Amy Atwell

An early piece of advice from one of her first junior coaches helped turn point guard Amy Atwell into a deadeye three-point markswoman.

Amy, who will make her Olympic debut in Paris after representing the Opals for the first time at last year’s FIBA Asia Cup, grew up in South Perth and played her junior basketball with the Willetton Tigers.

“Shooting wasn’t something I was known for in my junior years, but my junior coach at Willetton, Craig Reynolds, said it was something I had to develop if I wanted to take my game further,” she says.

“He was the one who really pushed me to go to college and he encouraged me to shoot more and bring more into my game.

“So Mum would take me down to the local high school every Saturday morning and I’d shoot and she would rebound.

“My Mum rebounded for me. I had a great support system.

“From there it really started to develop and then before I went to college I was a much stronger shooter.”

She got even stronger after a ruptured ACL wrecked her first year playing US college basketball for the University of Hawaii.

“I went over there with a torn ACL so all I could do in my rehab was stationary catch and shoot,” Amy says.

“So the injury sucked, but I was on the shooting machine every day and then from there the shooting just took off ... and I just got better and better, I guess.”

When she finally got on the court for the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine, she was named the Big West Player of the Year in the 2020-21 season, averaging 17.8 points and 6.9 rebounds a game and recording the all-time scoring record for career three-pointers.

Amy was drafted to the Los Angeles Sparks with pick 27 in the 2022 WNBA Draft.

She played five games before being waived and returned to Australia where she became a star of the WNBL with the Perth Lynx.

In her first season, she had an instant impact with the Lynx, averaging 13 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists and establishing a reputation as a prolific three-point shooter.

Her figures were even better in the 2023-24 season, averaging 18.8 points per game and shooting at 40 per cent from beyond the three-point line.

Amy has also been a standout with the Bendigo Braves where she was part of their undefeated season in 2023 on the way to being crowned South and National Champions. In her second season with the Braves, she averaged 27 points, five rebounds and 3.6 three-pointers per game.

Having worn the green and gold for Australia in the FIBA 3x3 Women’s Series, Amy made her Opals debut at the 2023 FIBA Asia Cup in Sydney, where Australia won a bronze medal.

After a strong performance in a two-game series against China in Melbourne just a few weeks out from the Paris Olympics, Amy was disappointed when she was not selected in the final Games squad.

But a couple of days later she was called in as a non-playing reserve and travelled with the team to Europe to train.

And just days out from the Games, she was elevated to the 12-member squad after Opals forward Rebecca Allen aggravated a hamstring injury during the team’s final practice match against Canada.