Jenny Cheesman was 16 when named to her first senior national basketball team, requiring her to take a full term away from her year 12 studies.
Jenny Cheesman is a charismatic athlete, born in Adelaide, whose inherent gifts were applied to any sport of her choosing. In addition to basketball, softball, and netball, she water skied at a high level as a youngster and later graduated as a PE teacher.
It was in basketball that Cheesman made her lasting mark. Her high basketball IQ, which would be later put to outstanding effect as a coach, her quick hands, ultra-competitive nature, plus her all-round advanced skill set led her to winning Halls Medals as SA’s fairest and most brilliant player in 1974, 1977 and 1978.
She became a household sporting name in SA.
At age 16, Jenny Cheesman was named in her first Australian basketball team for the FIBA World Cup in Colombia, South America.
Just two games into the championships, aged only 17, Cheesman was elevated to the Opals starting point guard position, a rare level of responsibility at a young age.
She was in Year 12 at the time and her sporting activities meant taking almost a complete term away from studies but still passed with impressive results.
With minor investment in the women’s program by Basketball Australia at the time, the Opals finished 12th in South America.
In 1982, Cheesman was appointed captain of the Opals at age 23.
With Cheesman leading – by now seen as a truly world class player – plus Basketball Australia investing more in the women’s program, Australia inexorably increased its international world ranking.
At the 1984 Olympic Games in LA – the Opals finish 5th.
At the 1988 Olympic Games (Seoul) – the Opals became the first team in the world to beat USSR and advanced to the Olympic medal playoffs for the first time, finish fourth.
Cheesman then retired from international basketball after overseeing the Opals’ advancement from “nowhere” in the world rankings to contending for Olympic medals.
Having retired as a player, she was appointed an Opals’ assistant coach until 2000, winning a bronze medal at the 1996 Olympics (Atlanta) and silver at the 2000 Olympic Games (Sydney.)
Jenny Cheesman was also selected in the WNBL 25th Anniversary top 10 team, won the WNBL Coach of the Year while coaching the AIS, and was inducted into Basketball Australia Hall of Fame, and the SA Sports Hall of Fame in its inaugural year.
Remarkably, she was also selected to play softball for Australia at two world championships, winning a bronze medal at the 1974 world championships. Furthermore, she played for the SA senior State netball team at national championships.
She and her then husband Phil Smyth became the first husband and wife to captain Australian teams at the same Olympics. Cheesman has been rightly described as “a truly world-class basketball player.”
