Ash Barty, Alyssa Healy, excited about future of women’s sport after living the evolution

Powerful Australian sporting figures Ash Barty and Alyssa Healy lived the evolution of women’s sport, and there’s one key change they drove that every aspiring young female athlete must know.

Powerful Australian sporting figures Ash Barty and Alyssa Healy have lived the evolution of women’s sport in this country and want aspiring young female athletes to truly believe there are “no ceilings anymore”.

Australian cricket captain Healy plies her trade as a professional around the world and former tennis champion Barty, who was this week immortalised as a one-of-a-kind Barbie doll alongside her idol Evonne Goolagong Cawley, are among a generation of sportswomen smashing through glass ceilings.

After a stunning 2024 where women won 13 of Australia’s 18 gold medals at the Paris Olympic Games, Barty’s message to every young girl this International Women’s Day is that anything is possible.

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Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Ash Barty have been immortalised as Barbie dolls. Picture: supplied

“It’s a celebration of women’s sports, a celebration of opportunity and empowerment of what women can do these days,” Barty said.

“There are no limitations, no ceilings anymore, it’s about possibility, it’s about the opportunity. I’m a massive believer in if you can see it you can be it and I think now there are so many more viable options, avenues, careers that young girls can aspire to be, which is really exciting.”

Healy, who grew up “hanging over the fence” watching her uncle Ian Healy play Test cricket for Australia, didn’t know that she could achieve the same.

Now she captains Australia’s most dominant sports team and will lead them into the one-day World Cup in India in October as defending champions and herself the reigning player of the series.

Alyssa Healy will lead Australia into the World Cup as captain. Picture: Getty Images

“I think that’s the difference in the time that I’ve been involved, is that now girls know that they can do that,” Healy said.

“They see it, they’re watching it, they’re living it out.

“I’m grateful to be in the generation that I am to have seen it change, and hopefully, leave some sort of legacy to see it continue to change even more.”

While Healy and Barty are among a generation of women soaring, they’re also among those constantly dragged down, as controversial comments about the Matildas recently showed.

Both would rather focus on the positives though.

Australian captain Alyssa Healy. Picture: Getty Images

“I think disappointment’s the right word but I’d be equally as disappointed if that was being said about a male sporting team,” Healy said.

“There’s so many of us with an amazing platform to use for good, why are we disparaging anybody with it?

“I guess probably the coolest thing that’s come out of this whole situation is the outcry about it – and it shows people do care, and people are watching, people are listening and people having a positive opinion, and I think that’s probably where we should focus our energy.”

Barty played a large role in women’s sport being more visible.

Her 2022 Australian Open grand slam win was one of the most watched Australian sporting events in history, followed the next year by the Matildas at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

As a viewer now, she loves watching other women in action.

“I love watching all sports in general but I feel like there is an emphasis on women’s sport because it is growing so rapidly,” Barty said.

“I sit back and I watch, I enjoy it as a spectator with a smile on my face because I know that probably five or 10 years ago this wasn’t happening.”

Australian tennis player,Ash Barty, visits Uluru with the Australian Open trophy. Picture: Tennis Australia

And the huge swell in support and investment in women’s sport means our future stars could reach even greater heights.

“Who knows where we will be in 10 or 15 years but it’s going to be a better place than we are now and that’s just brilliant for these young girls growing up trying to decide and understand where they want their life to go and what they want to fall in love with,” Barty said.

That’s not just on the field either.

Just as Barty has moved into another field with the philanthropic work of her eponymous foundation, Healy is juggling her on-field roles with commentary opportunities.

The pair are both among members of News Corp’s annual Power 100 list for the most powerful and influential women in Australian sport and Healy hopes women from a wide spectrum of Australian life can continue to influence the sporting landscape to encourage “diversity of thought”.

“(Women in sporting positions of power) is beginning to come become more normal - and it’s not so much tokenistic anymore,” Healy said.

“There are amazing women right around the country that are doing cool things in different spaces … and the more we support one another and keep encouraging one another to go for these amazing opportunities, it’s going to make more positive change than not.”