Meet Shyla Heal, Australia’s new sporting star

19-year-old basketballer Shyla Heal talks about the pressure of living up to her father Shane Heal’s reputation, and why she wants to be a role model for young girls.

“I’ve always loved basketball, so to have a career in it was a no-brainer.” (Picture: Damian Bennett)

There’s a famous Heal family anecdote that’s often told to demonstrate how dedicated Shyla Heal has always been to becoming the elite basketball player she is now at 19.

During primary school, she was responsible for packing her own sports bag for after-school training and would leave it at the door for her father, Australian basketball great Shane Heal, to bring along when he picked her up.

On one particular day, when the weather had topped 40°C, Shane forgot to bring the bag, so he gave his youngest daughter two options: ditch training and get a slurpee, or drive home with him to get the bag, go to the training facility and swelter in the heat.

“I’ve always loved basketball, so to have a career in it was a no-brainer.” (Picture: Damian Bennett)

“When I was growing up, I didn’t have anyone to look up to in the women’s game.” (Picture: Damian Bennett)

“I gave her – and myself – an out, but she looked at me like I was the worst person in the world,” Shane tells Stellar, while she looks on smiling. “So we drove home, got the bag and went to training.”

The youngest of three girls, Heal knew she wanted to be a professional basketball player by the time she was five and was a fevered goal-setter by the age of eight, entertaining family friends with her ability to do sit-ups and push-ups on her toes.

“I’m definitely the smallest most times but you can use it to your advantage.” (Picture: Damian Bennett)

At 14, she became one of the youngest debutants in the history of the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) when she signed to be a development player for the South East Queensland Stars.

Now, after spending the past three years playing professional basketball in Australia, she’s on the cusp of fulfilling two of her biggest goals: to get drafted to the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), in the US, and get picked for the Australian team the Opals and represent the country at the Tokyo Olympics.

If successful – and a betting person would put their money on it – she’ll be up there with fellow Australian Lauren Jackson as one of the youngest players ever drafted to the WNBA, the best basketball league in the world.

“My earliest memories are of me running around to my sisters’ basketball games or watching Dad play in the stadiums,” she tells Stellar. “He would take me to his training and I would be on the sideline dribbling. I’ve always loved basketball, so to have a career in it was a no-brainer.”

“There’s no ceiling to how far she can go.” (Picture: Supplied)

While the vocation might have seemed an obvious choice to Heal, others didn’t necessarily agree. At 167cm tall, she is considered small for a basketball player, and in most games, she is the shortest on the court. By a lot.

“Growing up, I didn’t make teams just on the fact I wasn’t tall enough,” Heal says. “I’ve been told, ‘You’re too short and you’re not going to make it.’”

It’s a case of history repeating itself, since Shane – who’s now a basketball coach and commentator – was told the same thing at the start of his career. Four Olympics and two stints in the NBA later, he’s proved the doubters wrong, and is now seeing his daughter do the same.

“I’m definitely the smallest most times but you can use it to your advantage,” Heal explains. “I can be quicker. I have different strengths to everyone else. That’s part of the challenge. I just have to be better at shooting, passing and dribbling.”

“My earliest memories are of me running around to my sisters’ basketball games or watching Dad play in the stadiums.” (Picture: Supplied)

Heal says the question she’s asked most is whether she feels pressure following in her father’s footsteps, but she takes that in her stride, too.

“I use it as an advantage. Everything he’s been through, I’m going through. I get one of the best coaches in Australia training me every day. I can’t say, ‘Dad, you don’t know what you’re talking about!’ But I can say that to Mum,” she adds, laughing.

Shane says that despite his success in the sport, he was almost adamant that Heal not replicate his career choice.

“I told all my daughters, ‘I’ve had my career, I’m not trying to get you to do what I did.’ I put them in other sports. But I said, ‘If you want to train, I can give you all the help in the world, but you have to ask me. If I’m pushing you, you’re in the wrong sport.’”

But not only does Heal train with him every day, he’s the one who has to tell her when to stop. “That’s what separates her from so many people I’ve played with and so many people I’ve coached. It makes her really unique that she’s got that drive – she doesn’t need me motivating her,” Shane says.

“There’s no ceiling to how far she can go. She’s got the skill set, the motivation, the mindset and the passion to go as far as she wants.”

Shyla Heal features in this Sunday’s Stellar.

And Heal is just as motivated about her success off the court as she is on it. Last year, she started up a street fashion label, She Got Swish, with her sister Jamie, and she tells Stellar she is passionate about creating pathways so young girls can have the opportunity to succeed in basketball.

“When I was growing up, I didn’t have anyone to look up to in the women’s game. That’s why I feel in Australia that we need to be giving these younger girls something to look up to and to build our basketball program,” she says.

“We need to stay away from the idea that girls don’t eat much and don’t go to the gym – like, why can’t we be strong? I don’t want to just be known for basketball. I’d like to be known as someone for the younger girls to look up to.”