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| Full name | Abbey McCulloch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1990-02-12)12 February 1990 (age 35)[1][2] Sydney,New South Wales, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Teacher | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relative | Kaarle McCulloch (sister) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Endeavour Sports High School | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | University of Western Sydney RMIT University | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Netball career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Abbey McCulloch (born 12 February 1990) is an Australian formernetball player. Between2014 and2018, McCulloch played forNew South Wales Swifts. She captained Swifts during the2017 and 2018 seasons. She previously played forNNSW Waratahs andQueensland Firebirds.
McCulloch is originally fromBowral in theSouthern Highlands. Her family later settled in theSutherland Shire.[1][3][4] Her older sister,Kaarle McCulloch, representedAustralia at the 2012 Summer Olympics as acyclist.[5][6][7] Abbey and Kaarle both attendedEndeavour Sports High School.[3][8][9][10] Between 2008 and 2012, she attended theUniversity of Western Sydney where she gained a Bachelor of Business and Commerce in Sport Management and a Master of Teaching. In 2014 she gained a Diploma of Career Development fromRMIT University.[2][11]
Between 2006 and 2011, McCulloch representedNew South Wales in theAustralian National Netball Championships at under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels, winning six consecutive national titles.[1][11][12][13][14]
Between 2009 and 2012, McCulloch played for bothNNSW Blues andNNSW Waratahs in theAustralian Netball League. Between 2009 and 2011 she made 22 appearances for the Blues. In 2012 she made 11 appearances for the Waratahs. She was vice captain of the Waratahs team that were the 2012 ANL runners up.[1][11][13][14][15][16] In 2019, McCulloch finished her senior playing career with Waratahs in the ANL. She was a member of the Waratahs team that were the 2019 ANL runners up. She announced her retirement shortly after playing for Waratahs in the grand final.[17][18][19][20][21]
McCulloch played forQueensland Firebirds during the2013 ANZ Championship season. Together withKim Ravaillion andGabi Simpson, she made herANZ Championship and Firebirds debut in aRound 1 match againstSouthern Steel. She went onto make 11 ANZ Championship appearances for Firebirds and helped them reach the 2013 grand final.[1][3][11][22][23][24]
Between2014 and2018, McCulloch made 44 appearances forNew South Wales Swifts in theANZ Championship andSuncorp Super Netball.[1][2][25][26] Together withSharni Layton andCaitlin Thwaites, she made her Swifts debut in the2014 ANZ Championship Round 1 match againstWest Coast Fever.[27] McCulloch was a member of the Swifts teams that were ANZ Championship runners up in both2015 and2016.[28][29][30][31] She captained Swifts during the2017 and 2018 seasons and in 2018 was named theNSW Swifts Players' Player of the Year.[3][32][33][34][35][36] In September 2018 it was announced that McCulloch would miss the2019 Suncorp Super Netball season because of a knee injury.[37][38][39][40] She subsequently played forNNSW Waratahs during the 2019 season before announcing her retirement as a netball player in July 2019.[20][21][41]
McCulloch is a secondary school teacher. Since 2012, she has worked for theNSW Department of Education. She has worked at several schools in theSydney area including her own former school,Endeavour Sports High School andLeumeah High School.[3][11][42][43][44] Between 2018 and 2020 she served as head of netball atAscham School. In 2020 she was appointed head of netball atWestfields Sports High School.[2][11]
Since 2017, McCulloch has served as a player-coach with Sutherland Stingrays in theNetball NSW Premier League. In October 2020 she was appointed head coach of their under-23 team.[21][45][46][47] In March 2020 she was appointed assistant coach at theQBE Swifts Academy.[48] She also owns her own coaching company, Per4orm Netball[11][49]
McCulloch has also worked as a sideline commentator forNine Network.[2]