Inside Chantel Horvat's cart wheeling career

• ‍MVP Courtney Woods reveals Fire’s clutch secret‍
• Shannon Seebohm: Fire superstar Woods 'the female Luka Doncic'‍
• How to watch every NBL1 game LIVE and FREE

Chantel Horvat: Townsville Fire WNBL26 champion; Australian Opal; EuroLeague hooper; UCLA Bruins NCAA Division I standout; weightlifter with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade; NBL1 star; Australian FIBA Under-19 Women’s Bronze Medallist; Victorian junior representative; and … cartwheeler.

Horvat, 27, famously grabbed the biggest offensive rebound – with determined focus – in WNBL Grand Final history in Game 2 of the 2025-26 championship series against Perth Lynx in early March, finding now Golden State Valkyries development player Miela Sowah for the game-tying three that sent the game into overtime.

“As soon as that shot went up, I just had my eyes on that ball and knew I had to chase it down if it wasn’t going in,” Horvat said.

“I grabbed it, and Miela Sowah never misses her second shot. She just has this look in her eye every time she misses one and takes the next one.

“As soon as I got that rebound, I knew I had to get it to her and thankfully, she was open and nailed that second shot.”

Learning to play

The veteran forward revealed to basketball.com.au in an exclusive interview that the joy for basketball started in under-10s in Geelong, Victoria, but with somewhat of a lack of focus.

“I was very distracted as a young kid when I first started playing, and I really wasn’t very good at all,” Horvat said.

“I've been told, I have cartwheeled in the middle of a game on the court.

“Sometimes I was also looking up at the sky, twirling my hair.

“I might have to ask my mother to fact-check these things, but I have to tell that story.

“I was a cartwheeler. I’m still a bit of a cartwheeler. That’s one of the things that I always preface before I sign up for any coaching when clubs that I’m playing at ask me to coach.

“I don’t necessarily love the coaching side of things.

“I love being a kid with the kids' side of things. So you might catch me still cartwheeling with these little kids at the (Sydney) Comets camps.

“So I’d say maybe that piece hasn’t left my game yet.

“I just know when to do it (now), and I’m not gonna do it in the four quarters of basketball that I play.”

Horvat’s father, Steve, 55, provided the competitive spark, but it was mum Tina who was the inspiration.

Steve earned 32 caps for the Australian Socceroos between 1994 and 2002 before retiring in 2003.

“Everybody knows my dad was an athlete, but it was actually my mum who first introduced me to basketball,” Horvat revealed.

“She played basketball when she was a young girl, but unfortunately, due to unfortunate family circumstances, there was no one who was able to take her to any training or games after her father passed away at a young age.

“So she always wanted to give her kids the opportunity to play because she wished that she had had that opportunity when she was young.

“She was incredibly instrumental in taking me to basketball when I was young and continued to encourage basketball, amongst many others, that I played when I was younger.

“She was the one who introduced me to the game, and some of my earliest childhood memories are of that old stadium with my junior club at the time, with coaches and mum helping me out.”

From that old stadium to the global stage

Flash forward to today, and Horvat’s basketball resume is elite.

• WNBL26 Champion with the Townsville Fire
• 2024 EuroLeague with Perfumerias Avenida
• 2023 EuroCup with Enea Gorzow – alongside now Dallas Wings star Alanna Smith
• Bronze Medallist with the Australian Opals at the 2023 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup
• Los Angeles Sparks WNBA training camp contract in 2022
• 114-game NCAA Division 1 graduate with the UCLA Bruins (2017-22)
• Gold Medallist with the Australian Gems at the 2016 FIBA Under-18 Oceania Championships
• Bronze Medallist with the Australian Gems at the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championships
• Gold Medallist with the Australian Gems at the 2014 FIBA Under-18 Oceania Championships

That 2015 World Championship squad was stacked, too!

• Alicia Froling – January 31, 1996
• Lauren Scherf – March 7, 1996
• Alanna Smith – September 10, 1996
• Kristy Wallace – January 3, 1996
• Tahlia Tupaea – June 1, 1997
• Madeleine Dennis – January 14, 1997
• Anneli Maley – September 1, 1998
• Alexandra Sharp – February 4, 1997
• Chantel Horvat – June 1, 1998
• Montana Farrah-Seaton – November 27, 1996
• Mikayla Pirini – June 29, 1996
• Ezi Magbegor – August 13, 1999

A decade later, Horvat has reunited with point guard Pirini at the Sydney Comets in NBL1 East this season. She’s played just one game – 37 points and 13 rebounds – before injuring her finger at practice.

A choice between tennis and basketball

Unsurprisingly, Horvat is a gifted athlete who chose between basketball, tennis and soccer as a junior.

