Gemma Buckett is a handball athlete who was awarded a Tier 3 Scholarship within the 2025 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program.
Gemma was born in Auckland New Zealand to Australian parents and relocated to Australia shortly afterwards. As a child she participated in a wide variety of sports including Touch Football, Netball, Basketball, and Fencing, with a serious focus on competitive Gymnastics for 11 years.
In 2019, some teammates from Netball were trialling for a national youth squad in Handball and her Netball coach convinced her to go along. Gemma was selected in the squad, then the national team of Australia and travelled to New Caledonia to compete in the Oceania Continental Handball Federation’s International Handball Federation (IHF) Trophy event.
National and international events were paused during the Covid-19 pandemic leaving a competition gap for all young athletes across all sports. Gemma returned to the court at the 2021 Australia and Oceania Handball Club Championships where she had her first taste of senior competition playing for the young Brisbane Handball Club (BHC) team.
In 2022 Gemma took up an offer and an enormous opportunity to travel to Spain where she trained and played with the Onda Handball Club, introducing her to the high level of Handball played in Europe and developing her game significantly. In 2022, as a 19 year old, Gemma was selected and made her debut for Australia’s national women’s team, travelling to the Asian Handball Federation’s Asian Women’s Handball Championships held in South Korea. These championships are Australia’s qualification pathway to the Olympic Games and the IHF World Handball Championships.
In 2023 Gemma decided to try her skills at Beach Handball competing at the National Beach Handball Championships held on Australia’s Gold Coast. She was the stand out player in her team and was awarded the coveted women’s Most Valuable Player Award of the tournament. Later in 2023, Gemma travelled with BHC to the Interamnia World Cup tournament in Italy where her team won the U23 women’s division, competing against clubs from Europe.
In 2022 and again in 2023, Gemma was selected as a member of the national title winning Queensland women’s team that competed at the Australian National Championships.
In June 2024, Gemma made her international debut for Beach Handball at the IHF Beach Handball World Championships where Australia placed 13th. In July 2024, Gemma joined the successful University of Queensland (UQ) Handball Club women’s team that competed in the Australia and Oceania Handball Club Championships. In their first appearance since their previous national title success in 2019, UQ won the women’s event and were crowned national club champions. Gemma was awarded Top Goal Scorer in the women’s division.
“I’m incredibly grateful to be a recipient of this scholarship among so many other talented athletes across many different sports. The scholarship will not only help me financially to cover the major costs of training and travel, but will also bring more attention to handball in Australia. Coming from a lesser-known sport, this scholarship allows me to share my love for handball and hopefully inspire others to play. It’s incredibly motivating and I can’t wait to connect with other Australian athletes” – Gemma Buckett on being selected as a 2025 Scholarship Holder
Honours & Achievements
- 2024 Australia Club Champions (UQ) – Senior – 1st Place
- 2024 Beach World Championships – Senior – 13th
- 2023 Australian Beach Handball Championships – Senior – 4th Place (also MVP for the tournament)
- 2023 Interamnia World Cup – Senior – 1st Place
- 2022 Australian National Championships – Senior – 1st Place (also top goal scorer)
Social Links | Instagram: @gemma_handball
