Have a successful career or start a family?
For female athletes, it was once one or the other. You couldn’t have both.
During my netball career, it was an unspoken rule that you waited until you retired to have children. If you made the decision to fall pregnant, you were letting the team down.
It was effectively the end of your career. You chose motherhood.
The days of that outdated philosophy, thankfully, are coming to an end. Women can do both.
That is only the case because parental provisions provided for athletes have improved giving them the support they would receive if they worked a so called ‘normal job’.
Clauses regarding guaranteed contract extensions, income protection on earnings, travel allowances for infants plus their babysitters have reshaped the landscape and made the financial aspect of having a child more manageable.
Attitudes have also changed, aligning with cultures in other nations like New Zealand.
Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua told me she thought women returned to the court as more resilient athletes after having children.
Once you have given birth nothing on the netball court seemed hard in comparison.
For the Kiwis, it was common practice to start a family and with so many children in the team there was often a creche set up at training.
In Australia, the competition for court time was so tight it was more common for athletes to freeze eggs and postpone kids for when their career was done and dusted.
Athletes are now educated around fertility and their options, rather than discouraged from starting a family full stop.
It’s helped female athletes understand the impact their career can have on their bodies and how it might impact their ability to conceive.
Women are making the choice for themselves. It is not being made for them.
And it’s a ‘pause’ button, the game is not over.
There are no lack of role models across multiple sports blazing the trail for others to follow.
Matildas star Katrina Gorry, AFLW icon Daisy Pearce and marathon champion Jess Stenson have all halted their careers and returned post-pregnancy.
Fremantle AFLW gun Kiara Bowers also missed this season after giving birth to son Luca while across the road at West Coast Dana Hooker also watched from the sideline pregnant with her second child.
Former world number one tennis star Naomi Osaka made her return to the court in January after giving birth to her first child and has made an incredible climb back up the rankings after a 15 month hiatus.
More recently, West Coast Fever Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard has followed suit, with one of the biggest names in netball pressing pause on her career on her own terms.
Not every woman wants a child and not every female athlete will want to conceive whilst in the midst of their sporting career (I certainly was not one) while others will.That choice is up to them – and for female athletes, it’s finally a choice they can make without having to sacrifice their careers too.
Be the first to comment