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saraid taylor is a professional athlete. She is signed to Narrm (melbourne demons) in the aflw.
Sport and art are two different identities. they are separate, antithetical — but they interact with, and inform, each other. Both are vehicles: for growth, for change, as a way to understand the world and share meaning. They cultivate connections. They forge empathy.
bysaraidtaylor, a writing project by saraid taylor, is an attempt to express both.
recent work:
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.’
A friend said it was not the Herald Sun’s fault. “The email address they’d been provided with,” she explained, “was for somebody who hasn’t worked at Basketball Australia for four months.”
‘The WNBL is made up of 8 teams. There are ten contracted athletes per team, which means there are technically 80 available positions. There are really only 3.’
‘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.’
who gets second chances? who gets any chance at all?
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.