MARCELLE KEET TO LEAD CANBERRA CHILL WOMEN

A changing of the guard leading into the 2025 Hockey One season with the announcement of Marcelle Keet as the new Canberra Chill Women’s Head Coach.

Marcelle joins the Canberra Chill as the first individual female to lead the Women’s Program, taking over from now former Head Coach Matt Cook.

“After an extensive search, we are delighted to announce Marcelle Keet as the new Head Coach in 2025. Marcelle will bring plenty of experience to the program, recently working with the South African National Team at the Paris Olympic Games. Her energy and passion for the game is infectious and we are excited to see where she takes the program” Matt Cook said when confirming Marcelle’s position.

2024 was a big year for Marcelle, she was an Assistant Coach at the Paris Olympics where she assisted the Women’s team over the campaign before moving to Australia with her son in September of 2024 after accepting the role as the Hockey ACT Pathways Manager. Turning her attention to the Canberra Chill season, which was due to begin October 10, she took over the Development Program which assisted the Canberra Chill staff in their game day selections each week of the 2024 Hockey One season.

More recently, Marcelle was named as the ACT U21 Women’s Head Coach which are currently in preparation for their National Championship which begins May 3 in Bendigo, VIC. 

Marcelle isn’t a stranger to the high-performance environment, as dual international athlete, she represented the South African Women’s team from 2005-2016 (148 Caps) alongside an international career in Water Polo from 2003-2017 (53 Caps). She is excited to bring her experience from her playing career and working within the South African U21 and Women National sides.

Talking to Marcelle, she is excited to work through the player retirements and work with the upcoming players to showcase the talent from within the ACT. Culture, hard work and striving for something bigger than themselves as a team are some things she is looking forward to working on in the upcoming season.

When asked how she felt about being the first female coach to lead the program, she said it is something she is incredibly proud of, noting Meredith Bone was a Co-Coach in 2022 with Paul Sureda. She mentioned it is an amazing opportunity a quite a privilege to be a female coach is this set up and she is looking forward to taking the challenge on.