LGA) in the southern region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sutherland Shire is located approximately south-southwest of the Sydney CBD, and comprises an area of . As at the ...

. Her older sister,

Kaarle McCulloch Kaarle McCulloch (born 20 January 1988) is an Australian former professional track cyclist and four-time World Champion in the team sprint. She also won three golds at the Commonwealth Games and an Olympic bronze medal. She qualified for the T ...

, represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics as a

cyclist Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

. Abbey and Kaarle both attended Endeavour Sports High School. Between 2008 and 2012 she attended the

University of Western Sydney Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus public research university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university in its current form was founde ...

where she gained a Bachelor of Business and Commerce in Sport Management and a Master of Teaching. In 2014 she gained a Diploma of Career Development from

RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

Playing career

New South Wales

Between 2006 and 2011, McCulloch represented

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in the Australian National Netball Championships at under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels, winning six consecutive national titles.

Australian Netball League

Between 2009 and 2012, McCulloch played for both NNSW Blues and NNSW Waratahs in the Australian Netball League. Between 2009 and 2011 she made 22 appearances for the Blues. In 2012 she made 11 appearances for the Waratahs. She was vice captain of the Waratahs team that were the 2012 ANL runners up. In 2019, McCulloch finished her senior playing career with Waratahs in the ANL. She was a member of the Waratahs team that were the 2019 ANL runners up. She announced her retirement shortly after playing for Waratahs in the grand final.

Queensland Firebirds

McCulloch played for

during the 2013 ANZ Championship season. Together with

Kim Ravaillion Kimberley Ravaillion (born 26 July 1993), is a retired Australia netball international. Ravaillion was a member of the Australia teams that won the gold medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2015 Netball World Cup and the silver medal a ...

and Gabi Simpson, she made her

ANZ Championship The ANZ Championship, also known as the Trans-Tasman Netball League, is a former netball league featuring teams from both Australia and New Zealand. Between 2008 and 2016, it was the top-level league in both countries. The competition was owned ...

and Firebirds debut in a Round 1 match against Southern Steel. She went onto make 11 ANZ Championship appearances for Firebirds and helped them reach the 2013 grand final.

New South Wales Swifts

Between

and

, McCulloch made 44 appearances for New South Wales Swifts in the

and

Suncorp Super Netball The Super Netball League (known predominantly by its sponsored name Suncorp Group, Suncorp Super Netball (SSN)) is a professional netball league in Netball in Australia, Australia. It superseded the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship, which also inc ...

. Together with

Sharni Layton Sharni Norder (née Layton; born 6 January 1988) is a retired Australian sportsperson, known for her top level careers in netball and Australian rules football. Over fifteen years Norder played for six netball clubs in multiple elite competitions ...

and

Caitlin Thwaites Caitlin Thwaites (born 29 December 1986) is a former Australian netball player and volleyballer. Career Caitlin Thwaites was born in Bendigo, Australia. Thwaites began her career at for the Melbourne Kestrels of the Commonwealth Bank Trophy a ...

, she made her Swifts debut in the 2014 ANZ Championship Round 1 match against

West Coast Fever West Coast Fever is a professional Australian netball team based in Perth, Western Australia. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they competed in the ANZ Championship. Between 1997 and 2007, as Pert ...

. McCulloch was a member of the Swifts teams that were ANZ Championship runners up in both

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. She captained Swifts during the

and 2018 seasons and in 2018 was named the NSW Swifts Players' Player of the Year. In September 2018 it was announced that McCulloch would miss the 2019 Suncorp Super Netball season because of a knee injury. She subsequently played for NNSW Waratahs during the 2019 season before announcing her retirement as a netball player in July 2019.

Teacher and netball coach

McCulloch is a secondary school teacher. Since 2012 she has worked for the NSW Department of Education. She has worked at several schools in the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

area including her own former school, Endeavour Sports High School and Leumeah High School. Between 2018 and 2020 she served as head of netball at Ascham School. In 2020 she was appointed head of netball at

Westfields Sports High School Westfields Sports High School (abbreviated as WSHS) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Mixed-sex school, co-educational Comprehensive education, comprehensive and specialist secondary school, secondary day school, ...

. Since 2017, McCulloch has served as a player-coach with Sutherland Stingrays in the Netball NSW Premier League. In October 2020 she was appointed head coach of their under-23 team. In March 2020 she was appointed assistant coach at the QBE Swifts Academy. She also owns her own coaching company, Per4orm Netball McCulloch has also worked as a sideline commentator for

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

Honours

; New South Wales Swifts *

**''Runners Up'':

;

**''Runners Up'':

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

; NNSW Waratahs * Australian Netball League **''Runners up'': 2012, 2019 ;

* Australian National Netball Championships **''Winner'': Under-17 (2006, 2007), Under-19 (2008, 2009), Under-21 (2010, 2011) ;Individual * NSW Swifts Players' Player of the Year **''Winner'': 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCulloch, Abbey 1990 births Living people Australian netball players 21st-century Australian sportswomen Netball players from Sydney Queensland Firebirds players New South Wales Swifts players Suncorp Super Netball players ANZ Championship players Australian Netball League players Netball New South Wales Blues players Netball New South Wales Waratahs players Australian netball coaches Australian netball commentators Australian schoolteachers People educated at Endeavour Sports High School Western Sydney University alumni RMIT University alumni People from the Sutherland Shire New South Wales state netball league players