Carla Boyd says she achieved more through determination than skill.“I was the kid who was picked last in the team and didn’t have many skills, but I just persisted and set myself a goal,” she said.
In an entirely humble admission, Carla Boyd says she achieved more through determination than skill.
“I was the kid who was picked last in the team and didn’t have many skills, but I just persisted and set myself a goal,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter where you start off from, it’s about how much work you put in, and ultimately you will get to where you want to be if you care about it enough.”
Carla Boyd’s medal winning ways started back in 1993 as part of the celebrated Aussie junior team that won the world title – the first ever Australian team to win a world championship.
From there it was a bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics and then silver at the 2000 Olympics, along the way a bronze medal at the 1998 FIBA World Cup.
Boyd was a key player in the Opals team through the 1990s that emerged as one of the best women’s basketball teams in the world.
Boyd was born and raised in Wynyard on the north-west coastline of Tasmania and spent hours in the Wynyard gym as a young teenager, but she credits her scholarship to the AIS as the passport to her international career.
At 1.85m, Boyd was a high-quality all-round player, and it was at the 1998 world cup that she received an invitation to join the Detroit Shock in the WNBA.
Talking of shocks, her first training session with Detroit was for seven hours under coach and US legend Nancy Lieberman. She also earned playing contracts in Germany, France and Austria, often playing back-to-back seasons with the WNBA.
Carla Boyd was also a starter with the Adelaide Lightning through the glorious 1990s WNBL title winning era.