“I loved a lot of sports when I was young,” Horvat added.

“I was super active, so mum always knew she had to put me in sports because I was just running amok.

“My two favourites were tennis and basketball. Then, a little bit later, I picked soccer back up again and absolutely loved it, but by then it was a little bit too late pathway-wise.

“I loved tennis as well; however, I struggled with it being an individual sport. I just really loved the teamwork, camaraderie and community of basketball.

“Whenever I’d go and play tennis comp, I’d feel so alone, and I’d get frustrated by my performance or in my own head. I think I really struggled without teammates to bounce ideas off.

“I really love just being on a team and being surrounded by incredible people. That’s one of the things I always say to people that I love so much about basketball – you get to go to work with some of your best friends every single day, and it just makes it the best job in the world.

“And it can take you all around the world, introduce you to incredible people and places. It’s just such a great vehicle for that.”

Horvat revealed her competitive fire came from competing against her father – not on the basketball court but in matching his elite achievements.

“When I started really getting into sports and basketball in particular, I had this thing where I wanted to beat my dad,” she said.

“He’s an incredible athlete, and obviously, his accolades are very difficult to compete with.

“Sometimes I phrase it as wanting to beat him, but I actually think it was more about wanting to be like him or be as good as him.

“He was instrumental in guiding me along the way with this journey and still is today.

“He’d always tell me how hard it was and point to old photos of his AIS cohort, and point to the few that actually ended up having professional careers.

“He always said the percentage is so small. It’s not going to be given to you. You have to work for it every step of the way.

“The first big moment for me was when I didn’t make the school state team in Grade 6. That was my first disappointment because prior to that, I’d made all the first rep teams, and it had come easily.

“I remember going to the tryouts, and everyone was so much bigger, quicker, and more skilful than I was.

“At that time, I wasn’t ready to make that team. When I didn’t make it, that disappointment really motivated me to try harder and work harder.

“In my first Vic Country state team, I was emergency as a bottom-ager for the under-16s, and I didn’t even get the emergency spot initially. I think they called all the other emergencies, and they didn’t want to do it.

“But when I got the call, I was so excited because it was my first opportunity to play for a state team, and I accepted it without hesitation.

“I didn’t miss a single session. I worked really hard, and by the end, I was almost ready to make that team.

“That was so important because it cemented a work ethic in me.

“We learn from disappointment. Are you going to sulk that you didn’t make the state team, or are you going to take the opportunity to train against these incredible athletes and get better?

“From then on, I made Vic Country state teams as a top ager and bottom ager in the under-18s.

“Kids get so fixated on whether they make a team or not, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter.

“Your journey looks different to everyone else’s journey.”

Extraordinarily, she made the Geelong Supercats SEABL team as a 14-year-old.

“The pathway in Geelong was really good because we had a SEABL team, so that was really helpful for me because I started playing in that Supercats team when I was 14,” she said.

“That gave me incredible exposure to women’s basketball from a very young age, which was awesome for my development: just to train and play weekly with bigger bodies and experienced players, and learn from them.

“It was awesome for me because it was in the years leading up to going to the AIS as well.

“I went to the AIS when I was 15, spent those years there, then went to college in America, and then obviously, after graduating from UCLA, started my pro career.

“It was a really great junior pathway in Geelong, and obviously, it’s gotten even better now with the WNBL team as well as an NBL1 team. Juniors at the club can really dream big and strive towards that future.”

Navigating college recruitment

Horvat was still a teenager when US college recruiters started calling her in the mid-2010s. She admits the process was overwhelming, and sage advice helped her decide to play for Cori Close at the famed UCLA Bruins in Los Angeles, California.

Close has recruited another Australian, soon-to-be super sophomore Bonnie Deas, for the 2026-27 season.

“UCLA is just an amazing institution,” Horvat said.

“I was very fortunate to be recruited by them.

For me, it was really difficult to manage the recruiting process. There are so many phone calls with schools and so many decisions to be made.

“I’m pretty terrible on my phone and was probably worse as a high school student, so I’m really grateful my dad helped me a lot during that process.

“A top priority for me was a school known around the world for its education, because I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to study.

“Obviously, when schools call you that are these massive basketball schools, it can cloud your judgment because they’re very persuasive and you form bonds with coaches.

“I remember getting overwhelmed trying to narrow down my visits, and my dad asked me, ‘What school would you be the most disappointed in if they just lost interest in you?’

“The answer was UCLA instantly. I didn’t even have to think twice.

“That cleared everything for me, and I think that same day I called the coach and committed.

“UCLA ticked the most boxes for me. I’m not a one-box kind of person.

