Laura Geitz (born 4 November 1987) is a former Australian

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

player and former captain of the Australian national team. Geitz was selected for the 2008 Australian national team, and has won a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, a gold medal at the 2011 World Netball Championships and a gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games as captain. In domestic netball, Geitz plays for the

Queensland Firebirds Queensland Firebirds are an Australian netball team based in Brisbane, Queensland. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship and between 1997 and 2007, they played in the ...

in the

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 ...

. She previously captained the

AIS Canberra Darters Canberra Darters are a former Australian netball team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The team was originally formed as a partnership between the Australian Institute of Sport and Netball ACT. Between 2003 and 2007 they played ...

in 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 ...

Personal life

Geitz grew up in

Allora, Queensland Allora is a rural town and locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Allora had a population of 1,223 people. Geography Allora is on the Darling Downs in south-eastern Queensland, Australia, by ro ...

in the

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was general ...

region. Geitz gave birth to a son on the 25th of February 2017.

Career

In 2011, Geitz played a major role for the Queensland Firebirds in their undefeated ANZ Championship win. In addition, Geitz was part of the Diamonds squad for the

2011 Netball World Championships The 2011 World Netball Championships was the 13th edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in Singapore from 3–10 July. All 48 matches were played at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Si ...

in Singapore. Although Geitz did not play as Goal Keeper in the first half against New Zealand ( Susan Fuhrmann played Goal Keeper for the first half), her impact helped recover a six-goal deficit to force the match into overtime. This move proved to be successful as the Diamonds prevailed over their rivals in a one-goal victory. Geitz was honoured with the

Liz Ellis Diamond The following is a list notable Australian netball international players who have represented the national team in international tournaments such as the Commonwealth Games, the Netball World Cup, the World Games, the Constellation Cup, the Net ...

in 2011. She has 32 Test Caps for Australia. In 2013, she led the Australian team for the first time, winning the

2013 Constellation Cup The 2013 Constellation Cup was the 4th Constellation Cup series played between Australia and New Zealand. The series, also known as the New World Netball Series, featured five netball test matches, played in September and October 2013. The Aus ...

against New Zealand. In 2014, Geitz was named captain of the

Australian Netball Team The Australia national netball team, also known as the Australian Diamonds, represent Netball Australia in international netball tournaments such as the INF Netball World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Constellation Cup, the Netball Quad Se ...

to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Under her captaincy the team defeated the

New Zealand National Netball Team The New Zealand national netball team, commonly known as the Silver Ferns, represent New Zealand in international netball. The team take their nickname from the Silver Tree Fern (''Cyathea dealbata''), which is an emblem for many New Zealand s ...

in the gold medal match, ending Australia's 12-year gold medal drought at the Commonwealth Games. In 2015, Geitz captained the

to the championship, winning over the

New South Wales Swifts New South Wales Swifts are an Australian netball team based in Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have represented Netball New South Wales in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team was ...

to secure the

for that season. Geitz remained at the Firebirds through the first two seasons of the new

Suncorp Super Netball Suncorp Super Netball is the top level netball league featuring teams from Australia. In 2017 it replaced the ANZ Championship, which also included teams from New Zealand, as the top level netball league in Australia. Since 2019, the league has ...

league. She announced her retirement from international team duties in July 2018, having been capped 71 times for her country. Later that year, Geitz retired from domestic netball as well, ending her career with 169 domestic league caps and two Player of the Year awards (2011 and 2014) in the old

competition.

Honours

In May 2017, a bronze statue depicting Geitz was officially unveiled by Queensland premier

Annastacia Palaszczuk Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , Polish: Annastacia Pałaszczuk, ; born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who has been the 39th premier of Queensland since 2015 and the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since ...

at the

Brisbane Entertainment Centre The Brisbane Entertainment Centre is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Brisbane suburb of Boondall, Queensland, Australia. The centre is managed by ASM Global. The arena has an array of seating plans which facilitate the comfort of ...

in Boondal. The statue was created by sculptor Liam Hardy who spent 700 hours carving out a likeness of Geitz, depicting her on her toe tips with her right arm stretched for a fingertip touch of the ball. In 2020, it was announced a 4-foot tall statuette, a replica of the full sized bronze statue, would be unveiled in her hometown of Allora. However, before its official unveiling at Allora's sports museum, the statuette was allegedly damaged by vandals and the ball that Geitz was depicted as touching which was allegedly pried from the statue and stolen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geitz, Laura Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Netball players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Queensland Firebirds players ANZ Championship players 1987 births Living people AIS Canberra Darters players Queensland University of Technology alumni Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Netball players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in netball Australia international netball players Netball players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Suncorp Super Netball players Netball players from Queensland 2011 World Netball Championships players 2015 Netball World Cup players