AHEAD OF THE GAME
Meet the change-makers who are leaving their mark both on and off the sports field.
Whether it’s breaking records, calling out online abuse or championing diversity, these revolutionaries can each lay claim to driving the conversation about women in sport forward for the next generation. Meet the change-makers who are leaving their mark both on and off the field. By Jessica Montague.
THE DOUBLE HEADER Kylie Watson-Wheeler
Kylie Watson-Wheeler is the first to tell you she’s not athletic. “I’m a terrible sportswoman … hopeless,” she says. “But you don’t have to be good at sport to love sport, and you also don’t have to be good at sport to be involved.”
But Watson-Wheeler is far from just being involved. She is the poster-woman for marrying a successful business career with personal passion, thanks to roles as managing director of the Walt Disney Company Australia and New Zealand and vice-president of the Western Bulldogs AFL team.
“I think some women are deterred from entering the sporting space because they think they can’t run or kick a ball,” Watson-Wheeler continues, “but it’s equally as important for women to be involved in the administration as that can really help to advance the opportunity for women in sport.”
One of the proudest moments for the mother-of-two was the Marvel Stadium sponsorship deal she secured in Melbourne last year. The move, she says, “felt like such an authentic connection” between Captain Marvel and AFLW players. “She is the most powerful superhero in the Marvel Universe and, like the AFLW players, she’s a strong and courageous woman who’s an inspiration to the next generation of girls.”
THE COMEBACK QUEEN Cate Campbell
Cate Campbell went into the 2016 Rio Olympic Games poised for glory, but her loss in the 100-metre freestyle final was devastating – a performance the swimmer later described as “possibly the greatest choke in Olympics history”.
While many athletes might not have recovered, Campbell, 27, has not let that race define her. In fact, she’s in careerbest form clocking her fastest times in 2018 and claiming a swag of gold from the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships. “[Rio] taught me a lot about the meaning of bravery and courage – they exist when you put yourself out there. One of the ironic things about success and failure is that the only place where success is possible is a place where failure is also possible,” she says. “It’s been as time of great change and a lot of growth outside of the swimming pool, which I think was very due.”
Part of that growth has been fuelled by a newfound passion for women’s health, particularly in breaking down stigmas about menstrual cycles and the use of hormonal contraception. “No-one wants to talk about it, but for elite athletes there are huge physical and psychological consequences of not being supported in that area and at the moment there’s very little to no support,” Campbell says. “A lot of girls will just try pills here, and there is no real guidance. I’d hate for other young girls to go through this and be as clueless as I was. This is the legacy that I want to leave.” She is working with Swimming Australia to hopefully roll out a program by next year.
THE QUIET ACHIEVER Madison de Rozario
Madison de Rozario is a veteran of three Paralympic Games, but it was only when she won two gold medals at last year’s Commonwealth Games (which had the largest para-program in its history) that the 25-year-old was given a platform to drive the conversation about disability forward.
“It was the first time we’d been viewed genuinely just as athletes, which is something I know that I’ve been pushing for the longest possible time,” she says. “We knew we had this very small window to try to change the perception of a thing that has carried a negative stigma forever. You had [it in the back of your mind] that you wanted to perform athletically, but you wanted to use all of those moments to really try and make this massive push socially.”
De Rozario, who is coached by legendary para-athlete Louise Sauvage and is studying for a business degree, has a very clear message for girls: “It’s not to be passive. I think we all kind of create this environment, which is to be the bigger person in all kinds of situations, to fit into a particular mould that isn’t designed by us or doesn’t actually fit us. I would love to see women and girls create something that is authentic and genuine for themselves and I would like to use any visibility I have to show what that looks like.”
THE MOUTHPIECE Mel McLaughlin
When asked how long she could talk about sport, an exuberant Mel McLaughlin fires back: “Easy. Forever. Sport makes people happy; it makes people emotional. It’s what brings joy.”
Having grown up as part of a sports-obsessed family in Western Sydney, it was only fitting that the former tomboy forged a successful media career off the back of her number-one passion. In the last 15 years she’s also helped steer the conversation about equal representation on screen. “It should be normal to turn on your TV and have girls there. That’s life in 2019,” she says. “I’m a firm believer that if you’re just into coverage that is just older men in grey suits then you’re completely out of touch with society.”
In addition to her duties as a sports presenter on the Seven Network, this month McLaughlin helms the Optus Sport broadcast team for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the perfect pairing, given McLaughlin has been a fan since she played soccer – or football – as a young girl.
“I’m really excited about it. Football is my first big love in terms of sport and it’s been very much in my blood my whole life.” McLaughlin describes the Matildas – currently ranked sixth in the world – as “genuine contenders” and “rock stars” and will be driving the coverage of all 52 games. “I turned into a vampire last year in during the men’s,” she says with a laugh. “I won’t be sleeping at all, but you do get used to it.”
THE CAMPAIGNER Kim Brennan
Kim Brennan’s career as an athlete was stellar. A powerful rower standing at 1.88 metres, she competed in three Olympic Games and took home three medals – including gold from Rio 2016, where she led the women’s single scull from start to finish. But equally impressive is her transition to powerbroker in the boardroom. Brennan, now 33 and retired, managed a career in law during her rowing career and earned an advisory position at EY (Ernst & Young) in Canberra, thanks to a global athlete recruitment program. While many athletes struggle to adjust to life after elite sport, Brennan has thrived, and to pay it forward has spearheaded an employment program for athletes wanting to forge a career at EY but who need flexibility due to competing and training.
“It’s hard for current competing athletes to get the opportunities they need, but planning and thinking about your future is really important,” says Brennan. “I would never want someone who has the right intent and really wants to learn things outside sport to not be able to have that opportunity because they didn’t have the right network.” As for the assumption athletes can’t do both? “That’s rubbish,” says Brennan, noting that 14 athletes have already been seeded into the program.
In the last year Brennan has also kept busy thanks to her 10-monthold son Jude (with husband Scott, also an Olympic champion rower) and an impressive number of ambassador roles, including positions on the Australia Sports Foundation board, the AIS Ethics Committee and as deputy chef de mission for next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.
But her work is also not over yet. “If I won the Lotto, I’ve like to have a trust that meant any child who wanted to participate in sport in Australia could,” says Brennan. “It would pay for club fees, help with transport, buy clothes or build change rooms. I was so fortunate to have a family who could drive me to training and have great coaches around me and that’s certainly not the case for everyone. I really believe in the power of sport, but we also need it to be accessible.”
THE TALKING POINT Tayla Harris
In March Tayla Harris found herself catapulted to national attention when a photo of the 22-year-old kicking a 45-metre goal in the AFLW competition went viral. The image, which was posted by Channel Seven, showed the Carlton forward in full flight, with her kicking leg fully extended.
When the post was removed following abusive comments from trolls, a groundswell of support for Harris caused Channel Seven to repost the image and issue an apology. Harris handled the furore with maturity beyond her years, fronting a press conference less than 24 hours later, calling out some comments as “sexual abuse on social media”.
A few months on, Harris has had time to reflect. “I made a huge effort with the whole thing – it had to be a quick decision of what to say after the photo [went viral],” she says. “I didn’t want to dilute what I wanted to say. It was really intense and obviously it was about sexual abuse online, which is uncomfortable, but I felt the need to talk about it because it is so important. I’ve been getting these kinds of comments my whole career. I’d get sent direct messages as a 17-year-old when I first started playing AFL Women’s, so I’m actually glad this came up; I was literally waiting for something to happen where people would also say: ‘That’s not right.’ It’s what I’ve been saying for so long.”