Rachael Vanderwal (born 27 June 1983) is a 5'9 (1.75m) former point guard for

Great Britain women's national basketball team The Great Britain women's national basketball team represents Great Britain in international women's basketball. The current governing body for the Great Britain team was formed by the national basketball organisations of England (Basketball Engla ...

. She was part of the squad for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and part of the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

squad that took silver at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

. She has

dual citizenship Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...

with

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Rachael grew up in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

, Ontario Canada. She

figure skate Figure skates are a type of ice skate used by figure skaters. The skates consist of a ''boot'' and a ''blade'' that is attached with screws to the sole of the boot. Inexpensive sets for recreational skaters are available, but most figure skaters pu ...

d until the age of 12, when she took up the sport of

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 (appr ...

. She played for Bishop Ryan Secondary School in Hamilton winning the provincial championship her final year in 2001. She played for

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division 1 from 2002 to 2006 in the

America East Conference The America East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I founded in 1979, whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference has nine core members including eight public research u ...

. She captained the squad her sophomore, junior and senior years. As a freshman, BU won the America East and went to the NCAA tournament, playing the national champions

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

in the first round. She received All-Conference first team and All-Defensive team her senior year. She remains in the career top ten in minutes played. Rachael has played professionally in the Irish Superleague from 2007 to 2014. Her first two seasons where with

Donoughmore Donoughmore (spelt ''Donaghmore'' by Ordnance Survey Ireland; Irish: ''Domhnach Mór'') is a civil and Catholic parish in County Cork, Ireland. This rural district lies 25 km west-northwest of Cork city. Donoughmore is part of the Cork Nort ...

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

where she won National Cup and League Titles and Player of the Year back to back. In 2009, she transferred to the

University of Limerick The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it beca ...

where she led the league in scoring. The UL huskies have dominated the Irish Superleague in recent years winning 4 regular season titles, 3 national cups and 3 league playoffs from 2010 to 2014, with Rachael playing a dominant role. Rachael won Player of the Year three years in a row from 2011 to 2013. She then moved on to playing professionally in the top Liga Femenina in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

for the past five seasons from 2014 to 2019. She has played for Gernika Bizkaia, Mann-Filter, and Uni Ferrol. She made her Great Britain Senior debut in 2010 against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. She has played with the senior team ever since, participating in

Eurobasket 2011 EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's EuroBasket, European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time EuroBasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted t ...

, the London Olympics 2012,

Eurobasket 2013 EuroBasket 2013 was the 38th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It took place from 4 September until 22 September 2013 in Slovenia. The number of participating teams was 24. France defeated Lithuania in th ...

Eurobasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

Qualifiers 2014,

Eurobasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 Sept ...

, Eurobasket Qualifiers 2016, Eurobasket Qualifiers 2018 and most recently Eurobasket 2019 where Team GB placed 4th and received a bid to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualifiers. She received her 50th cap in the London Olympics against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. She received her 100th cap playing against and officially announced her retirement on October 5, 2022. She has 118 caps and prior to finishing her career, she married fellow GB player Eilidh Simpson two months earlier then moved to Australia and got a dog called Moose.

Boston University statistics

Source

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vanderwal, Rachael 1983 births Living people British women's basketball players Boston University Terriers women's basketball players Basketball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic basketball players for Great Britain Point guards English people of German descent British expatriate basketball people in Spain Basketball players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in basketball Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games