Comm Games 2022: Contraception warnings urging players to delay pregnancy are a thing of the past

Netball’s culture was centred around not falling pregnant and risk losing your spot. You were also pressured ‘not to let the team down’ by having a baby, writes Caitlin Bassett.

Caitlin Bassett of Australia

Our Aussie Diamonds squad will officially be named on Thursday and with all the planning that goes into a Commonwealth Games year, high on the list would have been family planning including contraception.

In my playing days, the coach often took the lead on this ... I can remember a coach sitting us down before the season and reminding us what we were working towards and “to be smart”.

But the thing was, the culture was such that you also didn’t want to fall pregnant and lose your spot on court or worse - let your teammates down.

To have a year out and let someone take your position in the team and then the work you have to do to get it back while juggling little sleep just seemed wild to me.

There was never any sledging because as players we also saw the flip side, that is the very real struggle of some athletes to fall pregnant.

Caitlin Bassett with her dog Chino and Chino’s friends Giulio and Andre. Picture: John Feder

England’s Chelsea Pittman, currently a training partner with West Coast Fever, has been very public about her miscarriages and how her body just wouldn’t do what she wanted it to do.

I must confess I am not maternal, I am an outlier in that regard.

I never wanted children during my netball career and maybe that’s why I find it hard to understand why others would be willing to sacrifice a spot they have worked so bloody hard for.

Australian players from right: Kim Jenner, Caitlin Bassett and Verity Charles after losing during the Constellation Cup International Test Match

Competition windows can make mid-career pregnancy planning problematic ... and with COVID forcing the rescheduling of championships and tournaments, it almost makes it impossible to fall pregnant without missing a major competition.

My generation has been open about freezing eggs as an insurance policy.

England netballer Geva Mentor said she felt relieved when she finally had her eggs frozen, which encouraged me to go have a fertility check when I stopped playing.

What changed for netball was in 2017, when the sport finally introduced a parental care policy.

As part of the Players Agreement, netballers were offered:

• maternity leave for the first time;

• 100 per cent income protection guaranteed on all earnings for contracted athletes;

• babysitters were made available to help during work commitments;

• and an allowance allocated to pay for a carer and children under the age of 12 months

(or still being breastfed) to travel to away games.

Netball’s new policies came well before Nike changed its contracts in 2019 for pregnant athletes after US track athlete and multiple Olympic gold medallist Allyson Felix asked to contractually guarantee there would be no performance-related financial penalties following the birth of her daughter Camryn in 2018.

All these changes should be celebrated - as should the form of the returned Super Netball mums.

Gretel Bueta (GA) of the Firebirds, April Brandley of the Giants (GD), Matilda McDonell (GK) and Donnell Wallam compete for the ball

Gretel Bueta and Kim Ravaillion have been outstanding for the Firebirds, and April Brandley played some of the best netball of her life for the Giants after her first child in February 2020.

Perhaps this is where I went wrong at the end of my career, having children has super charged these women on court.

And I think the fact they are playing out of their skins will encourage more players to follow suit and not put off having children - because they know they can come back.

In New Zealand, there are a lot of mothers who return to the court but I do think their relaxed attitude to pregnancy is going to hurt them at the Commonwealth Games.

They have lost two extremely experienced defenders in Katrina Rore, who is having her second and Jane Watson who is expecting her first and has pulled out of the Games, while captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio is only just getting back out on court.

I will be surprised if she gets enough game time to be in good form for the Commonwealth Games.

But what I do think is great for our sport is that athletes, who are also mothers, are supported in their return to the court.

And I think we’ll see a mum or two in the Diamonds squad named for Birmingham.