Emily Chancellor
As a child, a young Emily Chancellor would sit in the crowd at NSW Waratahs or Australian Wallabies games and imagine herself playing rugby alongside the men. Now she is a NSW Waratah & Australian Wallaroo in her own right, playing with the female squads.
Looking back on those early days Emily told Pario that she wishes she had been exposed to professional women's sport at a younger age. Perhaps then she would have "jumped into playing rugby even earlier" than she did.
For Emily it wasn't until she was presented with an opportunity to try rugby at the University Of Sydney, when she was 19, that she discovered her true calling.
"As a kid I was the sporty tomboy who played ever sport under the sun, but rugby was something special."
Whilst Emily was a passionate & gifted athlete throughout her childhood & teen years (Emily was actually on a sporting scholarship for netball before transitioning to rugby) she wasn't driven to represent her country until rugby came into her life.
"It's funny because I feel like as an athlete you're supposed to say 'I've always dreamt of going to the Olympics or representing Australia' but I don't feel like I had those desires as a swimmer or netball player. I think that is maybe why I never pursued them or made it further than I did in those sports. When I found rugby though I could see where I could go. Rugby is a full contact sport, it's not a stroll in the park on the weekends, so if I'm going to put my body on the line I want to do so to the best of my ability. So as soon as I started playing rugby I wanted to be an Australian player for either the 7s or 15s teams."
Since then Emily has gone on to achieve that dream of representing Australia. She was even named the Wallaroo Of The Year in 2018.
"That is the biggest honour that I could have ever achieved... It felt like a really warranted reward for all of the hard work that I had put in. It drives me to want it more & to try even harder to get it again."
As a female athlete Emily is so happy to see the progress women's sport has made in Australia but also says there is still a lot further it can be taken.
Obviously pay inequality is the biggest issue. Many female athletes need to work or study full-time whilst pursing their athletic dreams. For Emily though this is both a blessing & a curse.
"I look it as I get to have two sides to myself - I get to have working Emily & then when I put my footy boots on I'm sporting Emily. I'm not defined by one personality trait, I get to be who I want to be in every single environment. That's not to say that I wouldn't love to be paid to be a professional athlete though. So we call upon our sporting bodies to help make that happen."
For aspiring female athletes Emily has one simple motto, "Trying Is Cool! Never be afraid to try & don't let anybody say you are uncool because you tried!"
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