Australian Institute of Sport (netball)

Australian Institute of Sport are a former Australian netball team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They were the netball team of the Australian Institute of Sport. They effectively acted as a development/under-21 team for the Australia national netball team. Between 1985 and 1996, AIS played in the Esso/Mobil Superleague. In 1985 and 1986 they finished as champions. Between 2003 and 2007, the AIS and Netball ACT entered a combined team known as AIS Canberra Darters in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. Between 2008 and 2012, the AIS entered a separate team in the Australian Netball League. They were ANL grand finalists in both 2008 and 2009. They have also entered teams in the NSW State League, Victorian State League and the South Australia State League.

Australian Institute of Sport

Founded	1981
Disbanded	2013
Based in	Canberra
Region	Australian Capital Territory
Home venue	AIS Arena
League	Esso/Mobil Superleague Commonwealth Bank Trophy Australian Netball League NSW State League Victorian State League South Australia State League
Uniform Uniform

History

Esso/Mobil Superleague

When the Australian Institute of Sport was established in 1981, netball was one of the eight original sports chosen to be part of the development program. Former Australia national netball team coach Wilma Shakespear was appointed the program's first head coach.^[1][2][3]

Between 1985 and 1996, AIS played in the Esso/Mobil Superleague. The league was formed as a partnership between the All Australia Netball Association and the AIS in order to provide the AIS team with more competitive matches. With a team coached by Shakespear and featuring Shelley Oates-Wilding and Vicki Wilson, AIS subsequently won the first two titles in 1985 and 1986. AIS also played in the 1987 and 1989 finals, losing to Melbourne Blues and Sydney Tigers respectively. Other AIS players from this era included Natalie Avellino, Sharon Finnan and Shelley O'Donnell.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]} In 1990 Gaye Teede succeeded Shakespear as the program's head coach. Teede had served as assistant coach at the AIS since 1982. She remained as head coach until 1998.^[2][13][14]

Esso/Mobil Superleague placings

Wilma Shakespear coaching the AIS netball team in 1986

Season	Position	Won	Lost
1985[6]	1st	5?	0
1986[7]	1st	5	0
1987[8]	2nd
1989[10]	2nd	4	2
1990	4th	2	3?
1991[15]	4th	2	1
1992[16]	3rd	5	1
1993[17]	7th
1994[18]	7th
1995	7th	1	6
1996[19]	7th	1	6

  Premierships
  Runners Up

Source:^[4][11][12]

Commonwealth Bank Trophy

See also: Canberra Darters

AIS Canberra Darters was originally formed as a partnership between the Australian Institute of Sport Netball Program and Netball ACT. They subsequently entered a combined team in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. They joined the competition in 2003, replacing Adelaide Ravens. They continued to play in this competition until its demise in 2007. Their best performance came in 2004 when they finished 5th.^{[20][21][22][23][24][25][26]}

Regular season stats

Season	Position	Won	Lost	Drawn
2003[20][27]	6th	5	9	0
2004[22][23][27]	5th	4	10	0
2005[24][25][28]	7th	2	12	0
2006[28][29]	8th	0	14	0
2007[26][30]	8th	1	13	0

Australian Netball League

The AIS and Netball ACT subsequently entered separate teams in the Australian Netball League with the Netball ACT team continuing to use the Canberra Darters name. The AIS played in the ANL between 2008 and 2012. In 2008 and 2009, Simone McKinnis guided AIS squads featuring Shae Bolton, Ashleigh Brazill, Shannon Eagland Jasmine Keene, Sharni Layton, Samantha May, April Letton, Chelsea Pitman, Kara Richards, Jacqui Russell, Laura Scherian, Amy Steel and Courtney Tairi to two successive grand finals. However, on each occasion they lost to Victorian Fury.^{[31][32][33][34][35][36]}

Regular season stats

Season	Position
2008[31][32]	2nd
2009[33][34][35][36]	2nd
2010[37][38]	3rd
2011[39]	n/a
2012[40]	4th

  Runners Up

State leagues

As well as entering teams in national leagues, AIS also entered teams in state leagues. During the 1980s and 1990s they regularly played in the New South Wales state netball league^{[6][7][8][41][17][18][42][19][43]} In 1997 they also began entering a team in the Dairy Farmers Victorian State League.^[43][44][45] In 2001, with a squad coached by Norma Plummer and featuring Jane Altschwager, Kristy Doyle, Susan Pratley, Kimberley Purcell, Rebecca Bulley and Natalie von Bertouch, an AIS team won the South Australia Farmers Union League title. Bertouch was also named the league's best and fairest player and was selected in the Team of the Year.^[46]

