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CAREER IN FOCUS
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When Rachel Jarry joined Victoria Police in 2019, she was embarking on her second life in uniform. But the blue colour might have felt unfamiliar, with the now Werribee-based constable more comfortable in the green and gold of Australia, having forged a career as one of the country’s leading basketballers. That career is still ongoing — in fact, she was pivotal to the Southside Flyers winning their first Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) title just last year — but the back of her playing card already has a list of stats and achievements that comfortably place her among the nation’s best athletes. Constable Jarry has competed in two Olympic games, winning bronze in London in 2012 and achieving a fifth-place finish in Rio in 2016. She was crowned a WNBL champion with the Melbourne Boomers in 2011 and named an WNBL All-Star a year later.
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POLICE LIFE | WINTER 2021
In 2013, she took her talents to the USA to win a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) championship with the Minnesota Lynx and then helped Australia to bronze in the 2014 FIBA World Championships.
“The neighbours had a tree that came across our driveway and it was about the perfect height of a hoop, so I used it to practice my shooting. But then the tree got too big, so I took it upon myself to do something about it.
Like most who go on to be elite athletes, Const Jarry’s talent stood out early. Throughout her childhood and teenage years, sport was a constant, as were appearances for junior state basketball teams at Australian under-16 and under-19 championships. At just 16, she moved to Canberra to take up residency at the Australian Institute of Sport.
“A couple of days later, my dad got a knock at the door. It was the neighbours; they had a letter in their hand and asked if we had a problem.
But it was at a much younger age when Const Jarry’s love of sport and an unruly tree branch collided to give an early indication of her natural sense for law and order. “I was about seven or eight at the time and our house had a nice smooth concrete driveway where I could dribble my basketball,” Const Jarry said.
“The letter was written by me, in pink Texta, saying that I was the local council and the tree was too big and had to be cut down. “I’m not sure impersonating council staff was an ideal start for someone who became a police officer. And they never cut down the tree, probably out of spite.” Further instilling Const Jarry’s childhood interest in policing was her grandfather, veteran Chief Superintendent Robert Davis.
