Okay Photo (Jaz Blom, Michael Rees-Lightfoot)
Sport and art are separate identities.
They are positioned as opposing, antithetical. But the two often interact with, and inform, the other. Both are vehicles: for growth, for change, as a way to understand the world and share meaning. They cultivate connections. They forge empathy.
saraid’s latest project — [all the] bst — seeks to reconcile both.
There is a clear, simple process to reach Australia’s national basketball leagues. In the state of Victoria, specifically in its area classified as metropolitan, it begins with many young children playing basketball, usually on a Saturday morning.
When I was writing the first draft of A Numbers Game, I sketched out what I estimated the league’s landscape to look like. It was interesting to compare the estimations to the findings.
A man called me a skeezer on The Pick and Roll’s republishing of The Fallacy. I did not know what this word meant. I suspected by his tone, though, it was most likely unflattering, and that was correct.
The rejections were brutal: draining and relentless and embarrassing. They were also intensely brilliant. Our careers, especially as writers, are a constant immersion in the success of others. The tedious transparency of this essay is deliberate; our intimacy can help others.
‘The national league is not built on the backs of its marquee players. It is built on the backs of the players at the bottom of the list. The league does not survive without them.’
‘It seeps through us in fractures: as a phenomenon, a myth, a joke, an enduring stereotype, a revolution. The question that has lost its form, is no longer a question but an implication: Do girls turn gay in sport?’
‘This is a bigger issue than one individual. It is state-wide. It is national. Abuse and toxic environments are a massive threat to women and girls sport. It is the reason so many children quit.’
It was almost exactly two years ago: November in 2021. The Herald Sun published an article about the upcoming professional sport returning to Melbourne, stating that ‘the Big Bash League, AFLW and National Basketball League start their seasons over summer.’ I was filled with intense despair as I read it, and then anger. I decided to write them an open letter.
‘I am in a world of women and they are everything. That is why I carry the labeller with me, so I can allocate each woman to their rightful place.’
mental toughness, emotional repression and other coping strategies in sport
‘Victoria has a clear, simple process to reaching Australia’s professional basketball league. The beginning is children playing basketball on a Saturday morning. The middle and the end is the state team programs.’
My brother was driving home late from work last week when he saw a woman on the side of the road being chased by a man. They were both in their early fifties. She was screaming for help. Nobody stopped to help her.