Basketball provides escape for Super Woman Roberts

To say life is full on with work, study and being a wife and mother for Taylor Roberts doesn't quite sum it up, but basketball provides her with that one escape and she wouldn’t want to be doing it anywhere but East Perth Eagles.

It would be easy for anyone with less passion, drive and a way to juggle and organise everything to think that continuing to play basketball at an NBL1 level was no longer possible with everything else Roberts has going on in her life.

After all, she is running a household, is wife to fellow Eagles player Lee, is a mother to two daughters, and if that's not enough she is also working and continuing to study.

How basketball still fits into the mix is quite the remarkable achievement and that's not even taking into calculations the challenge of getting your body back to being able to play basketball in NBL1 after having two children.

Making a hectic life work

To say that what Roberts is doing juggling everything in her life is a remarkable achievement would be a great understatement, but for her she doesn't know any other way and just finds a way to make everything work.

It does get a bit overwhelming at times, being a parent, keeping a household running, working part time, studying part time and playing basketball but it's been so great for me to get back into basketball and have something for myself that I love and helps me destress," Roberts said.

"I think when you become a mum your entire life and identity almost becomes all about your kids and while I love my kids to the moon and back, playing basketball still gives me a little piece of the old me lol.

"I'm also lucky enough to have family here and good friends around who are very supportive and always willing to help."

Returning from having children

Only women who have had children and then tried to return to play sport at a high level could possibly understand just how hard it is.

Roberts herself found that she probably underestimated a little bit just how challenging it would be, and the fact that there's no way that you could rush the time and work it would take to get back into playing condition.

However, she is feeling much more like her old self now in 2024 even if it's taken a remarkable amount of work and dedication to get back to this point.

"I have to admit that I thought I would just bounce back after kids and be right back how I used to be but I was very wrong lol," Roberts said.

"It definitely took a good couple of years for my body to feel like it used to and feel as strong again. It took a lot of abdominal rehab and lucky enough I used to be a personal trainer so I have some idea of what I'm doing to get back to basketball shape.

"Last season I dealt with some knee issues during my first season back for a while, but this year I'm finally feeling and moving a lot better again so that's been fun and exciting."

Having husband and dad back home

For a lot of the time that Taylor has been together with Lee, when he's playing overseas mostly in South America in between NBL1 seasons they have been able to travel together as a family.

They were able to find a good situation in terms of schools and everything in Uruguay too, and their youngest daughter was even born there, but this past season saw Lee play in Uruguay with Taylor and their daughters remaining home in Perth.

That meant when Lee returned home a couple of weeks ago, Taylor couldn’t be happier to have him back just because of how much she naturally missed him, but also their daughters were excited to have the 'fun parent' back.

"Yeah it's been amazing," she said.

"We all really missed him and just having the extra hands around the house again has helped make my mind feel a lot more free!

"Lee's the 'fun parent' too so the girls are loving that."

Finding a home with the Eagles

Roberts' career in the then SBL started all the way back in 2010 at the then Wanneroo (now Joondalup) Wolves as a 16-year-old before a season at the Eastern Suns and then embarking on her time at college.

She would attend Eckerd College on Florida's Gulf Coast before returning home and joining the Warwick Senators (then Stirling) where she would play 66 games over the next four years.

Along the way she met Lee and the pair got married and began their life together and to start building a young family, but now she has joined her husband at the East Perth Eagles over the past two years.

She couldn’t be happier with the way her whole family has been embraced by the Eagles and with the new home she's found.

"The Eagles have been great with both Lee and I. Obviously he was first to play with the club and built a good relationship so it was only natural for me to follow along and I've had a great experience myself," Roberts said.

"The coaches and the club have been so great with the fact I am a mum first, so if I've had to bring the girls to training or we've had to bring them to games before (they love coming to cheer for us!).

"Everyone has been so supportive of that and there is always someone willing to lend a hand to make sure they are taken care of. It's definitely a family club."

Season so far in 2024

While the season for the Eagles women isn’t quite going to plan so far with just the one win on the board from the opening eight games, Roberts feels they are a much better team than that suggests.

With two strong imports, Laci Hawthorne and Mary Baskerville, Kiwi pair Mary Goulding and Tessa Morrison, Perth Lynx guard Sarah Allen along with Bri Bailey and some good young talent, Roberts sees the makings there of a team that can have a significantly better finish to the season.

"Yeah obviously the season hasn't gone how we all would have liked so far but we really have a great bunch of girls and some good talent and we just need to keep trusting in each other and working together," Roberts said.

"As long as we keep believing in ourselves and challenging each other at training to get better and transfer that into games, I can see us upsetting some teams in the league."