Crows AFLW player Erin Phillips opens up about her wife Tracy Gahan and new twins
STAR Crows AFLW player Erin Phillips has talked for the first time about her long-term love for ex-basketballer Tracy Gahan, the birth mum of their adorable twin babies, describing motherhood as the “best thing ever”.
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THIS is the summer that Erin Phillips will always remember as the one that turned her life upside down and brought her both joy and challenges she had never expected.
A hint of what’s been going on in her life as she became an inaugural female Crows player at Thebarton Oval on the weekend was in the crowd, where father Greg and mother Julie helped look after her little ones, Blake and Brooklyn.
Phillips’ wife, Tracy Gahan, gave birth to the twins in the US in early November and the arrival made the challenge of flitting between Dallas and Australia or changing from basketball to football seem secondary.
Phillips and Gahan, who met about seven years ago when teammates at the Adelaide Lightning, had been talking about having a family for years and late last year it happened — with twins.
It has thrown previous routines into chaos and made the couple think on their feet. Phillips, who used to be fastidious in her daily routine, has learned to think on her feet and expect the unexpected.
In the middle of it, football finally arrived for women in Australia on the national stage and the daughter of a Port Adelaide champion captained the Crows in its first match — for a win.
Her world is spinning but she wouldn't have it any other way. Phillips has embraced motherhood.
“It was something I always wanted to become,” she said.
“But I didn’t know we were going to have twins. They’re the best part of my life, for sure.
“The best thing that’s ever happened in my life. They’ve been the best thing and the hardest thing in the world, I think I describe it as.
“The biggest challenge for me probably was that with basketball and my career I was always on this schedule, setting goals and having a routine every day.
“Now, after having kids, that’s gone completely out the window.
“I’m just kind of learning patience and to expect the unexpected. But it’s been the best thing in my life, that’s for sure.
“But you’re on their schedule. They’re definitely not on your schedule.”
Nothing drove it home more than in the hours before the Crows’ historic match against Greater Western Sydney, one which inspired 10,000 spectators to turn up.
Gone were the days when Phillips’ pre-match routine was planned and executed with precision.
“It was the first time I’d ever had to prepare for a game with the twins,” Phillips said.
“I usually have lunch at a certain time, have a pre-game snack at a certain time ... that completely went out the window.
“You just have to be open to whatever they want and whenever they want it. You’ve got to be there.
“But I wouldn’t change a thing.”
For that, it has come as a relief that she still managed to perform. Phillips started by kicking a few behinds but finished with three goals in an important contribution for the Crows.
“They’re a good distraction as well,” she said.
“They put everything into perspective for you. They make your realise at the end of the day, it’s just a game — win lose or draw you get to come home to them.”
Phillips and Gahan, who married in the United States, are keeping an open mind as to what the future holds.
Once the inaugural AFLW season is finished, the family will return to the US for another season with Dallas in the WNBA.
Phillips would love to return to the Crows for another season next summer, but whether the family sets up in Phillips’ Australia or Gahan’s US — her family is in the Dallas area — remains up in the air.
Phillips could see positives for her children in both countries.
“I can’t plan tomorrow,” she said.
“It’s going to be year by year or even ... all I know is that we go back to America in mid April for the WNBA. And hopefully after that we fly back again for the Crows.
“But you can’t plan ... you just have to take it as it comes.
“I don't worry about things like that. I’m very much day to day.
“I think they (the twins) are actually very lucky that they have both countries that they can grow up in.
“Obviously America is very different to Australia. Australia ... I love the fact that they can be part of it, the beach and the outdoors and have that here. In America, if they ever became anything in sports or academics they could have some great opportunities in high school and college.
“We’ll face that when we absolutely have to.”
