The kids were well into the backyard game of basketball. One of the players a seven year old girl was up against her older brother and sister. Basketball was a family sport and dad’s basketball backboard attached to the house, and the court a slab of cement under it was the scene of regular battles. The seven year old was not very big but she was a competitor and the rules were clear...”no blood no foul”. Michelle Chandler continues the story. “It was rough stuff. You had to be able to look after yourself. The backboard was only half a metre from the house brick wall so on lay-ups you had to defend yourself and avoid being smashed into the wall. It was here though that I learnt to love the game, be competitive, and look after myself against bigger players. When I practised there by myself I always visualised scoring the winning basket and controlling the game for the last shot.”
Michelle Louise Chandler was born July 16th, 1974 in Geelong, Victoria. She bounced a basketball “as soon as she could walk” as the whole family played the sport and she “tagged along”. At the age of sevenshe joined the Pivot City Basketball Club (Geelong Association) and played Under 12’s and held her own against the older players. She then played Under 12’s and Under 14’s for the Geelong Association in the Victorian Championships and Victorian Country tournaments.
In an endeavour to play against the State’s best players she played with the Werribee Club for one season in the Friday night Melbourne Competition arguably the toughest domestic Club competition in the nation. The next year Geelong had a team in that same competition so she played again with Geelong. Throughout her playing years at Geelong she was coached by her father Harvey, who along with her mother Gwen had a profound effect on her basketball career.
Geelong basketball was taking off as the local National Basketball League (NBL) team with Player-Coach Cal Bruton and players such as James Crawford was packing the crowds into their home games. “I was also a floor wiper for the NBL games, so I was up close to the action,” Michelle recalls.
She joined the Melbourne Tigers Club in 1991 as a member of the Under 18 team and began a close coaching and mentor relationship with the team coach Olympian Ray Tomlinson. “Being coached by Ray was brilliant. He was a fantastic teacher of the game and it was a privilege to work with him and get to further develop my game. We played Friday nights and trained Sundays so we had to drive up to Melbourne from Geelong twice a week,” says Michelle.
Michelle played for Victoria Country for two years at the Under 16 National Championships, and one year at the Under 18’s but did not play her final year Under 18’s due to commitments with the Australian Junior Team.
In 1990 Michelle was chosen on the Australian Women’s Youth Team that toured the USA for twelve games. The tour was a great experience for Michelle and the tour also set her goals to one day play for the Australian Team.
Michelle played on the Youth Team in the Olympic Youth Rally in 1991. In 1992 she played for the Youth Team in the Oceania Qualification Series for the World Youth Championships, in the William Jones Cup in Taiwan and then on a twelve game tour to Europe at the end of the year.
In 1991 Michelle played her first year of Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) with the Melbourne Tigers. In 1992 she attended the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) on a scholarship before returning to the Tigers in 1993. While at the AIS she also played in the WNBL.
Michelle was chosen as Co-Captain (with Michelle Brogan) of the Australian Women’s Youth Team for the 1993 World Championships in Korea. The Women’s Youth Team had won Australia’s first ever World Championship medal in 1989. The Youth Team played against Korea in a two match series, in the Malaysia Cup and then in the World Youth Championships in Korea.
The 1993 Women’s Youth Team became Australia’s first Gold Medal World or Olympic Championship team. Michelle, alongside future Olympians Carla Boyd, Michelle Brogan, Kristie Harrower, Jo Hill and Jenny Whittle defeated the USSR in the final. “We had an incredible team....brilliant coaching and support staff as well as outstanding preparation,” recalls Michelle.
Still with the Melbourne Tigers in 1994 and 1995 Michelle played on the Tigers team which lost the WNBL Grand Final in both those years to Adelaide. Feeling she needed a change Michelle left the Tigers in 1996 to go to Bulleen. “It was very hard for me to leave as Ray and the Tigers had been brilliant, it was just that I had been there since Under 18’s and felt that I needed a change to give me a lift in motivation, a new challenge, and reinvigorate me for a shot at the Australian Team,” says Michelle.
Michelle played for the Australian Team (now called the Opals) for the first time in 1995 when the team played a series against Korea in Australia.
After strong training camps with the Opals Michelle was selected to the team for the 1996 Olympic Games. “It floored me,” she recalls. “I was to be a back-up for “Timmsy” (Michelle Timms) who was my childhood hero. All my dreams had come true.”
In preparation for the Olympics Michelle and the Opals played in the 1996 World Basketball Challenge against the USA, Cuba and the Ukraine and in two pre-Olympic tournaments (Canada and the USA).
The Opals came into Atlanta in good form. The 1996 Atlanta Olympics were huge for all the Opals and Australian basketball as the Opals won Australia’s first ever Olympic Medal (Bronze). “I just remember the pride.....being an Opal......the hard training....the high standards we set for ourselves...the themes we pursued...the unbelievable experience of playing in front of 30,000 people in the Georgia Dome. I also remember virtually floating around the arena at the Opening Ceremony. It was all very surreal. And of course winning the Bronze medal topped it all off,” says Michelle.
After the Atlanta Olympics, Michelle continued to play for Bulleen in the WNBL except for 1997 when she underwent a knee reconstruction. Before her injury she did play four matches for the Opals against Japan in a series in Australia.
The 1999/2000 season was her last with Bulleen and her last in Australia.
In 2000 Michelle attended try out with Miami in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) in the USA and then gained a contract with the Phoenix Mercury under Coach Cheryl Miller who had invited her to try-out with the Mercury.
“Cheryl was a terrific coach and gave me my first opportunity to play professional basketball...I will always be thankful to Cheryl and the Mercury for the chance to play in the WNBA and go up against the best players in the world. I loved playing in Phoenix in the WNBA. We played three times a week....played in the same gyms as the NBA....everything was so professional. My husband Leigh was with me and we just loved all the sport and living in Phoenix, enjoying all the pro sports leagues and the fact that I was playing fully professional basketball for the first time. I was injured near the end of the season. We made the playoffs but that is far as we got,” recalls Michelle. Michelle stayed in Phoenix for surgery and to work the off season with Phoenix, but at the beginning of the 2001 season her injuries meant her return to Australia.
Medical opinion was that Michelle should not play basketball anymore. She had suffered from osteochondritis (a joint disorder) all he life and even though she was only 27 the disorder had caught up to her. She did stay in basketball for a few more years as an Assistant Coach with Bulleen.
She has worked in the insurance industry where she says, “The skills I learnt in basketball such as perseverance, dealing with adversity, leading a team and a strong desire to succeed have all helped me as I began my transition into a new career post basketball”
Michelle Chandler (Cleary) played over eighty games for Australia. She won a Gold Medal at a Women’s Youth World Championships and a Bronze Medal in the Olympic Games. She played in the WNBL and the WNBA. Her distinguished career was cut short through injury. She was a player who through her career personified the strength, teamwork and ability of the Opals and Women’s Basketball in Australia.
Michelle married basketball player Leigh Cleary. They have three children and live in Melbourne, Victoria.