Allen’s juggle a QBL boost
SHE’S a nurse by day but Emily Allen spends her weekends taking care of business on the court.
The 26-year-old Seahawks guard will once again plough past a week’s worth of long shifts and sleepless nights to lead the QBL side in their gruelling north Queensland double-header against Townsville (tonight) and Cairns (tomorrow).
In a stark reminder of the demands of those at the semi-professional level, Allen works as a registered nurse at Robina Hospital before backing up with state league basketball.
“My ward is good and gives me hours I need to fit around basketball,” said firstyear grad Allen, whose teammate Jessica BlundellThornton is also a nurse.
“But it’s very tiring coming off night shift and having two hours sleep then needing to go to training that night.
“People say to me ‘I don’t know how you do it’.
“The last four years has been basketball, basketball, basketball and now taking on this full-time job and a new career, it’s challenging to get that life balance.”
Allen, though, isn’t one to complain.
The North Gold Coast junior has helped oversee the club’s rise to the QBL and sees her role now as much mentor as on-court star.
“It’s important to show juniors (to work hard) because you need to promote a work/life balance,” she said.
“We have a lot of good juniors coming through as well who I’d love to help.
“I try to be that role-model player.”
Allen spent four years at college in the US before returning in 2014 to help the Seahawks to three secondtier SBL titles in four years.
With the club sitting at 2-2 in their maiden QBL foray, she says the timing has been perfect for the promotion of coach Robert Sleaford’s side.
“When I first came back from college I was playing SBL with Rob we went undefeated and I was like, ‘we definitely need to go QBL’,” Allen said.
“We had a lot of good players who wanted to help the association.
“We were really dedicated to get to the next level so the juniors coming through could stay – as a junior I would have loved that.”
Allen backed her team to continue to build in tonight’s game in Townsville at 6.30pm (men at 8.30pm).