Jones, Tamra

BORN JULY 28TH 1977 in Espanola, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Terri and Jim Jones. [1] Her father was a defensemen drafted by the Boston Bruins in 1969, although he did not receive playing time. He later played two games in the NHL for the California Seals. [3] Uncle Bob Jones also played two games with the New York Rangers in the NHL, and 161 games in the World Hockey Association. [2] Tamra developed in the local league as a junior ice hockey player, playing minor hockey with boys teams and graduating to competitive hockey in Southern Ontario where she launched a prolific playing, coaching and officiating career.

In 1995, she represented Ontario at the Canada Winter Games in Grande Prairie, Alberta, defeating Saskatchewan 5-1 to win the Gold. A 165 cm (5'5') 80 kg utility player, she rose to the Ivy League Conference of NCAA 1 with Brown University (Brown Bears) in Providence Rhode Island on scholarship in 1996-7 where she also excelled at golf.

An Eastern College Athletic Conference All-Star in her sophomore year, she played against USA Hockey Women's National Team and, in her last season in 2000, she averaged a point a game, winning the High Scorer Award of the Brown Women's Ice Hockey Team and an Honorable Mention for the ECAC All-Star Team. "Tamra Jones ’00, Ali Kenney ’00, and Jordan Jiskra ’00 brought leadership, offensive firepower, and defensive brilliance to a team that had more depth than any other in the nation,” wrote the University.

She played and coached in Denmark then moved to South Australia where she represented her new state in the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy. In 2005, at the Adelaide Ice Arena, she scored an empty netter in the Grand Final, defeating New South Wales, 3-0, and winning MVP of South Australia. From 2003 to ’05, she was Assistant Coach of the National Women’s Team, spanning the transition from Kathy Berg to Rocky Padjen. At 29 in 2007, she represented Australia as a player and Assistant Coach to Padjen in the IIHF Women’s World Championship in Denmark. That same year, she was a co-founder of the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League with Padjen and Dawn Watt.

In 2010, she joined the Brisbane Goannas in the AWIHL and made the playoffs in 2011 and ’12, a regular leader on goals and points. In 2013, she was Co-coach of the Goannas with Tash Farrier, while continuing to coach local teams at home, including the U16 Adelaide Oilers and C Grade Predators. She was still a player with the Goannas in 2014, and Head Coach in 2014 and 2015, while officiating A-grade games in the state’s Senior league.

Over 3 years from 2013, she helped assemble and groom the Australian Women’s Under-18 Team, through a series of training camps and exhibition games. She was foundation Head Coach of the National U18 Women’s Team when the girls first competed officially on the world stage in Austria, at the Women’s U18 tournament on January 7th 2016. Holding their own that year, she went on to coach the girls to a gold medal performance in the Group B Qualification in 2017, winning promotion to Division 1B, where Australia competes among teams from China, Great Britain, Denmark, Poland and France.

Team Coach at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, she helped Perth’s Madison Poole to an outstanding performance in the ice hockey skills events. An educator at the University of South Australia since 2012, she teaches Health and Physical Education, Inclusive Education, Managing Learning Environments, and Teacher Preparation while completing PhD research. Passionate about coaching, with Level III certification, she is still running coaching clinics in Adelaide, where many top players, including Tash Farrier and Amelia Matheson, have publicly acknowledged her inspiring contributions to their growth and development.

"I had the pleasure of working with you in your early coaching days," wrote former NWT coach Kathy Berg in 2017. "Your passion, compassion, determination and commitment helped many players achieve their goals but also placed Australia on the International stage with female youth development."