An Australian Paralympic basketball and sailing medallist, and now politician has spoken at Avondale as part of its annual celebration of International Women’s Day. Liesl Tesch has so many achievements to her name they have to be summarised to fit on her Wikipedia page. In her address to the Avondale Women’s Network (AWN) on Tuesday March 10, Tesch shared the high and low moments of her life and career, reminding her audience it is our responsibility to do great things with the path we have found ourselves upon and to advocate for women who have less than we do.
Tesch became an incomplete paraplegic after a mountain bike accident at age of 19 but discovered during her recovery that she had a talent for basketball. She would compete in the Australian national basketball team at five Paralympics and became the first woman to play the sport professionally and the only woman on the professional wheelchair basketball teams she joined in Madrid, Sardinia and Paris. She helped to establish a women’s wheelchair basketball league in Australia and in Europe. In 2009, Tesch was a part of the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and then joined Daniel Fitzgibbon to win a gold medal in sailing at the Rio games in 2016.
One of the things Tesch is most passionate about is advocacy, with her most recent career move, after decades of high school teaching and professional sport, into politics. Tesch is Member for Gosford in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of New South Wales, where she represents those in the city and also those who have needs but no voice. Her call to action for the women of Avondale: to get political and to advocate for those who need us.
The women’s network is headed by Avondale Business School Head Associate Professor Lisa Barnes.