Frankenberger, Jo

BORN 13 JANUARY 1982, Johanna Frankenberger developed in the Western Australia hockey leagues and represented her state coached by David Robertson among others. She was Head Coach of the state U18 team (Tange Trophy), Assistant Coach under Markus Frankenberger of the Southern Suns in the Ultimate Ice Hockey Championship in Western Australia (2015) and Assistant Coach of Australia and the first National Women’s U18 teams. Tasked with helping create a culture for the program in 2012, Head Coach Tamra Jones and Frankenberger began to assemble and prepare a team capable of gaining admission to the IIHF U18 Women’s Worlds.

Frankenberger helped coach the U18s in their first game in Dunedin, New Zealand, on 6 December 2013, tying 2-2 but losing the series. In December 2014, Australia hosted the Kiwis in Melbourne, winning the 2014 Trans-Tasman Cup 3-2 in a five-game series. The team toured Denmark in 2015 for a training camp and exhibition games against the Denmark U18s.

In 2016, at the Qualifications series in Spittal, Austria, the U18s lost their games against Great Britain, Italy and Poland in Group B but defeated Romania in a shootout to finish seventh. Frankenberger was also Assistant Coach of the National Women’s Team at the Div 2B World Championships in Jaca, Spain, where Team Australia won Gold. Late that year, she was elected president of the Cockburn Hawks Ice Hockey Club and next year, she coached the Blackhawks in the local SuperLeague.

The West Australian returned with the National U18 Women to Copenhagen ahead of the 2017 Div 1B Worlds Qualifications in San Sebastián, Spain, taking on the hosts, Mexico and Romania. Australia won all three games with their biggest international win on record against Romania, 10–0. The team earned the Gold Medal and promotion to Div IB for the 2018 World Championships, and Frankenberger helped coach against China, Denmark, France, Great Britain and Poland. Although finishing last, Australia has competed at the World Championships ever since.

Coach Tamra Jones said Jo “invested so much energy in the early years of the program to assist me to establish the culture we envisioned would enable the NWU18T to be successful as the playing talent improved. I will be forever grateful for Jo’s loyalty and support over the past decade.”

From 2018, Frankenberger was an Assistant Coach with EHC Lustenau in the Alps Hockey League in Austria, and 2020 League Champion. In 2021, the coach studied Sport and Exercise at the University of Florida, having earlier completed a degree in Commerce at Murdoch University and an MBA at the University of Western Australia. In 2025, Frankenberger lived and worked in Austria, and volunteered translation services and content creation at Step By Step (the Marifi Children’s Home). In the mid 2020s, Jo Frakenberger covered Champions Hockey League games.