It was at the University of Maryland, on a lucrative four-year scholarship, that she announced herself as a world class player – leading her NCAA team to national titles in 1999, 2000 & 2001.
With Courtney Hobbs, we are talking rare air.
Playing in six World Cups is singularly and starkly impressive, but Courtney Hobbs has also made a lifelong commitment to the sport at all levels.
It has taken her to the US to live and play during her NCAA career – and across the world to compete at World Cups.
It was at the University of Maryland, on a lucrative four-year scholarship, that she announced herself as a world class player – leading her NCAA team to national titles in 1999, 2000 & 2001.
In 2002 Courtney was elevated to captain and in the same year selected in the All-American team, rare air for a player from Down Under.
Inbuilt is a fierce determination to succeed and she has possessed a work ethic and knowledge of the game that is matched by very few. Her sheer, unrelenting drive was her hallmark.
Part of this story is that Courtney Hobbs is the daughter of talented lacrosse-playing parents Pam and Graham Hobbs. She admits that lacrosse ‘is in my blood’.
She started at Wilderness School in year 5, and as she was already playing for the Glenelg Lacrosse Club, she co-opted several classmates into playing with her at Glenelg, including fellow Australian teammate Meg Barnet.
Several years later, in 2001, participation was sufficiently established that Wilderness created its own club, courtesy largely of the legacy of Courtney and father, Graham.
But her senior international career started in 2001 with a silver medal at the World Cup in England, in which Australia was comfortably defeated by the US 14-8.
Coincidentally, four years later, it must have felt something of a homecoming for Hobbs as Maryland, US, hosted the next World Cup when the Aussies reversed the result, beating the US 14-7 and holding the prized trophy.
It was an almighty tussle between the US and Australia in the 2009 World Cup in Prague, Czech Republic, with the US gaining ascendancy in the second half, winning 8-7.
By the age of 36, Courtney was playing in her fifth senior World Cup in 2017 in England, (her first had been at U19 level) announcing that it was time for her to let the next generation represent Australia and for her to spend more time with her family of three children.
She said at the time, “… I’ve played lacrosse since I was five and I am very passionate about it: it’s in my family, it’s in my blood … now I can concentrate on coaching and other aspects of the sport.”
Her commitment to lacrosse remains strong and loyal, having been elected to the Lacrosse Australia Board to help steer policies and practices designed to expand the sport in this country.
