SAM Autumn Crossword By Emeritus Prof Gavin Brown AO FAA CorrFRSE sport ACROSS 01 Leonardo wrote on rabbits (9) 06 Ironic as term providing social division (5) 09 Disturbed night’s obsession (5) 10 Earthy descriptor let out – urinal broken (9) 11 Result of two colours juxtaposed with charm or term for amplitude modulation in analysis (13) Flaming 14 Drink celebrated in verse describing smoky brew (7) 16 Fair thrill in explosive gig (7) 17 Weirdo took dope first then rocked (7) great 19 Brilliant improvisation from backward state following wild dance (7) 21 Claret first leading one to malt nip cocktail After a distinguished international and mystical awareness (13) 24 Perhaps fruit from tree in 6-down or Sylvester’s construct (9) career, Trish Fallon returns to 26 Light theatre (5) nurture the next generation of 27 Attain fashionability without grand launch (5) 28 Masons perhaps start the allegation of malpractice (9) champions. Oscar Ware reports DOWN 01 No slim woman, objectively, yet catch to die for (pace Owen) (10) 02 Grew deliberately most of 5-down in tub (5,2) 03 African flower (5) 04 Cleverly attractive with a touch of gravity at heart and at the frontier of innovation (7,4) he first thing you notice about Trish Fallon is 05 Evil intent of mine (3) she’s tall. Very tall. She stands at 190cm, or 6’3” 06 Wept about a backward stunted tree and savagely punished (9) Tin the old measure. It partly explains why she 07 Systematic study of wall bracket where nothing represented her country in basketball for so long. Height comes out that is placed within (7) plus talent goes a long way 08 Directions for old serf (4) “Being tall, that really helped me a lot,” she laughs. 12 Sadly, lovelorn beheading came as no surprise (11) The former Australian Opals and University 13 Take heart from the team in tartan Flames player didn’t even play basketball until she was assembled for a good result (10) a teenager. Her family – from Geelong – had produced a 15 Distressed Antoinette missing irrational fuss (9) 18 Staying put after a second has elapsed. long line of tennis players. Fallon was a talented athlete Should one heed this warning? and it didn’t just seem a logical decision for her to follow in 20 Gong inside. Din is offensive (7) the family’s footsteps, it seemed the only one. 22 Seaweed cropped for fish (5) “We all ended up playing tennis,” Fallon says. “I 23 Perhaps Rosemary taken from her baby (4) started playing when I was six or seven and we travelled 25 Completely green when swallowed by ruminant (3) around the state and interstate playing tournaments.” Solution page 40 It was when her tennis career peaked at age 14 and her game was no longer improving that Fallon took

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 to the basketball court at the local YMCA, where her mother worked. Within two years she had shown enough potential to earn a place at the Australian Institute of 9 10 Sport in Canberra. More than 200 international games later, Fallon has

more than a few standout memories from a remarkable 11 12 career. She won three Olympic medals with the Opals – a 13 bronze in the 1996 games in Atlanta, silver at the Sydney

14 15 16 games in 2000, and silver when she captained the team at Athens in 2004. “Yeah, I guess they’d be up there,” she says. “But 17 18 19 20 when I received the medals, they weren’t the best part of the Olympic Games. It’s more the experience of the two weeks being there… you’re sharing something really 21 22 special with a lot of people.” 23 Her time playing in the United States with WNBA

24 25 26 teams Minnesota and Phoenix also rates a mention. “If you can cut it over there you can cut it anywhere,” she says. “The USA, just with their own players, is very

27 28 36 SAM Autumn 09 With the exception of captain Alicia Poto, the Flames are now all under 25. “They’re learning on their own, which is why their season’s really up and down,” Fallon says. “They’re still learning that every game’s a big game. They go out and play hard but it just doesn’t always fall into place because of the lack of experience. Most of these girls are 19, 20 and 21.” It’s for that reason that Fallon and the Flames are looking forward to the next few seasons as a young but talented squad begins to gel with more games under its belt. “They’ve come a long way in one year,” Fallon says. “I think Karen [Flames coach Karen Dalton] is looking at a long term program as opposed to just trying to win everything this year. It’s more a three to five year goal of developing the core players that we have.” While success on the court is still a work in progress, the Flames are already a well-performing entity away from it. The club is financially strong, has the support of several major sponsors and attracts enthusiastic crowds to its home games. “We’ve generated some good interest and had good crowds,” Fallon says. “We actually need more seating, that would be nice.” strong. Then you throw in a lot of international players… She won It is reassuring that the Flames are performing well, they just make it the best league in the world. It’s where given the situation in which their male counterparts find everyone aims to go.” three Olympic themselves. NBL team folded with debts Fallon played the 1999 season with Minnesota Lynx, medals with of $1.5 million at the end of the 2007/08 season and are no missed the 2000 season because of commitments to the the Opals longer in the competition, having been the face of men’s Australian team, then returned to play the 2001 season basketball in Sydney for 20 years. with Phoenix Mercury. She also played extensively And the future of Sydney Spirit, previously the West throughout Europe at various stages in her career. Sydney Razorbacks, looks murky. While they will play out Pressed to name the best player she has come across, the rest of the 2008/09 season thanks to an NBL rescue she nominates fellow Australian Lauren Jackson, now the package, it is unclear whether there will be a Sydney Opals captain and the player many call the Michael Jordan men’s team after that. of the women’s game. Fallon likens professional basketball’s situation in “She’s the best in the world for sure,” Fallon says. Australia to that of soccer several years ago. The National “She’s a freak, really. She’s just that one in a million Soccer League was a floundering competition that was that comes through every now and then and makes failing to capture the public’s interest. Funds and crowds everything look really easy.” were both low. The response from soccer’s administrators Off court, Fallon is now Operations Manager with the was a rejuvenated competition in the form of the A Sydney University Flames, the team she spent much of League, and the game has moved ahead since. her career with. When she describes what the role involves “Maybe it ends up being like soccer where they have to it is hard to believe she has much time for anything else. stop for a year, restructure the whole thing, make sure it’s “The list goes a mile long,” she laughs. “I get done properly, and start again,” Fallon says. everything organised for game day, I service sponsors, I But according to Fallon, basketball certainly has cause service the board, organise all the promotional work, liaise for optimism at grass roots level. with our travel organisers to make sure they’ve got the “We’ve got heaps of kids playing, there’s no problem flights all in place – it just goes on and on and on.” there. But you’ve got to have something there for them to The 2008/09 season is a tricky one too because the look forward to so they can set goals,” she says. “If they Flames are in a transition period and, after several seasons don’t have a team there and the league’s falling apart, we’ll of great success, their current form (at time of going to lose these kids to other sports.” press) is “inconsistent”. Despite being one of the two The good news is that the WNBL is in good shape. teams to beat the high-flying Canberra Capitals, the Rather than losing teams, the women’s league welcomed Flames have also had disappointing losses. new team Logan Thunder from Queensland at the start of Fallon says that is to be expected from a young and the 2008/09 season. relatively inexperienced squad. “We’ve had a huge change “We’re not a big money program so it’s easier for from last year so we’ve lost a lot of experience,” she says. sponsors to stay on board, or for us to find new sponsors “Not having a lot of experience in the team, week to to come in and not spend a lot of money,” Fallon says. week, you don’t really know what you’re going to get.” Photo by Ted Sealey “The women’s league is really strong.” SAM

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