GIANTS star April Brandley says she didn’t know if she’d play netball again when she fell pregnant with her son, but it took a call from master coach Julie Fitzgerald to change her plans.
Speaking on The 4th Quarter podcast on Fox Netball, Brandley has recalled the “really scary” moment she decided to move on from netball and embrace parenthood.
“I found out I was pregnant with Clay so we wanted to move back to Sydney to be close with family,” she said.
Watch the full April Brandley interview tonight on The 4th Quarter podcast on channel 505 from 7.30pm AEDT.
“I wasn’t sure whether my netball days were done then or what would happen after having my son.
“Randomly five months after I had Clay, I got a call from Julie Fitzgerald that changed my path.”
Brandley opened up on how she accepted her future might not include being a professional netballer.
“It was really scary – on one hand I was so excited, starting a whole new chapter of my life … but also it was a real identity shift,” she said.
“For so long your identity can get wrapped around ‘you’re a netballer’.
“I feel like coming out of it … it’s been the best thing for me.
“It’s opened a whole new perspective shift.
“I felt like I was OK that was it (as a netballer).
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“I was a little bit sad, but I was like ‘OK, I’m on a new exciting journey’.
“I didn’t know if I’d ever come back to netball.
“I think I was just all-in on nurturing this little family I was starting.”
Brandley says that call from Fitzgerald and her initial training session at the GIANTS convinced her she still had plenty to offer at her fifth Super Netball club.
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“After having my son, I’m enjoying the game so much more. I have much more of a balance in my life,” she said.
“I guess I’m loving the game more now than I ever have.
“I didn’t have that pressure on myself (to return within a time frame) because I think I would have made myself crazy.
“I would have freaked out like ‘how am I ever going to play netball again?’.
The GIANTS defender laughed as she recalled the first time she hit the court after the birth of her son.
“I remember when I did my first run ever I was like … ‘Oh my god I love running’. I was so grateful to feel a little bit of myself again,” she said.
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“I felt more and more of myself was coming back. You don’t really get many moments to yourself.
“Julie was like … come along to a training session and see how you go and I was like ‘oh my gosh, I haven’t changed direction in a very long time, I don’t know how this is going to happen’.
“The first session back I was so nervous. I was shaking.
“I didn’t have that confidence in my body anymore. It was doing a whole different job and had changed.
“After that first session, I kind of felt a little good and thought maybe this could work.
“I grew a sense of feeling stronger in myself and my body.”
Brandley paid tribute to Fitzgerald for her support and the backing she’s received from the club as a whole as she juggles netball and motherhood.
“I’m so grateful that she backed me and has supported me and so has my team to get me back into netball,” she said.
“They have been part of the family.
“We’d been hubbing with the GIANTS for two years so they’ve seen him grow. From like a five month old baby to a three-year-old.
“They are part of the family.
“The club is just amazing, they just make life so easy for me. They know if life’s all good away from netball for me, I can just come into training and do my job, no added stress.”
Brandley is closing in on the 100-game SSN milestone, after playing in every season since the competition’s inception.
Watch the full April Brandley interview tonight on The 4th Quarter podcast from 7.30pm AEDT.