“I have a broad range of interests, and UCLA was high-achieving on the court, high-achieving in the classroom and focused on your growth as a woman and a human being.”

Horvat was a geography and environmental studies major and was named to the Pac-12 Winter Academic Honour Roll twice (2019-20 and 2020-21).

There will be almost 120 women’s basketballers in NCAA Division 1 in the 2026-27 season.

“I feel like it’s such an incredible opportunity, not only for basketball but for your development as a young woman,” Horvat said of her college career.

“You learn and grow so much as an individual.

“You get a free education, no HECS when you come back to Australia.

“I think going to college is a no-brainer. Getting an education was a massive part of it for me.

“It’s so important to have outlets outside basketball and to have that educational foundation, as well as a backup in case you ever get injured or the ball goes flat.

“So many junior basketball players ask for advice, and I always tell them I think it’s a great pathway.

“Doesn’t matter if you’re going to a big school, a small school, a Division II school or junior college.

“It’s an incredible opportunity to get a free education and just try it out.”

UCLA’s home games were played at the famous Pauley Pavilion.

Opened in 1965 on the UCLA campus, the arena is synonymous with the dynasty built by legendary coach John Wooden. UCLA won 10 NCAA Men’s Championships in 12 seasons under Wooden, including seven straight titles from 1967–1973.

It remains one of basketball’s cathedral venues – similar to Madison Square Garden or Cameron Indoor Stadium in college basketball.

The 2026 NCAA women’s champion Bruins celebrated there after winning their first title against South Carolina earlier this year.

“Pauley is still one of the most beautiful courts I’ve ever played on,” Horvat said.

“Before I got there, I watched a lot of UCLA games, and it just looked incredible, so to finally step on that court was so special.”

UCLA is famous for its pick-up games featuring NBA stars from multiple eras. There are stories scattered through basketball folklore of legends playing legendary games away from the glare of fans.

“I think it was my third week there,” Horvat said.

“We walked into the gym, and LeBron James and Dwyane Wade were lifting weights in our weight room.

“Us freshmen walked in and basically dropped to the floor and they were like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, we’re in your weightlifting slot. Do you mind if we lift with you guys?’

“It was so cool.

“There were always NBA players around in the summer coming to play pickup on the John Wooden Court.

“Russell Westbrook was always hanging around the practice facilities because he’s a UCLA alumni. Kobe Bryant also came to one of our games, which was awesome.

“It doesn’t even feel real when you see Kobe sitting on the baseline as you warm up.”

Horvat said winning the WNBL26 championship would be one of the biggest highlights of her career, shared with “amazing” teammates. She refused to reveal the length of the 2-0 celebration or whether there was a cartwheel or two.

“I will not disclose that information. That is confidential team information,” she said with a smile.

“It was an incredible opportunity, and it was so special to win a championship with that team and that club.

“We had this incredible bond, and there was nothing sweeter than winning that championship with that group of girls, that coaching staff and that club.

“It’ll be one of the highlights of my career.”

Chantel Horvat’s Basketball Career

Chantel Horvat’s basketball journey is one of the more unique Australian pathways of the past decade – spanning the Australian Institute of Sport system, NCAA basketball at UCLA, Europe, the WNBL, and now the Sydney Comets.

Some key takeaways from her résumé:

• Played five NCAA seasons at UCLA from 2017–2022
• Reached an NCAA Elite Eight and Sweet 16
• Represented Australia at U17, U18 and U19 level
• Won SEABL championships with the Geelong Supercats
• Played professionally in Poland, Turkey and Spain
• Returned to Australia for WNBL stints with the Canberra Capitals and Townsville Fire

Her best statistical season came in 2023 with Geelong in NBL1:

• 20.2 points
• 11.1 rebounds
• 2.4 assists
• 1.3 steals

That season highlighted the inside-out versatility that made her a valuable high-level player throughout her NCAA and professional career.

The UCLA years are especially significant because she arrived during a rebuilding period and helped the Bruins return to national relevance under coach Cori Close. She played alongside multiple future professionals and contributed to deep NCAA Tournament runs, including the 2018 Elite Eight team.

About the Author

Peter Brown is the head coach of the Sydney Comets Women’s Youth League team in the Waratah Basketball League in NSW. He is also the assistant coach for the Comets NBL1 women’s team in the NBL East Conference. Peter is a 30-year journalist, starting as a sports reporter at the NT News in the early 1990s. He played junior basketball for the Northern Territory at national championships from U16 to U20 and for the Territory’s senior men’s team at numerous international tournaments. Peter has been a basketball fan since the early 80s, especially the NBA. Basketball is his passion — and his opinions his own. Email peter.brown@basketball.com.au with feedback.