Rebecca Joy Cole (born 19 March 1992) is an Australian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the

Waverley Falcons Waverley Falcons is a NBL1 South club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of Waverley Basketball Association (WBA), the major administrative basketball organisation ...

of the

NBL1 South NBL1 South is a semi-professional basketball league in Victoria (state), Victoria and Tasmania, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2019, Basketball Victoria partnered with the National Basketball League (Australia), ...

. She is a two-time champion with the

Southside Flyers The Southside Flyers are an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The Flyers compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at the State Basketball Centre. For sponsorship pur ...

of the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...

(WNBL) and has been a member of the

Australian Opals The Australia women's national basketball team, nicknamed the Opals after the brightly coloured gemstone common to the country, represents Australia in international basketball. From 1994 onwards, the Opals have been consistently competitive ...

Early life

Cole was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, in the suburb of

Mount Waverley Mount Waverley is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Monash local government area. Mount Waverley recorded a population of 35,340 at the 2021 census. It ...

Professional career

WNBL

Cole made her debut in the

(WNBL) with the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

(AIS) in the 2009–10 season at 16 years old. After three seasons with the AIS, she joined the

Bulleen Boomers Geelong United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Geelong, Victoria. United compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Geelong Arena. Beginning as the Bulleen Boomers in 1984, the ...

. She played for the Bulleen/Melbourne Boomers every year between 2012 and 2018. She was a member of the Boomers' grand final team in 2017–18. For the 2018–19 season, Cole joined the

Dandenong Rangers The Southside Flyers are an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The Flyers compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at the State Basketball Centre. For sponsorship pur ...

. She was named to the 2018–19

WNBL All-Star Five The All-WNBL Team is an annual Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) honour bestowed on the best performing players in the league following every WNBL season. From 1988 to 2018–19, the honour was known as the All-Star Five. As of 2020, it is ...

and was named the Rangers Club MVP. For the 2019–20 season, the Rangers rebranded as the Southside Flyers. Cole continued with the Flyers in 2019–20 and the 2020 WNBL Hub season in Queensland, helping the team win the Hub championship. They finished runners-up in

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

and won the WNBL championship in 2023–24. She returned to Southside for the

2024–25 WNBL season The 2024–25 WNBL season was the 45th season of the competition since its establishment in 1981. The Southside Flyers were the defending champions, but they failed to qualify for Finals this season. The Bendigo Spirit won their third champions ...

State Leagues

In 2015 and 2016, Cole played for the

Nunawading Spectres Nunawading Spectres is a NBL1 South club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of Melbourne East Basketball Association (MEBA), the major administrative basketball ...

in the

South East Australian Basketball League The South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) was a semi-professional basketball league in Australia comprising both a men's and women's competition. The SEABL began in 1981 and operated for 38 seasons until it was disbanded in 2018. The ...

(SEABL). She played for the Eltham Wildcats in the

Big V The Big V is a semi-professional basketball league in Victoria, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. History The Big V Conference was established in 2000 and joined the Australian Basketball Association (ABA). The ABA ...

in 2017 and the

Melbourne Tigers Melbourne United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. United compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Joh ...

in the SEABL in 2018. In 2019, Cole joined the

for the inaugural NBL1 season. In 2021, she played for the

in the Big V. She joined the

of the

in 2022 and in 2024 helped the team win the NBL1 South championship. She went on to lead the Falcons to the NBL1 National championship at the 2024 NBL1 National Finals while earning MVP of the championship game. She was also named to the NBL1 National Finals All-Star Five. She is set to re-join the Waverley Falcons for the 2025 NBL1 South season.

National team career

5x5

Cole made her international debut with the Under-19 program in 2011. Cole was chosen as captain for the Australian Gems (Australia's Under 19 Women's Team) at the

FIBA Under-19 World Championship The FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup (formerly FIBA Under-19 World Championship) is the under-19 men's world basketball championship organised by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). From its inauguration in 1979, until 2007, it was ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, where Australia narrowly missed out on bronze, placing fourth. Cole played all eight games. In January 2019 it was announced that Cole was part of the 2019

Opals Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silicon dioxide, silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3% to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6% and 10%. Due to the amorphous (chemical) physical structure, it is classified as a ...

squad.

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

named Cole one of the "10 Women Who Defined 3x3 in 2019".

3x3

Cole was a member of both the 2018 and 2019 Australian teams in the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup. In 2018, Australia won bronze and in 2019 Australia went undefeated winning the gold medal, with Cole being named the MVP of the 2019 tournament.

Personal life

Cole is the daughter of

Gary Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;United States *Gary (Tampa), Florida *Gary, Ind ...

and Ros Cole and has two older sisters, Jessica and Emma. , Cole is the Ambassador for Lymphoma Australia.

References

External links

Basketball Australia profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Rebecca 1992 births Australian women's basketball players 21st-century Australian sportswomen Guards (basketball) Sportswomen from Victoria (state) Australian Institute of Sport basketball (WNBL) players Living people Dandenong Rangers players Melbourne Boomers players People from Mount Waverley, Victoria Basketball players from Melbourne Southside Flyers players People educated at Caulfield Grammar School