Briony Akle is an Australian former netball player and current netball coach. Between 1999 and 2004, Akle played for

Sydney Swifts Sydney Swifts were an netball in Australia, Australian netball team based in Sydney. Between 1997 and 2007, they represented Netball New South Wales in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league. Together with Sydney Sandpipers and Hunter Jaegers, they ...

in the

Commonwealth Bank Trophy The Commonwealth Bank Trophy, also referred to as the National Netball League, was the top level national Australian netball league between 1997 and 2007. The league was organized by Netball Australia. Its main sponsor was the Commonwealth Ba ...

league. Akle was a member of the Sydney Swifts teams that won premierships in 2001 and 2004. Since 2017 she has been head coach of

New South Wales Swifts New South Wales Swifts are an Australian professional netball team based in Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have represented Netball New South Wales in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. ...

, guiding them to the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and 2021 Suncorp Super Netball titles.

Early life, education and family

Akle grew up in

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 ...

's northwestern suburbs. Between 1990 and 1995, she attended Castle Hill High School. She graduated from 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 ...

after completing a Bachelor of Applied Science in Sports Management. Akle is married to Sarkis Akle, a hairdresser and salon owner. She is the mother of four sons – Xavier (born c. 2016), Sebastian (born c. 2006) and twins Charlie and Sam (born c. 2009).

Playing career

Sydney Swifts

Between 1999 and 2004, Akle made 53 appearances for

in the

league. Her team mates at Sydney Swifts included Megan Anderson, Catherine Cox and

Liz Ellis Elizabeth Margaret Ellis, (born 17 January 1973) is a retired Australian netball player and television presenter who was a member of the national netball team from 1992 until 2007 and captain for the last four of those years. She is the most ca ...

. Akle was a member of the Swifts teams that won premierships in 2001 and 2004. She played as a wing attack in both the 2001 and 2004 grand finals.

Coaching career

New South Wales

Between 2011 and 2015, Akle served as an assistant coach or head coach of various teams that 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 ...

at the

Australian National Netball Championships The Australian National Netball Championships are a series of annual netball tournaments, organised by Netball Australia and featuring representative teams from the states and territories of Australia. The earliest tournaments took place during ...

. In 2011 she was head coach of the under-17 team that were runners-up. In 2012 she was assistant coach of the under-21 team that won the title. In 2014 and 2015 she was head coach of the under-19 teams. In 2015 Akle guided the under-19s to the title.

Australian Netball League

Between 2014 and 2017, Akle served as an assistant coach or head coach for teams that represented

in the

Australian Netball League The Australian Netball Championships, formerly the Australian Netball League, is an Australian netball competition. Since 2008, it has served as a second-level competition, initially below the ANZ Championship and later below Suncorp Super Net ...

. In 2014 she was head coach of NNSW Blues. In 2015 she was assistant coach with

NNSW Waratahs Netball New South Wales Waratahs is an Australian netball team that represents Netball New South Wales in the Australian Netball Championships. In 2008 they were founder members of the ANL/ANC. They were ANL/ANC champions in 2011 and 2024 and h ...

. Between 2016 and 2017 she was head coach of Waratahs. In 2016 and she guided them to the ANL grand final.

NSWIS

In 2016, Akle was appointed head coach of the

New South Wales Institute of Sport The New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) is a high-performance-sports training institute in New South Wales, Australia. The New South Wales government agency provides coaching, performance support, and daily training environments to help t ...

netball program. In July 2017, Akle coached the NSWIS team that finished third in the 2017 Netball New Zealand Super Club tournament. The NSWIS team was a composite team featuring players from both

and

Giants Netball Giants Netball (stylised as GIANTS Netball) are an Australian professional netball team based in Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. The team was formed in 2016 as a joint venture bet ...

New South Wales Swifts

In September 2017, ahead of the 2018 season, Akle was appointed head coach of

, replacing Rob Wright. In

, she guided Swifts to their first

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 ...

title. In the

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

they defeated

Sunshine Coast Lightning Sunshine Coast Lightning are a professional Australian netball team based at the University of the Sunshine Coast. The team was formed in 2016 as a joint venture between the university and Melbourne Storm. Since 2017 they have played in Suncor ...

64–47. She was subsequently named the 2019 Joyce Brown Coach of the Year. In

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, despite having to go into isolation and having restrictions preventing her from entering

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

due the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Akle guided Swifts to their second Suncorp Super Netball title. In the

they defeated

63–59.

Other employment

Between September 2004 and February 2006, Akle worked as an administration coordinator for

. Between February 2010 and January 2013, she worked as a community relations manager for

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

. Between February 2013 and February 2019 she worked as a community relations manager for

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...

Honours

Player

;

**''Winners'': 2001, 2004

Coach

;

**''Winners'':

**''Runners up'':

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

;

**''Runners up'': 2016 ;

**''Winner'': Under-19 (2015) **''Runners up'': Under-17 (2011)

Individual awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akle, Briony Living people 1977 births Australian netball coaches Australian netball players Netball players from Sydney Sydney Swifts players Australian Netball League coaches Suncorp Super Netball coaches New South Wales Institute of Sport coaches New South Wales Swifts coaches Western Sydney University alumni