“The women I find myself looking up to are the women who dared to step outside that square and challenged the status quo and challenged the norm and broken silence about things that happen to them. And to me, that’s incredibly brave.”
We as women need to encourage and support one another in challenging norms and the status quo. That’s the purpose of this podcast. To highlight the brave acts we as women commit each and every day.
Liz Ellis embodies this value. For her, bravery is deeply seated in behaving and acting with integrity, in all forms. When you can act from a place of vulnerability and maintain your integrity, you know you’re being brave.
That and knowing the consequences of your actions, and being okay with whatever the worst case scenario might be.
This assessment is brilliant. So often we think of brave acts as being physical, and if you’ve listened to any of the previous episodes, we know that for women this isn’t true. But do we all believe that bravery is having a full and deep understanding of the worst case scenario and making the decision to be okay with it?
I think not, and I love this take.
Liz is a retired Australian Netball player who now has an entire achievement award named after her. She has made huge strides in the world of women’s sport, but that’s not where she has committed her bravest acts.
Listen in to hear her take on what it means to be brave and learn more about her story of infertility and what she’s done to bring awareness to this growing problem. This was a fantastic conversation with a truly extraordinary woman. You won’t want to miss it.
ABOUT THE GUEST
Liz Ellis
Liz is one of Australia’s highest profile elite athletes and most successful netballers ever. She was captain of the Australian Netball Team and Sydney Swifts, and surpassed the record for most test matches played for Australia.
Liz’s career highlights include three World Championship gold medals, two Commonwealth Games gold medals and four national premierships as well as being named Australia’s Most Valuable Player on four occasions.
In 2009, Liz became a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Australia Day Honours and in 2018 she was elevated to an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to netball as an elite player and coach, through support and advocacy for young women, as a contributor to the broadcast and print media industries, and to the community.
It’s thanks to Liz’s on-court talent and off-court drive and passion that netball has become one of Australia’s most played sports. In 1997, Liz initiated the Liz Ellis Netball Clinics which has coached more than 60,000 young netballers. It is this enthusiasm for promoting netball that has made Liz a positive role model for young sportspeople and it’s not surprising she was voted Favourite Female Sports Star for the 2006 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards.
Liz has appeared on various TV panel, quiz and chat shows as well as numerous television and radio programs as a general sports commentator and presenter, including the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and 2006, 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games. She is a regular co-host on Sports Sunday and commentator for the Suncorp Super Netball on the Nine Network, as well as appearing regularly on The Project on Channel 10.
She has an Arts/Law degree from Macquarie University and has served on various boards including NSW Institute of Sport, The Australian Sports Commission and Players Voice.
