Stuart Karppinen

Stuart James Karppinen is a former Australian cricketer who is also the former strength and conditioning coach of the Australian national cricket team. Born in Townsville, Karppinen moved to Canberra with his family at a young age. He played for the Australian Capital Territory Under-19s at the 1991–92 Barclays Bank Australian Under-19 Championships, taking one wicket in his only match. He was first selected for the Australian Capital Territory senior side during the 1993–94 season, although the ACT did not at the time have either first-class or List A status, and thus only played state teams' Second XIs and other sides touring Canberra. Karppinen was also the recipient of an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship in 1997. The Australian Capital Territory was admitted to the Australian domestic limited-overs competition for the 1997–98 season, playing as the "Canberra Comets". Karppinen played six matches for the team in their inaugural season, taking nine wickets with a best of 2/35. Karppinen did not play any matches the following season, and transferred to Western Australia for the 1999–2000 season.