Female athletes who got back into sports after having a baby
Female athletes who got back into sports after having a baby.
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Professional athletes devote their entire lives to become as good as they can in their respective disciplines. They don’t punch in and punch out at certain hours of the day to do whatever they want. To think some women in sports decide to bring a baby into this world without giving up their dreams to be accomplished in their field, undeniably has to inspire respect.
It’s incredible to think those female athletes can have a baby and then successfully come back to their daily activities, as every mother does. Or perhaps their unusual physique lets them off the hook more easily. However, they surely are tired at times, have to find ways to overcome mom brain, feel insecure, or experience a chronic lack of free time. On top of that, if they do decide to go back to professional sport, they have to start doing everything they can to get back on that horse as soon as possible. Admittedly, being in a great physical form can help a lot with troubles of pregnancy, and make the time to bounce back to shape shorter. Nevertheless, the sacrifices associated with it seem more significant than what other women face when getting back to work.
Just as the choice between motherhood and a job is a big decision for any ambitious woman, it isn’t easy for female athletes to put off their sporting career, or to make a difficult call of giving it up entirely. It is a bit of a risk, as pregnancy takes quite a heavy toll on the body. There’s no guarantee that it will be able to regain its former characteristics after birth: the same qualities, endurance, ability to regenerate, and so on. Therefore, it can be a little worrisome for a motivated athlete not to be sure she will manage to compete at the same high level as before.
When taking into account only the value of athletic performance, it is possible to play sports at the highest levels during and after pregnancy. That holds true, at least in some disciplines. It has been proven so by Serena Williams, who famously won the Australian Open in 2017 while eight weeks pregnant. But whether female athletes will be able to perform as well as they used to is not the only thing that impacts women’s decisions. Facing the necessity to stop their career, they have financial issues and sponsorship deals in mind, which could very well be affected by the new circumstances. Fortunately, some of the companies change the narrative by understanding that fully accomplished top female athletes bring added value to the table, which is extremely valuable in their marketing campaigns.
