WNBL star Abby Bishop opens up on adopting her niece Zala and the day she found out

Abby Bishop says he wouldn’t change a thing about her incredible journey. And taking in her niece Zala has inspired her to continuing providing love to those in need.

“You’re not my real mum.”

Five words shook veteran Aussie basketball star Abby Bishop and forced her into the conversation she knew was inevitable from the day she took in her two-day-old niece.

The Olympic bronze medallist admits “I sh*t myself” when Zala hopped in the car after school and confronted her — a fellow student had googled Bishop’s name and revealed Zala’s unique upbringing.

“I was playing for Bologna in Italy and Zala was going to an Italian school and she wasn’t yet aware — I was still just mum,” Bishop said when recalling the moment her then 7-year-old caught her off guard.

“One day, I picked her up from school and she said ‘Mum, you’re not my real mum, one of the kids in class told me that you’re my Auntie’.”

Bishop had often wondered how — and when — she would tell Zala the complicated story of how she came into her care.

Australian basketballer Abby Bishop and daughter Zala, some 10 years ago.

How do you explain to a 7-year-old you’re their mother, but not biological?

“I’d spoken to quite a few people about when is the right time to tell her but everybody had said to me ‘you’ll know when to do it, when your guts tells you’,” Bishop said.

“But I didn’t get the chance to plan it. My first instinct was to say ‘no, no, no, that’s not true’, because I didn’t know what to do, it was just so sudden.”

The 2015 WNBL MVP slept on it, before deciding there was no time like the present.

“The next day, I said ‘Zaaals’ and then we sat down and had a big chat and I explained everything to her,” Bishop said.

“She’s always been quite mature but she did go quiet for a little bit and you could see her little brain ticking over.

“She asked a couple of questions and then that’s it, she hasn’t really brought it up again with me.

“I’m just mum and I think she’s only said once ‘You’re not my real mum’ when she was in trouble.

“I’m glad it happened like that now. It didn’t change things between us at all and it allowed me to tell her the whole story.”

Abby and Zala t have seen the world.

Bishop played for the Seattle Storm in the WNBA.

LIFE CHANGED IN ONE MOMENT

That whole story is one of a 24-year-old pro baller at the peak of her powers who did not hesitate to step in when her sister was too ill to care for her newborn baby and DHS officers were ready to put her in foster care.

“I still remember the moment there were two DHS officers standing there with clipboards — I said ‘no, she’s not going to foster care, she’s coming with me’, I absolutely did not think twice, she’s family,” Bishop, who was playing for the Canberra Capitals at the time, said.

“I had nothing for a baby, literally had to go to Kmart and grab bottles and I bought a cheap pram and some blankets and clothes and nappies.

“Mum used to own a motel in Darwin, so I got a room for free and here I was by myself in a hotel with a two-day-old.

“I was in my basketball prime, playing well and I was sh*tting myself about how the club would react.”

Cuddles on the court with Abby and Zala.

Fortunately, the club was supportive and “made it work” — she and Zala even shared a hotel room with teammate and good friend Nat Hurst on roadtrips.

But support at the highest level from Basketball Australia was non-existent.

“They made it very clear to me that Zala was not allowed to be at any of the camps, she would not be able to travel on the plane, she was not allowed to stay at the same hotel and she was not allowed to travel on the team bus,” Bishop said.

“I get that it’s international sport but I was a single mum, raising my niece and there was just no understanding and no middle ground — It was just ‘no, no, no, no’.

“So I said ‘you know what, I’m out’.”

PRIDE IN A DEFIANT STAND

Bishop made national headlines when she turned her back on the Opals ahead of the 2014 Worlds.

But the three-time WNBL champion’s decision set off a chain reaction that resulted in a parental policy that now broadly supports mothers who play in the national team.

“From my end, there’s no hate or anything, it is what it is, it’s all a part of my story,” the former Seattle WNBA player said.

Bishop made a stand when she turned her back on the Opals. Picture: AAP

“I pulled out knowing they were going to go ‘Abby, you little witch, you’re going to make a scene here’ but I believed that what was happening was wrong and I didn’t want other women in the future to go through that.

“I smiled the other day because I saw a picture of the Opals camp and Cayla George was there with her baby on the court and Alex Bunton was there with her little daughter Opal and it made my heart happy.

“You can see how far the sport has come in terms of the understanding and inclusiveness of women.”

There’s no bad blood at BA, either — Bishop’s played a number of times for the national team since.

Abby and Zala share an unbreakable bond.

A DECADE ON

Now 34, Bishop says he wouldn’t change a thing about her incredible journey.

“I look back and a lot of people often ask me if I’d do anything differently — my answer is always ‘absolutely not’,” she said.

“I’m very grateful for everything, the highs, the lows, and now my sister and I have a great relationship.

“Being a mum is crazy, hectic and amazing. Zala is my world.”

That world is a big one — with plenty of love. Bishop has recently become a foster mum and provided care for about 10 children in the past year.

“I’ve always wanted to foster kids but I think more so after the experience with Zala it made me think about it more and then I bit the bullet about 18 months ago,” she said.

“Fostering just fills my heart — I’ve got all this love to give.”

Originally published as WNBL star Abby Bishop opens up on adopting her niece Zala and the day she found out