It is rare for athletes to get a fairytale ending. To walk away from the sport at the top of one’s game, with a premiership trophy or a gold medal in hand is the dream for every sportsperson, but in reality those stories are few and far between.
While some must be satisfied with a middle-of-the-table finish and a tribute on grand final day, the most difficult retirements are those that are not on the athlete’s own terms. It isn’t uncommon to see players with a few professional caps succumb to an injury or fail to have their contract renewed, but it is most jarring when it happens to a player who has reached the highest levels of their sport. It doesn’t fit the narrative, it’s not a neat ending to a career that we can tie a bow on and reminisce about at pubs and barbecues for years to come.
Caitlin Bassett’s retirement from netball last week is a prime example of an ending to a career that doesn’t quite sit comfortably. After making her international debut at 20, Bassett cemented her placed in Diamonds’ folklore at 23 when she came off the bench in the 2011 Netball World Cup final and sunk the winning goal. From there she went on to win a Commonwealth Games gold in 2014, another World Cup medal in 2015 and silver medals at both events in 2018 and 2019 respectively, this time as the team’s captain. With 102 caps for the national team, she is not a player who many would have expected to finish her career by fading gently into obscurity.
Bassett’s decline began in 2020 when she was forced to the bench for much of the Super Netball season, resulting in an early release from her contract with the Giants and a move over the ditch to New Zealand’s ANZ Premiership for the 2021 season. While she was hoping for a Super Netball return in 2022, she was not offered a contract with any of the eight teams and ongoing knee issues put an end to her plan to take up a training partner position and try to work her way back to the top, instead announcing her retirement from the sport.
While sometimes seen as a polarising figure off the court, Bassett’s on-court achievements are indisputable and it is difficult to marry up the highs of her career with its less than glorious conclusion. It raises important issues around athlete transition – particularly for female athletes in the professional era. In years gone by, women worked full-time jobs around their sporting careers and retirement from sport simply meant they finally had a chance to get a full night’s sleep on a regular basis and an ability to use their annual leave for leisure. For professional male athletes – particularly those with as many accolades as Bassett – retirement is often bolstered by a large investment portfolio, a fully paid off property and a plethora of connections in the business and media world to forge a new career.
While women’s sport has come a long way in recent years, a situation like Bassett’s highlights the large gap that must still be bridged before gender equality is achieved. In an era that requires female athletes to train as much as their male counterparts and demands standards of athleticism to warrant prime time television slots, how are these women being equipped for life after sport? While female athletes – Bassett included – usually have a degree under their belt by the time they retire from sport, it is difficult to enter the workforce in your mid-30s with a resume filled only with sporting achievements. Bassett is currently pet sitting to pay her rent, a situation that male athletes such as Michael Hooper and Pat Cummins are never likely to find themselves in.
Earning a living as an athlete is a privilege afforded to few and one that isn’t taken for granted by the current generation of women who know that it was barely a distant dream for their predecessors. But it is a job that demands more than most – from the physical toll it takes to the obligatory early retirement, the sacrifices sometimes outweigh the benefits. Living out a childhood dream is all well and good, but when children act out their fantasies of slotting last second goals to win World Cups in backyards all over the world, they don’t involve limping into retirement with a body broken from years of training and a desperate search for an entry level office job.
When an athlete as decorated as Caitlin Bassett speaks out and illustrates the difficulty of this transition, it provides the opportunity to make amends. To fix the system so that the next generation of women face a gentler incline as they traverse the difficult path to life after sport.
