Cooper emerges from tragedy to live out dream

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A couple of years from the hardest time of his life, Andrew Cooper is now embracing working full-time in basketball for the first time and also his first official professional role with the Perth Lynx in the WNBL.

Cooper was at a crossroads in his life in 2023 after the tragic loss of the love of his life and mother to his two children, Vanessa, to cancer.

After nearly 30 years working with the police but having significant basketball commitments whether at SBL and NBL1 level or coaching underage Western Australia state teams to great success, he thought it was now or never to fully jump into basketball.

Two years later, Cooper has found a new basketball home at the Warwick Senators - not only coaching their men's NBL1 West team who made a grand final in 2025 - but working full-time as player development manager.

Now Cooper has taken another leap with his first official role in a professional team, joining up with his mate Ryan Petrik with the Lynx to be a WNBL assistant coach for the 2025-26 season.

Positive outcome out of dark time

In so many ways, things have turned out as well as possible both on a personal and professional front for Cooper two years on from not only losing his wife Vanessa, but then also an ugly end to his time coaching at the Cockburn Cougars just months later.

"I sit down with my partner and talk about this a bit and we sort of say that it's amazing how your life can feel pre-planned sometimes and it's the path you decide to take," Cooper told basketball.com.au.

"Obviously I had the unfortunate circumstances that I went through, but it's allowed me to take this path along the basketball route.

"I've been lucky to run into great people here at Warwick and also having the past relationships with people like Ryan that's allowed me to continue on with my dream even at nearly 52 years of age.

"The dream was probably designed more for this to happen around my 30s, but you take what you can get sometimes."

First official professional role

Having spent some time helping at both the Perth Wildcats and Lynx along the way, this WNBL season has also opened up an opportunity for Cooper to take on a professional assistant coaching role for the first time.

It just happened to work perfectly that head coach Petrik was on the look out for an experienced head to join him following the departure of Mike Malat, and given the pair's history at the Rockingham Flames, Cooper was his obvious first call.

Given where Cooper was at with life and basketball two years ago, to now be working as a WNBL assistant coach is something he can't be more excited about.

"It's been great and it's great to be able to dedicate time and effort every day to basketball in that environment," Cooper said.

"The organisation have been so welcoming and everything like that to allow me to come in and I'm learning heaps from Ryan again.

"Just being around those professional athletes is great exposure for me as well to see how they go about what they do."

Teaming up again with Petrik

Cooper is also more than comfortable fitting in at the Lynx given it's a reunion with Petrik.

It comes after the pair did enjoy great success previously working together in the SBL days with the Rockingham women's team featuring the likes of Sami Whitcomb and Darcee Garbin.

"If it wasn’t for Ryan I wouldn’t be where I am right now anyway," Cooper said.

"I've learnt so much from him and continue to learn heaps from him going all the way back to the first time that I reached out to him.

"I was standing in JB Hi-FI and he walked in and I just asked if he had a coaching staff spot for me on the women's program.

"That was well over 10 years ago now and I've learned so much, and I'm grateful for everything he's done for me and allowing me in now has been awesome.

"Our past relationship obviously helps and having won championships together and then also competing against each other makes it interesting at training that's for sure."

Natural competitors as well

In more recent years, the pair have been coaching against each other too in the NBL1 West with Petrik having taken over as men's coach at the Flames, including coaching them to the national championship back in 2022.

Cooper firstly coached at the Cougars and now has spent the past two seasons with the Senators, which included a stunning preliminary final win over Petrik's Rockingham team thanks to a buzzer-beating three ball from Cooper Creek.

"We're definitely competitors and he's got a real soft spot for Cooper Creek after that shot don't worry about that," Cooper said.

"And I do remind him that it was a play that was never designed for Cooper to shoot it so that hurts him even more.

"But seriously, it's just great to be able to have that knowledge of each other's basketball background and the history together, and that helps us communicate together.

"I sort of know now what I should and shouldn’t say, and what buttons I can and can't push, and what he needs from me. That makes life a lot easier."

Impressed by professionalism

What Cooper has been most blown away by since joining the Lynx this season is not only the professionalism of a playing group headed up by Anneli Maley, Amy Atwell and Ally Wilson, but of the whole organisation under the Sports Entertainment Group (SEN) ownership.

"Obviously I was involved six or seven years ago on the periphery and it just seems so much more professional and organised now than it seemed back then," Cooper said.

"Playing our games at HPC (High Performance Centre) also is amazing and has a much better feel about it, and the whole vibe around the club just feels so professional.

"I've never been involved in any other women's programs at this level, but I think it's right up there with how things get run at the Wildcats and stuff like that. From my perspective it seems pretty elite to be honest and I couldn’t be more impressed."

Now working full-time in basketball

While he was juggling his Police career with coaching basketball, Cooper always wondered what a full-time role with the sport would be like.

While it might not be exactly what he expected, he's thankful to both Warwick and the Lynx for now allowing him to be living out his dream.

"It's maybe not exactly what I expected because one day I could be coaching five-year-olds on the bitumen courts at the back of the school, and then heading off to the Lynx training in the afternoon with elite athletes at the highest level," Cooper said.

"I probably wasn’t ready for that at first, but obviously now I've worked out how to mould that into making it work for everybody, myself included, with being able to adapt.

"My previous job has allowed me to adapt in those situations and you still get benefits out of coaching the little kids as you do from the elite athletes. They can bring a smile to your face that's for sure."

Just about ready to fully commit

Initially Cooper took a year-long break from the police to chase his basketball dream and work full-time at Warwick. Now the time is almost upon him where he's going to have to make a permanent decision on what path to follow.

"I'm still waiting and have until January to make that official decision so I'm just waiting on some contractual stuff here at Warwick to find out what the plan is there," Cooper said.

"But from all the conversations I've had, I'd say once January comes around unless I get a phone call from the police offering my old job back and lots of money, I'll probably stay in the basketball world full-time now."

Daughters growing up fast too

Not only did Cooper lose his wife back in 2023, but daughters Tahnee and Jesni lost their mother, but both have bounced back well too with the former having just celebrated a 30th birthday and the latter having recently graduated from Menlo College.

"Jesni's still in America, she's in Houston with her partner Artis until he finishes his final year of football and then she's deciding whether she'll go back to do her master's or just live over there or whatever she'll plan," Cooper said.

"It's harder over there to keep playing once you finish college and I don’t know if she's missing playing or not, she might get the itch but I'm not sure what her basketball future looks like.

"Then Tahnee is working and having her best life, and just turned 30 so she's moving along nicely with her life as well."