Helen Gloria Roden (born 26 March 1986) is a professional athlete who played for

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

club

TCU Horned Frogs The TCU Horned Frogs are the athletic teams that represent Texas Christian University. The 18 varsity teams participate in NCAA Division I and in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for football, competing mostly in the Big 12 Conference. The sc ...

and for Australian rules football club Collingwood in the

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football league for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the league ...

(AFLW).

Early life and state football

Roden was born in Fiji and moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

at the age of one. As a teenager she played in local football clubs, including six years at Oak Park where she won the best and fairest award, but moved to basketball since there were no girls' teams after the age of 16. She played for the Victorian School girls' basketball team from 1999 to 2003 and competed for the Australian School girls' basketball team from 2000 to 2003, before graduating from Penola Catholic College in 2003. Roden returned to football in August 2016, playing the last two games of the season with

VFLW VFL Women's (VFLW) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in Victoria. The league initially comprised the six premier division clubs and the top four division 1 clubs from the now-defunct Victorian Women's Football Le ...

club VU Western Spurs, kicking a goal in each game.

Basketball career

In her junior college year, Roden played for

Odessa College Odessa College is a public junior college in Odessa, Texas. The college serves the people of Ector County and the Permian Basin. It was established in 1946 and enrolle8,024 studentsin Fall 2021 and 7,679 students in Spring 2022 in its universi ...

in the

Western Junior College Athletic Conference The Western Junior College Athletic Conference (WJCAC) is a junior college athletic conference for many technical and community colleges within the Southwest states of Texas and New Mexico, sponsored by the National Junior College Athletic Associa ...

(WJCAC). In 2005–06, her final year, she averaged 15.1 points, 7.7 assists and 2.5 steals per game, and led Odessa College to the NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship final, which they lost to

Monroe Community College Monroe Community College is a public community college in Monroe County, New York. It is part of the State University of New York. The college has two campuses; the main campus in the town of Brighton, and the Downtown Campus in the City of Ro ...

. She was named the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Junior College Player of the Year, selected for all-conference, all-region and all-state teams, and was selected to try out for the Junior Australian Team in 2006. In 2006, Roden joined

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...

's team, the

. In her junior year, she played in every game, starting 21 of them. She finished fifth on the team with a scoring average of 6.0. In her senior year, she played mostly off the bench, recording reserve-best averages of 23.2 minutes and 8.2 points per game. She was ranked fourth on the squad and 25th in the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

in average scoring that season.

AFL Women's career

Roden returned to football with the encouragement of her brother,

David Rodan David Rodan (born 8 October 1983) is an Australian rules football goal umpire and a retired professional footballer who played for the Richmond Tigers, Port Adelaide Power and the Melbourne Demons. Of Tongan heritage, Rodan is the first Fij ...

, and was signed by as a rookie-listed player. She made her debut in round one, 2017, in the inaugural AFLW match at

IKON Park Princes Park (or Carlton Recreation Ground, currently known by its sponsored name Ikon Park) is an Australian rules football ground located inside the wider Princes Park in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton North. It is a historic venu ...

against , which she ended on the

interchange bench Interchange (or, colloquially, the bench or interchange bench) is a team position in Australian rules football, consisting of players who are part of the selected team but are not currently on the field of play. Interchange numbers AFL As of t ...

due to an injury to her left leg. Roden was delisted by Collingwood ahead of the 2018 season.

Personal life

Roden's brother is

, retired professional footballer who played for , , and . Roden spells her last name differently to the rest of her family due to a passport error which was never fixed.

Statistics

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References

External links

Profile
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roden, Helen Living people 1986 births Fijian emigrants to Australia TCU Horned Frogs women's basketball players Collingwood Football Club (AFLW) players VFL/AFL players born in Fiji Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia)