Laura von Bertouch ( ; born 4 December 1980) is a former Australia netball international. Bertouch was a member of the Australia team that won the gold medal at the

2007 World Netball Championships The 2007 World Netball Championships was the 12th edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball co-ordinated by the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA). Sixteen nations contested t ...

. At club level, Bertouch played for

Adelaide Thunderbirds Adelaide Thunderbirds are an netball in Australia, Australian professional netball team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Since 2017 Suncorp Super Netball season, 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 ANZ Championship s ...

, mainly during 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 ...

era. She captained Thunderbirds between 2004 and 2007. Her younger sister,

Natalie von Bertouch Natalie von Bertouch ; (born 16 December 1982), also known as Natalie Bode, is a former Australia netball international. Between 2004 and 2012 she made 76 senior appearances for Australia. Bertouch was a member of the Australia teams that won ...

, is also a former netball player. The two sisters were team mates with both Thunderbirds and Australia.

Early life, family and education

Von Bertouch is the daughter of Terry von Bertouch, who during the late 1960s and 1970s played

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

for

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct (Australia), precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. Laid out in a grid plan in three section ...

and Norwood in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

. Her younger sister,

, is also a former Australia netball international. The Bertouch sisters were both educated at Immanuel College. Bertouch is married to the Australian rules footballer, James Gallagher.

Playing career

Contax

Bertouch and her sister,

, began playing netball aged seven and nine at the

Contax Netball Club Contax Netball Club are an Australian netball team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Their senior team currently plays in the Netball South Australia Premier League. Between 1989 and 1996, Contax represented Netball South Australia in the Es ...

. In 2000, together with

Tracey Neville Tracey Anne Neville (born 21 January 1977) is a former England netball international and a former England head coach. She is the current head coach of Melbourne Mavericks. As a player, she was a member of the England teams that won bronze me ...

, the Bertouch sisters were members of the Contax team that won the South Australia Farmers Union League.

Adelaide Thunderbirds

In 1998, Bertouch began playing for

. Together with

Kathryn Harby-Williams Kathryn Harby-Williams (born 16 July 1969) is an Australian netball player and television presenter, who captained the Australian netball team. She is the Chief Executive Officer, Secretary and Treasurer of the Australian Netball Players’ As ...

Jacqui Delaney Jacqui Delaney is a former Australia netball international. Between 1997 and 2002 she made 21 senior appearances for Australia. Delaney was a member of the Australia teams that won the gold medals at the 1999 World Netball Championships and th ...

, Peta Squire and Alex Hodge, she was a member of the Thunderbirds squad that won two

premierships in 1998 and 1999. In 2002 she became a regular member of the Thunderbirds starting seven, playing at wing attack, and forming a strong mid-court combination with her sister,

. She was subsequently named in the

Team of the Year Team of the Year may refer to: * BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award * Canadian Press Team of the Year Award *GPA Gaelic Team of the Year * IRB International Sevens Team of the Year * IRB International Team of the Year * J.League Team of ...

for the 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons. She also captained Thunderbirds between 2004 and 2007. In November 2007 Bertouch announced she was retiring as a netball player. However, she returned to play for Thunderbirds in the

2009 ANZ Championship season The 2009 ANZ Championship season was the second season of the ANZ Championship. The 2009 season began on 4 April and concluded on 26 July. Melbourne Vixens were minor premiers. With a team co-captained by Bianca Chatfield and Sharelle McMahon, ...

Australia

Between 2006 and 2007 Bertouch made 18 senior appearances for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. She was first included in senior Australia squads in 2002 but a knee injury delayed her making a senior appearance until 2006. She eventually made her senior debut on 22 July 2006 against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Along with her sister,

, Bertouch was subsequently a member of the Australia team that won the gold medal at the

Honours

;

World Netball Championships The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and the New ...

**''Winners'':

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

;

**''Winners'': 1998, 1999 **''Runners Up'': 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006 *

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 ...

**''Runners Up'':

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

;

Contax Contax (stylised as CONTAX in the Yashica/Kyocera era) began as a German camera model in the Zeiss Ikon line in 1932, and later became a brand name. The early cameras were among the finest in the world, typically featuring high quality Carl Zeis ...

* South Australia Farmers Union League **''Winners'': 2000

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertouch, Laura 1980 births Living people Australian netball players 21st-century Australian sportswomen Australia international netball players Adelaide Thunderbirds players ANZ Championship players Commonwealth Bank Trophy players Australian people of German descent Netball players from Adelaide People educated at Immanuel College, Adelaide Contax Netball Club players South Australia state netball league players 2007 World Netball Championships players