Grand finals

National leagues

Esso Gold Club Championship

Season	Winners	Score	Runners Up	Venue
1983[47]	AIS	39–34	Melbourne Blues	Surfers Paradise

Australian Club Championships

Season	Winners	Score	Runners Up	Venue
1984[41][48]	Melbourne Blues	20–19	AIS	Adelaide

Esso Super League

Season	Winners	Score	Runners Up	Venue
1985[5][6]	AIS	52–46	Manly-Warringah (NSW)
1986[7]	AIS	61–35	East Doncaster (Victoria)
1987[8]	Melbourne Blues		AIS
1989[9][10]	Sydney Tigers	57–36	AIS	State Sports Centre

Source:^[4]

Australian Netball League

Season	Winners	Score	Runners Up	Venue
2008[31][32]	Victorian Fury	56–41	AIS
2009[33][34][35][49]	Victorian Fury	46–32	AIS	BCEC

State leagues

Season	League	Winners	Score	Runners Up
1997[43]	NSW Dairy Farmers State League	Parramatta Auburn	44–42	AIS
1998[44]	Dairy Farmers Victorian State League			AIS
1999[45]	Dairy Farmers Victorian State League		47–45	AIS
2000[50][51][52][53]	SA Dairy Farmers State League	Contax		AIS
2001[46][54]	SA Farmers Union League	AIS		Matrics

Tours

The program also organised an annual international tour.

Destination	Year
Hawaii[3][41]	1981, 1984
Canada[55]	1982
Jamaica[55][44][26][31]	1982, 1998, 2007, 2008
Trinidad and Tobago[41][55][56][10][17][40]	1982, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1993, 2012
New Zealand[8][55][47][17][18][37]	1982, 1983, 1993, 1994, 2010
Fiji[55][47][14]	1982, 1983, 1990
Malaysia[55]	1982
England[6][47][14][16]	1983, 1985, 1990, 1992
Barbados[41][56][17]	1984, 1988, 1993
Northern Ireland[6][14]	1985, 1990
Papua New Guinea[7]	1986
China[57][14]	1990
Scotland[14]	1990
Republic of Ireland[14]	1990
Wales[16]	1992
Barbados[56][17]	1988, 1993
Cook Islands[17][18]	1993, 1994
Caribbean[42]	1995
South Africa[33]	2009
Singapore[37]	2010

Notable former players

Internationals

 Australia

Jane Altschwager Megan Anderson Natalie Avellino Natalie von Bertouch Kate Beveridge Courtney Bruce Rebecca Bulley Natasha Chokljat Catherine Cox Nicole Cusack

Liz Ellis Sharon Finnan Susan Fuhrmann Mo'onia Gerrard Laura Geitz Kimberlee Green Paige Hadley Janine Ilitch Roselee Jencke

Cynna Kydd Sharni Layton April Letton Demelza McCloud Clare McMeniman Joanne Morgan Lauren Nourse Shelley O'Donnell Chelsea Pitman

Susan Pratley Kim Ravaillion Nicole Richardson Peta Scholz Gabi Simpson Amy Steel Jo Weston Vicki Wilson Stephanie Wood

Source:^[2]

 Australia Fast5

Karyn Bailey Emily Beaton Shae Bolton Carla Dziwoki Samantha Poolman

Maddy Proud Kate Shimmin Verity Simmons Kaylia Stanton

 England

• Chelsea Pitman
• Abby Sargent
• Kate Shimmin

 New Zealand

• Courtney Tairi

Coaches

Head coaches

	Years
Wilma Shakespear[3][10]	1981–1990
Gaye Teede[14][44]	1990–1998
Norma Plummer[58][45][20]	1999–2003
Michelle Wilkins[20][22][24]	2003–2005
Brenda Scherian[29]	2006
Simone McKinnis	2007–2010
Sue Gaudion[39]	2010–2011
Julie Fitzgerald[39][59][60]	2011–2013

Assistant coaches

	Years
Gaye Teede	1982–1990
Margaret Caldow[6][41]	1984–1985
Jill McIntosh[14][61]	1990
Michelle Fielke[15]	1991
Roselee Jencke[24]	2005

Source:^[2]

Premierships

• Esso Super League
  • Winners: 1985, 1986: 2
  • Runners up: 1987, 1989 : 2
• Australian Netball League
  • Runners up: 2008, 2009: 2
• South Australia State League
  • Winners: 2001
  • Runners up: 2000