We asked 3 pro athletes what people often underestimate about women in sport.

• This article was originally published on Mamamia.
• Permission obtained from those interviewed.

It usually happens right around the time high school studies get serious and weekend plans get busier: the great sporting fade-out.

One day you're part of a team; the next, the group chat goes quiet. Somewhere between the pressure of exams and the shift in social circles, thousands of young girls in Australia walk away from the court or the field for good — often without even realising they're doing it.

It's a pattern that Suncorp is determined to break.

Through Suncorp Team Girls, launched in partnership with Netball Australia, they're on a mission to keep girls in the game during those pivotal teenage years. With a clear focus on encouragement and support, the goal is simple: to inspire girls across the country to keep playing.

Sport isn't just about the score. It's about the friendships, the self-confidence, the resilience you build, and the chance it gives you to be the best version of yourself.

We spoke to three of Australia's rising stars — professional beach volleyball player Stefanie Fejes, basketball player Miela Sowah, and para basketball player Sarah King — about what the world still underestimates about women in sport, and why staying in the game can change everything.

It takes a team.

Ask any of these three athletes about their success, and they'll tell you it was never just about what happened on the court or the sand. It was about the people in their corner.

For Miela, 25, who made her Australian Opals debut in 2025 and plays for the Townsville Fire in the WNBL, she told Mamamia the support started at home.

"My parents, actually my whole family, just jumped on board with me," she said. "They had to sacrifice a lot, but they were willing to buy into the dream and drive me places, pay for the fees."

At age 12, a coach opened a door she didn't know existed — basketball, he told her family, could earn her a scholarship overseas.

She ended up studying at Duke University in North Carolina for four years. "With the coaches, just the hours they've put in, the belief... I could list so many things."

For Sarah, 21, who was co-captain of the Gold Coast Rollers WNWBL in 2025, and in the Australian under-25 women's wheelchair basketball squad for the upcoming IWBF World Championships — that support was logistically demanding. 

She grew up in a small regional town, so when the team moved to Rockhampton, that meant an hour-and-a-half drive to training each week. 

Competitions were six hours away in Brisbane. Her parents made it work every time.

"I was like, 'Oh, I have people around me that can help me out. I can do this," she shared.

"I think it would be very different if I didn't have those people in my corner."

When she decided to move to Brisbane to be close to the sport, her parents did everything to help with the move. 

"They were super supportive of that, and they helped me out," she said.

It was that consistent belief, she said, that made her see basketball as something real — not just a pastime. "Having a good coach and encouraging parents can really keep you in it, or can take you out of it."

Stefanie, 21, is a four-time Asian Beach Volleyball Tour gold medallist and Australian Champion. She grew up playing on Manly Beach, Sydney, surrounded by a community that invested in her from the beginning.

"The community there has supported me every step of the way since I was very junior," she said.

Her parents, who immigrated to Australia together, gave her something harder to quantify.

"Me and my brother have that independence ingrained into us, and the drive to make the best opportunity out of everything we've been given," she added.

The thing people get wrong about women in sport.

For Miela, what people underestimate is quite simple: people judge before they watch.

"A lot of fans post-game are like, 'It's my first time watching and, oh man, we really loved it!'" she explained, adding that most end up coming back.

The other misconception? That women's sport is just a version of men's. "Women's sport — there's so much strategy, and we're also incredibly skilled as well," she added.

For Sarah, the underestimation starts before sport even begins.

"I think one of the biggest things about parasports is the journey we take to even get to the point of playing," she said. "Everyone has such different journeys, before we actually even become athletes, so I think that definitely then shows the resilience that we have."

She also knows what it's like to have your commitment quietly dismissed.

"As a female, people say, 'That's great that you play basketball', like it's a little thing on the side".

"I'm like, this is something that I'm passionate about and really dedicated to. I'm training eight times a week, with the hope to be selected to represent Australia on the international stage. They're not seeing the time and commitment it takes to make it a pathway."

For Stefanie, it's the gap between the highlight reel and reality.

"Athlete life on social media looks so beautiful and glamorous, but we don't put on social media how difficult it was to get there," she said.

At the time of talking with her, she'd just returned from 48 hours of travel after a tournament in Thailand.

She's also training full-time, and simultaneously studying a double degree in data science and creative industries.

"I'm basically doing a full-time job, but not really getting paid. I'm leaving before seven and getting home after five," she explained.

Resilience isn't built in a day.

Miela's biggest setback came after four years of sacrifice. She'd gone to college in America specifically to be drafted to the WNBA. It didn't happen.

"That was pretty disheartening. To not have it happen was like, am I supposed to play basketball?"

But she kept going — and today has a WNBA opportunity ahead of her. "It's all for the best in the end," she added.

Stefanie's test came mid-game, when she landed badly on her wrist. She kept playing and won the match against the newly crowned European champions, then got home to find out she'd broken it.

A three-and-a-half month recovery estimate meant she may have had to miss out on Australia's first-ever home World Championships in Adelaide.

She recovered in two months.

"I just think point by point, action by action," she said of her mindset. "That was a big thing in my recovery — doing every little thing I could to proactively make me better in the long run."

For Sarah, resilience is something she's seen in her surrounding team, and it inspires her own strength.

"Having other people around you that are super resilient — and I think in parasport in particular, people are very resilient — being able to see that firsthand, it can make you more resilient as well."

Being a regional athlete for much of her career, she has also had to do a lot of training alone.

What got her through was the community that showed up anyway — the local basketball association that gave her court time, the team in Rocky [Rockhampton] she'd drive to once a week. "I don't think I could have done it without having those things," she said.

Beyond the scoreboard

"What you put into life, you'll get out of it," said Miela. "Sport has taught me just to be the best version of you."

Stefanie found creativity and problem-solving she carries everywhere.

"There's not one specific body type, there's not one specific way of playing. It's up to you. Learning how to freely problem solve with an open mindset to whatever comes at you — that works in all life," she said.

For Sarah, it comes back to what sport gave her that no classroom could.

"I think it's more than just the sport side. I think it's also the community that it builds," she explained.

The friends she made through wheelchair basketball in Rockhampton as a kid are still in her life today. "I've known a lot of them for a lot of my life. They've all been there for me through it all."

She also has a message for any girl who might be on the fence.

"If you can't see someone that looks like you, doing the thing you want to do, you can doubt yourself and be like, can I actually get there?

"Having those people to look up to is really important. Because if you don't have those people, you don't know that you can do it."

To the girl thinking about walking away, Miela's message is simple. "Just keep going."

She added, "If you keep going, you never really fail, because at least you put everything you had into it. Be bold, be courageous and work hard and see where it takes you.”

Read more :

• The pro athletes guide to building resilience: The pro athletes guide to building resilience | Suncorp
• Life Drills: Life Drills | Suncorp
• Support Crew Stories: The Team Behind the Diamonds: Support Crew Stories | Suncorp
• Committed to keeping girls in the game: About Us | Team Girls | Suncorp

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