“It’s attention & time that are in constant conflict but I love it.” | Jade Lally
Following on from our interview with GB Olympian Zoe Gillings-Brier, athlete Jade Lally has weighed in on her experience of motherhood. Lally’s original involvement in sport began with high jumping in school, however she was quick to discover her natural talent for shotput and discus.
As discus is a less popular sport in the grand scheme of athletics, Lally must strike a balance between her new venture into parenthood with her involvement in a lesser-funded sport.
There are many misconceptions surrounding discus throwers (“that you need to be massive” or “fat” Lally points out) but also misunderstandings that female athletes will stop their involvement in elite sport due to motherhood: “I think there are people that will judge my decisions on still being selfish and still trying to make a career alongside being a parent. But I don’t pay attention to them. I know I am a good mum and do my absolute best to be there for her and give her the best life I can.”
Lally’s pregnancy came as a blessing in disguise. Talking to AMG, she revealed how she hadn’t always wanted to be a parent. Though she had thought about the possibility of parenthood, she assumed that if she were to do so it would be at a point in her life where she could carry a child on her terms. Although the pregnancy came as a surprise, Lally remains immensely grateful for the timing allowing her to carry a healthy baby to 37 weeks, despite her waters breaking at 25 weeks.
For Lally the new venture as a mother has not always been plain sailing. Compatibility of an elite sports career and parenting was always a concern. “For some people it would be [compatible], for others it’s career over. I hoped I wouldn’t be the latter” she explains. “I’m not rich and I rely on my own abilities to manage money to make my life work…Aside from money, it’s attention and time that are in constant conflict. I want to be the best athlete I can possibly be, which takes time and effort. I also want to be the best parent I can be. Which also means time and effort, but also to be present.”
Nonetheless, it would appear that the very nature of sport allows women to prepare for motherhood in a unique way. Although parenthood is regularly cited as extremely challenging at times, it is also often very rewarding – very much like sport. “Prioritising things, making sacrifices and difficult decisions” are all parts of sport she is accustomed to explains Lally, “parenting is a bit like that. It is also about accepting that plan A probably won’t happen, so adapting plans and getting things done no matter what is definitely something that happens in sport that crosses over into parenthood.”
It is certainly possible that sport could do more to help athlete mothers however, particularly in the less mainstream sports such as discus. Though there are heavily publicised, regularly televised athletes who are also mothers, the financial aid and maternity support for women in smaller sports does not compare. “Not even the Governing body offered a congratulations” Lally notes, but “There are plenty of athletes that are just as good as [mainstream sportswomen] that haven’t received that help.” Her grittiness has undoubtedly increased since giving birth to Nyla. Due to the “carnage” which her body undertook she had to take time to recover, retrain and get back onto the international scene: “the ‘lesser known’ athletes that have made it back to international level after having a baby are tough women and not to be underestimated.”
Though Lally’s focus is now bifurcated into caring for her daughter and competing at a high level she is adamant that both parenting and sport remain her priorities and enjoys watching Nyla continue to grow and develop. In terms of her future plans, Lally has rightly set a high bar: “[I want to] Go to my second Olympic Games. To win the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022. To go to my second World Championships.” AMG will be supporting her the whole way.
