Collingwood netball star Geva Mentor opens up on freezing her eggs for future insurance

It’s very expensive, but this insurance policy had helped ease the stress on netball star Geva Mentor. And she hopes more players follow her lead.

Geva Mentor describes it as her security blanket.

She had no idea at the time how much the very expensive, but anxiety-relieving “insurance policy” would ease the stress around whether or not she was playing roulette with her fertility by extending her stellar netball career.

But in deciding to freeze her eggs, Mentor has taken control of her future, has a back-up plan in place if she is unable to conceive naturally and can extend her sporting career towards her 40th birthday without having to worry about declining fertility.

Mentor is one of netball’s most enduring stars.

The England Roses defender has played 226 national league matches - the most of any active player - in the Trans-Tasman League and Super Netball.

A Commonwealth Games champion, World Cup medallist and four-time national premiership winner, Mentor is a leader on and off the court.

She went through her fertility journey on her own though - something she hopes other athletes will not have to do in the future as discussions around the topic become normalised.

“When I went through it, I didn’t tell too many people at the time that I was injecting myself (in preparation for egg collection) through that time, when actually I probably should have been a bit more open about it,” she said.

“It wasn’t till afterwards that I started to share my stories and my journey but I think at the time you’re a little bit sensitive with it all.”

Geva Mentor had her eggs frozen a few years ago

MAKING IT THE NORM

But Mentor is hoping that in talking about the process, and fertility in general - egg collection, IVF, pregnancy, miscarriage, maternity leave and motherhood - emerging athletes will have the tools to make decisions for themselves and feel supported in whatever path they choose.

“I think it would just be nice when you’re in your career that you don’t have to decide, okay, I can have a kid and come back, or I can have a kid later on,” she said.

“Each female is going to be different in their own journey. But to have those conversations and opportunities that everyone can choose their own path (and know) that they’re supported whatever they do, whether they’re having kids in their forties, or young and coming back.”

Mentor, now 38, embarked on her fertility journey in early 2020, just before Covid spread around the world.

Not even the pandemic could slow the march of time though, or the biological clock the former Adelaide Thunderbirds, Melbourne Vixens and Sunshine Coast Lightning player keenly felt ticking.

“I’d been in sport for so long and I was always really regular but then I think stresses and everything else, things started to not be as regular,” Mentor said.

All sorts of questions started to race through her head.

CAREER v FAMILY

Instead of panicking, Mentor did what Mentor does. She made a plan, flipped the negative script to take control of the moment and realised she was doing something that would insure her future.

“I was single at that moment, mid 30s. I wanted a family but I was still enjoying my sport and where my career was at.

“So I did the research, got in touch with Melbourne IVF and basically went through that whole process by myself.

“It costs a lot of money but for me it was worth it. We pay insurance on all sorts of things and for me, this was the insurance of knowing that not only am I able to give myself the opportunity to potentially have a family later on if things don’t work out naturally, but I’m also able to just be comfortable with where I’m at in life and not be stressing about that.”

Procedure completed - almost too well it turns out given the number of eggs retrieved and the severe cramping that resulted in - Mentor had immediate peace of mind about her future.

“That’s all done now and I pay my storage fees every six months,” she said.

“Just having that peace of mind knowing that whatever happens in life - health complications, stresses, careers - you’ve just got that set aside and it gives you that peace of mind that you’re able to have those conversations later in life whether you use them or not. “

Mentor may have made the decision to seek out that information independently but she is determined her peers and teammates will have freer access.

As well as hearing Mentor talk about her experiences, players have a wealth of information from a partnership between the Australian Athletes’ Alliance (AAA) and leading fertility care provider Monash IVF.

MAKING THINGS AVAILABLE

Australian Netball Players Association president Jo Weston said her players were excited when the prospect of working with Monash IVF came up.

“We had a very revolutionary maternity leave policy, which was very exciting for the game, I think, and it sort of changed that dynamic,” Weston said of netball’s 2016 guidelines which included maternity leave with 100 per cent income protection, provision for children under 12 months or those still being breastfed to travel with a carer to games, and babysitters to help during training commitments.

“Players would wait to retire to have kids and that (policy) has sort of changed the trajectory of mothers in our game.

“And I think this (partnership with Monash IVF) is probably that next step looking at adding a level of control and independence into women’s fertility.

“There is that strong correlation between being an elite athlete and what the other potential impacts are on your body.

Geva Mentor of the Magpies play defence

“We watch our health in so many other ways - everything is measured and monitored - so really delving into this with the other athlete associations just made a lot of sense.”

Weston hoped having information available from specialists in the field would allow players to be equipped to make decisions about their futures.

“It allows people to ask questions of people that are experts in the field,” she said of the Monash partnership.

“We’re very lucky to have really incredible medical and physical support staff in (the Super Netball teams).

“We (at the Vixens) have a world class partnership with the Victorian Institute of Sport but (fertility) is not their specialty.

“I think it’s good to ask questions, take information, so that way you can feel comfortable with making a decision or thinking about, long-term, your personal fertility journey and what that means to you as an individual and as an athlete.”

Mentor just wants her younger colleagues to be armed with all the information they need to make the best decision possible about their future in a professional sports landscape that is changing so quickly for women.

“I think the more awareness that we can give to each other … will definitely support and help,” she said.

“Here’s a topic, we’ll keep having those conversations, ask questions if they ever rise - it may not be now, it may be in a year or five years’ time.”