Liz Cambage: ‘Look at the facts: I am great’
After years of struggling with self-doubt, Australian basketball star Liz Cambage reveals how she finally learned to ignore the critics and believe in herself.
Stellar
Don't miss out on the headlines from Stellar. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Liz Cambage didn’t want to hurt in silence any longer. So two months ago, the Australian basketballer decided to make some noise.
She opened up for the first time about her battle with mental-health issues, revealing how a panic attack caused her to withdraw from a WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) game in the US. She also talked about how she was put on suicide watch after the 2016 Olympic Games.
Today, Cambage is again telling it like it is – and wants you to know that she is OK. “I am in a really good spot,” the 28-year-old tells Stellar. “After my breakdown [at the WNBA game] during the year, I am back on medication.”
“If I was not in a career that is so up and down, I would be fine, but in this lifestyle, I need balance. I’ll be staying on them until the Olympics next year.”
Her job brings a “roller-coaster” of hectic emotions. Joy, fun and happiness crash up against fear, doubt and worry on the court – and spill into her life off it.
Being on show week in and week out, and in intense professional environments, can cause even the hardiest to crumble.
Cambage always wrestled with self-belief.
“She’s only good because she is tall,” was something Cambage – who now stands 2.03 metres – heard often as a kid. She started to believe it.
“It would get to me,” she admits. “I never thought I was that great.”
Now she tries to embrace her world-best status rather than shy away from it. She has had many conversations with friend Dylan Alcott, the Paralympian and Grand Slam-winning tennis champ she met when they were teens.
He’s persuaded her to own her accomplishments, revving her up with compliments – “Liz, you are the greatest basketball player in the world.” “You are the best.”
He boosted her when she needed it, and hearing the same from teammates and coaches, both in the WNBA and in Australia, reinforced it in her head.
Yet not until a WNBA game in July last year – when she wrote herself into the record books with 53 points in a game – did Cambage start to truly believe in herself.
She had posted big numbers in games before, but many said she couldn’t do it in the world’s best league. She proved them wrong.
“It took me until last year that I really believed it, like, ‘Wow, I am great,’” says Cambage.
“It’s taken me a long time to be able to say that out loud. People look at it as arrogance or cockiness – but look at the facts. It is what it is.
“Until someone can shut me down one on one, then I am going to wear it with pride.”
Along with ownership of her talent has been the rise of her star status. Cambage plays for the Las Vegas Aces and Australian Opals and is worshipped by basketball lovers across the world, particularly in the US, China and Australia.
Such is her status in the US that she recently earned a coveted nude portrait in ESPN magazine’s annual Body issue. “I loved doing it,” she smiles.
IN THE PAST few weeks, Cambage has been back at home in Melbourne. She loves the city – having moved there at 10 after a stint in NSW’s Coffs Harbour. (Cambage, who was born in London to a Nigerian father and Australian mother, came here at three months old.)
But being back is also difficult, as it can shine a light on how tricky she can find life when playing overseas. The solitude and lack of a big network are often challenging.
MORE STELLAR:
Carrie Bickmore on THAT baby question
“It’s a reminder of how unsettled I am,” she says. “It’s hard being all over the shop because of my job. But look, I know it’s not forever. I am soaking it all in. I have a fantastic opportunity to live the life of a professional athlete.”
Cambage is not driven by fame, personal records or the money a career in sport can offer. “At the end of the day, I just want to win,” she says.
“I want to get my team to the championships. I want to lead Australia to a gold medal at the Olympics in Tokyo. That is my end game. That’s my goal.”
With the rapid ascension of women’s sport, more sponsors have come knocking. Cambage recently did a shoot for Bonds and she is signed to telecommunications giant AT&T.
“It’s a change in the way we view athletes,” she says. “It’s gone from, ‘Just shut up and play your sport,’ to ‘Oh, athletes are educated and have great views on what they are taking a stand for.’
“Having something to stand for and say and giving a flying f*ck about social issues. I care a lot about equality, about everyone having a fair go.”
Cambage has questioned why the NBA has been praised for introducing a rule that states every men’s team has to have a mental health professional on staff, yet has not extended it to the WNBA.
She has also been vocal about pay parity. In 2012, she was so incensed that the Australian Opals were flown to the London Olympics in economy while the men’s team went business that she leaked it to the media.
“A lot of people have put me down and told me to shut my mouth, but at the end of the day I have made a lot of bigger changes to women’s sport – especially basketball,” says Cambage. “I don’t need thank yous. I am riding the wave and living in the changes that me speaking openly has made. ”
Lifeline 13 11 14