Two Hunter-based businesswomen frustrated with the gender pay gap in sport have joined forces to launch a program which supports elite female athletes from the Hunter region.
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Kylie Frearson, of Property Solutions 101, and Holly Martin, of The Marketing GP, have set up Sporting Chance Collective, which they say allows professional female athletes to continue to pursue sporting careers while earning a second income that caters to the demands of their sport.
Sporting Chance Collective trains professional athletes in the art of social media strategy and marketing for small businesses. Inaugural recruits include star basketballer Cassidy McLean and Australian rugby league player Hannah Southwell.
"Sporting Chance Collective was created to help support female's careers in sport and provide a sustainable way for them to achieve their peak," Frearson said.
"My understanding is that a female basketball player in the Women's National Basketball League earns a minimum of $13,000 a year. That's $250 a week before tax and barely enough to cover the cost of their rent alone, let alone groceries and bills.
"Their male counterparts at the same professional basketball level and holding a bench-warming position on the team with little, if any court time, get a minimum of about $58,000 a year. That's a difference of more than 400 per cent.
"Professional females in rugby league face the same challenge, with their minimum wage at about $10,000 while males reach $200,000."
McLean took the first steps towards what she hopes is a road leading back to WNBL by joining NBL1 side Bendigo Braves for pre-season training this week. The season starts mid-April.
The 20-year-old had knee reconstruction around 12 months ago after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right leg in the Newcastle Hunters season-opener last year.
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"I didn't know what I was going to do when that injury happened," McLean said. "I had 12 months of pretty much not doing what I wanted to earn money.
"I was out of a job essentially and had no source of income, so it was perfect timing for Sporting Chance to come along and kind of pick me up. Unfortunately, in basketball we haven't quite got there in pay and working full-time you don't necessarily earn a full-time wage, so it just gives us an opportunity to earn that wage while playing full-time professional sport and it's accessible while we travel.
"When I first moved out it was really difficult but this time it will allow me to live comfortably and not have to worry about rent and food and my financial status, which I have struggled with in the past."
McLean, who played a season of WNBL with Bendigo Spirit before the injury, felt in "really good shape" and was "itching to get back on court".
"I think the first game I will be a little nervous and it might be a little rough, but I've done everything right and hopefully by the end of the season I'll be better than what I was before," she said.