McMAHON, Lisa

BORN JULY 21ST, 1979 in Brisbane, the daughter of Tom and Denise, and tag-along sister of Chris who worked at Mt Gravatt Skateway, then Logan Skate City roller skating rinks. In 1993, Lisa started hockey at the skating sessions at Logan in Grade 9 high, and soon she worked there, too. She joined the Logan Rangers then the Brisbane Battle Angels inline hockey teams in grade 10 or 11. Angels' coach, Rob Heang (aka Sarge), played and coached both ice and inline, blessed with some very talented girls who also played both.

McMahon's first ice hockey experience was probably 8 weeks of state team training for a Joan McKowen tournament c1997, and by the late 90s she had joined the core group in both sports year round, shaped by Kelly Skinner (Capt Aus/Qld), Katie Kelly (AC Qld/Aus), Kellie McPherson (AC/C Qld, NWT player), Simone Fuller (Qld Goalie) and Sarge. She returned to the state team in '98, and toured Boston with the National Junior Women's team the next year. Positioned in defense for the first year or two, she often rotated to help out forward, but soon settled into attack.

By early 2000, the group's focus shifted mainly to ice with Kellie McPherson, Kylie Taylor, JB and Manu Mazzola, Claire and Darrin de Groot, husband Rob Bolton, Kelly Dorrington, Kylie Clair, Sharna Godfrey, and later Jemma Scotford, Tracy Hocutt and Tamra Jones. Many roles followed over 8 or 9 National Team seasons — Rookie, Alternate Captain, Captain, Manager and Coach (c1997 to 2000, '02 to '05).

A co-founder of the Brisbane Goannas in the early 2000s, with locals Kylie Taylor and Darrin De Groot, McMahon helped develop the Showcase Series with participating teams and league organisers, Rocky Padjen and Tamra Jones. The group continued to work towards formation of the AWIHL with Bolton, a mentor and sometime Team Manager, advertising man and designer. In 2006, the Goannas were one of the four founding teams of the new League and, when McMahon fell ill the next year, she handed over to Tamra Jones and Ainslie Gardner.

Lisa also helped start and manage a local Brisbane girls development team called Team TBA (To Be Announced) in the Brisbane B-grade mixed competition. The Goannas were encouraged to participate, mixing the team with supportive male partners and friends — Rob Bolton, John Beni Mazzola, Darrin De Groot — and many did, including Kylie Clair, Manu Mazzola, Kelly Dorrington, Sharna Godfrey, Emma Flesser. In 2009-10, McMahon played for the ACT women's ice hockey team in the NSW league while studying post grad medicine, then the AWIHL Sydney Sirens. A first child arrived in 2012, and later that year she started training with the National Team for a New Zealand tournament coached by Rocky Padjen, but fell pregnant with a second child.

McMahon says hockey greatly influenced her life, especially from Coach Berg's national teams on. "It helped me grow, gain confidence, travel and attempt things like my medical degree. I'm not sure I would have done any of those things without my family, friends, hockey". Steph Boxall, Captain of Australia in those years, is a long time role model. "She was such an iconic player. So good, fit, tough, fair, nice person, on and off the ice. I have told her, but not sure she appreciated the impact on my development that she had.

"I am forever grateful to Kathy Berg and the team (Rocky Padjen, Kylie Taylor, Scott Wilson, Tamra Jones and others) who all helped shape that era of players into sportswomen. Berg demanded effort, work, respect, fairness, dedication, confidence, pride, teamwork, and fostered appreciation of all roles. [Her] coaching helped me to understand ice hockey and life".

McMahon and Bolton had a third child in 2016, and their oldest played his first season for the Brisbane Buccaneers at 6 in 2018. Lisa plays street hockey with the boys who play inline for West Logan and, despite recurrent hospital admissions and multiple surgeries, she does not plan on retiring. Among her career highlights are development of the Goannas while playing, and every National Team experience from 2000, especially winning Division 3 in Slovenia, and the Alternate Captaincy in South Africa in 2005.

But the real highlight was friends. "They are still in my life and my husband and children's lives, especially Andrea Steranko, Kylie Clair and Kellie McPherson. Those friendships and trips are my best memories. You can't get much better than playing a game you love while travelling the world with your lifelong friends!"

In 2023, McMahon celebrated 50 AWIHL games after returning with the Brisbane Lightning.