Australian netballers confront fertility choices with landmark health partnership
Adelaide Thunderbirds star Tayla Williams faces a career dilemma shared by 90 per cent of elite netballers. Now, there’s a fresh plan to help them.
Adelaide Thunderbirds netballer Tayla Williams faces the conundrum of many female athletes.
The midcourter’s prime playing years overlap her peak fertility, right when she’s most likely to want children.
“There’s always been a bit of a question mark … when you’re trying to navigate being an elite athlete and what that looks like with having kids,” the 25-year-old told The Advertiser.
She isn’t alone. A survey found 90 per cent of her playing cohort felt the same.
The tension led to a partnership between the Australian Netball Players’ Association and leading clinics – IVFAustralia, Queensland Fertility Group, Melbourne IVF and TasIVF.
IVFAustralia fertility specialist Kath Whitton said there had been a shift among younger woman asking more questions about their reproductive health and booking in for fertility checks.
“There’s more open conversation about endometriosis and PCOS and people are more aware that infertility affects one in six,” she said.
“Many women now want to be proactive and understand their own fertility health earlier.”
Dr Whitton said with more woman tracking their cycles, they’re picking up on abnormalities earlier, also driving higher interest in fertility checks.
In the ANPA’s survey, more than half the players reported a fertility or reproductive health concern.
Williams, who plans to undergo a fertility check at no cost as part of this partnership, said she wants to understand all her options.
“The last thing I would want is to finish my netball career and then have left it too late to have options,” she said.
“The best thing for me is to make sure I have … a choice of what that might look like.”
The netballer said athletes don’t know how long they will play elite sport for or how long their contracts will last.
“I would like to be able to play sport for as long as I can but also knowing that I don’t want to play sport for as long as I can at the cost of being able to start a family,” she said.
“I’m not in a position that I want children right now but I also don’t want to leave it too late so I don’t have that choice at all.”
Dr Whitton said a fertility check involves an AMH test (which is only an indicator of how someone may respond to IVF and is not a measurement of egg quality) and a pelvic ultrasound with extra tests if history suggests.
“A fertility health check can pick up early indicators of issues that may influence fertility later in life – like silent endometriosis, which can impact egg quality if left unmanaged.”
For Williams, who was diagnosed with endometriosis three years ago, the diagnosis “always plays in the back of her mind”.
“It’s an extra element of why I would like to know where I’m at,” she said.
Dr Whitton said women seeking advice about their fertility are encouraged to book a consultation with a fertility specialist.
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Originally published as Australian netballers confront fertility choices with landmark health partnership
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