<
>

Olympic medallist and a trailblazer: WNBL vet Abby Bishop calls time

play
Lauren Cox rises up for the huge denial (0:12)

Lauren Cox emphatically sends the shot away as the Townsville Fire smother the Sydney Flames with their defence. (0:12)

In a career which featured an Olympic medal, championship rings, and MVP accolades, it's a policy Abby Bishop fought -- and sacrificed -- for, of which she is most proud.

The 36-year-old forward announced her retirement on Monday and will be remembered and admired for the stand she took with Basketball Australia as much as her 2012 Olympic bronze medal, WNBA championship, three WNBL titles, and league MVP status in a brilliant career which spanned nearly two decades.

A year on from the London Olympics, at age 23, Bishop flew from her Canberra base to Darwin to take custody of her newborn niece Zala with her sister unable to care for the tiny, blonde baby.

An instant mother, with a moment's notice, she returned to the nation's capital and was supported and embraced by the WNBL's most successful club and its tight knit community but at national level it was another, disappointing story.

Bishop was welcome to be part of the build up to the 2014 FIBA World Cup but Zala was not.

After footing the bill to have her mother Lexie come on tour and care for her granddaughter, Bishop quit the national program and a media furore ensured which would later lead to the governing body implementing its first parental and pregnancy policy.

"I was told if I made the team Zala wasn't allowed anywhere, she wasn't allowed on the team bus, at training, in the same hotel and that's when I decided 'no worries, see you later' but I wasn't going to walk away without making some noise about it to change this for the future female athletes with children," Bishop tells ESPN.

"Everyone got on board, the media around the country got behind it and it became a big thing.

"Looking back, it was really hard because I was missing out on a dream but at the same time it was really wholesome because I was able to stay true to myself, make a stand and I missed out but it was OK.

"Among everything I've achieved as a player, still to this day that's what I'm most proud of. It makes me so happy now seeing all the mums with their kids at games and travelling.

"When I look back, I won't be talking about the MVP I won or the championships, this is what I'll reflect and look back on, the stance I took and what changed after it."

Bishop produced her best individual campaign off the back of the disappointment, which would cost her representation for the Opals at a time when she was in her prime and should and could have easily added a World Cup campaign and another Olympics in 2016 to her name.

She produced a scintillating season for the Caps in 2014-15 and was a runaway winner for league MVP.

"Looking back at footage from that year, I was super skinny, sleep deprived with a baby but within myself had a point to prove and that's one of the reasons I played the way I did," she explains.

"It was for sure the best basketball I've played and it was pretty special to be recognised for that."

Pre-Zala, Bishop not only was an Olympic medallist but WNBA champion having triumphed with a star-studded Seattle Storm team in 2010 featuring fellow Aussie Lauren Jackson, at the peak of her powers, plus America's greatest of all-time Sue Bird, Tanisha Wright and Swin Cash.

She would return in 2015 for a two-season stint alongside Opals team mate Jenna O'Hea.

"I look back and am super thankful because it's the best league in the world and I had the opportunity to play in it for three years, win a championship, learn alongside the best of the best and my experiences from the first season to the second and third were completely different," Bishop says.

"The first year I was young and didn't really play but by the second stint I started in some games so the experienced were very different but amazing."

Bishop had played one season in France before Zala arrived.

Over the next decade, the pair would travel the globe with Bishop playing in Russia, France, Spain, Italy, Hungary and China while Zala learned to crawl, walk then attend school in new countries while making a host of friends for life.

"She knows she's so lucky she's lived the life she has, she's a grateful child and really does appreciate the experiences she had and realises not many kids get to have them," Bishop says.

"Zala is 11 and has a phone now and it's full of numbers of my team mates and people she's met right around the world and occasionally she'll text them. It's so beautiful she has those connections.

"Everyone embraced Zala so much and loved her, she thrived overseas and being part of all the teams I played for."

Back home, it was back in 2006 when Bishop, a country South Australian product, graduated from the AIS before establishing herself as a rising star in powerhouse Canberra Capitals teams where she won three titles.

She would later play for the Lightning, Dandenong, Townsville and the Southside Flyers but the nation's capital holds the most precious of memories.

"So special, they are my most favourite years ever," Bishop explains.

"Playing professionally at 17, coming into a team with some amazing veterans who showed me the way and that set me up for my whole career. I often look back and smile because of the fun time it was, being able to win and be part of something so special with the Caps being such a successful club. The friendships I have from those years I still treasure.

"The game has evolved and changed which has been amazing to see and be part of but nothing can compare to those years back in the day where players weren't paid much, they were there because they bloody loved it, the dedication and passion, people were getting paid petrol money for a season.

"To be part of that right through to what was my last season in the WNBL two years ago, it's pretty crazy and special."

The game has changed for the better but so have conditions thanks to the likes of Abby Bishop - trailblazer and policy maker.