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To mark the start of Pride Month, Sky Sports News reporter Nick Ransom speaks to GB basketball stars and couple Laurie Williams and Robyn Love about motherhood, living with a disability and their future plans…
To mark the start of Pride Month, Sky Sports News reporter Nick Ransom speaks to GB basketball stars and couple Laurie Williams and Robyn Love about motherhood, living with a disability and their future plans…
GB basketball stars Robyn Love and Laurie Williams, who became mums in April for the first time, speak to Sky Sports News at the start of Pride Month about their relationship, new ambitions and life as disabled mothers.
As Pride Month begins, the Paralympians are writing a new chapter in their life together. Daughter Alba arrived in April and the pair are happier (and prouder) than ever.
Paralympians Robyn Love and Laurie Williams share a tender moment with their daughter Alba
They talk to Sky Sports News about parenting so far, their new goals for the years ahead while reflecting on the importance of representation for both disabled and LGBTQ+ communities.
Together for close to 10 years, the pair met in 2014 when Robyn joined the Great Britain basketball team. Striking up a connection almost immediately, the pair began dating and despite initial reservations soon opened up to team-mates.
Britain’s Robyn Love (L) and Laurie Williams touch hands during the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games
Engaged since a magical proposal under the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Robyn and Laurie have gone from strength to strength and have found the first month of parenting surprisingly easier than expected.
“Overall, it’s gone really well. You never know what to expect, but she’s been really good as gold. It has been challenging at times, trying to get into a routine but we’re finding it really rewarding,” says Laurie.
Robyn explains: “I think we have been a perfect team and under high-pressure situations, so having this little baby, I think we’ve definitely had the experience that helped us handle it.”
Laurie feels competing together on court has proved a factor in their positive start to parenting: “Through sport, you’re made to be like a really good communicator so from the start we communicated how we were feeling and what we found challenging.”
Britain’s Paralympians Laurie Williams (L) and her partner Robyn Love
“I think that kind of compared with this natural competitiveness that we had, like we wanted to get it right obviously to make your life easier, but for Alba as well.”
After competing together in Tokyo in the delayed Paralympic Games, the couple found out Laurie was pregnant while Robyn was playing for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. A long road of IVF had proved a success. The two were ecstatic.
The nature of the discovery was one of the reasons the pair opted to name their daughter Alba, the Gaelic term for Scotland, something that “just felt right” they say. “Scottish people are pretty proud,” Robyn adds with a smile.
While aware of the pitfalls of social media, Laurie says fortunately everyone has been very supportive, including other disabled mothers. “I think it’s important to highlight that there’s nothing you can’t do, you just need to adapt.”
Britain’s Robyn Love (C) during the Tokyo Summer Paralympic Games
Laurie grew up living with motor neuropathy, which affected nerves in her trunk and legs, while Robyn was born with arthrogryposis with shortened muscles meaning her right leg is shorter than her left.
Robyn knows the power of representation and its importance growing up: “I didn’t see LGBT people, disabled people, never mind the two things combined. Personally, I didn’t see myself represented in media.”
This experience has become the duo’s driving force to be positive role models for the LGBTQ+ community, but raising awareness of the range of disabilities is important too, they say.
“I didn’t see myself represented [during my childhood] because I could walk, I could play sport although I couldn’t run very fast or jump very high, but for me, sport was everything growing up. I actually only found out about Paralympic disability sport when I was 22.”
Robyn watched Laurie compete at the 2012 Paralympics in London before meeting her two years later. On the increased coverage of disability sport, Laurie remarks “so many people now have said ‘I’ve seen it all on the television, isn’t it great?'”
Britain’s Robyn Love (C) during the Tokyo Summer Paralympic Games
“That exposure, it not only educates people but also gets people into the sport. I wish when I was younger, I would have seen it on television and I could have started younger. I started pretty young, but you want to be able to participate in sport like your able-bodied counterparts.”
With Alba settling into day-to-day life, Laurie and Robyn are happier than ever. They’re also keen for more sporting success with Robyn turning attention to a sport she played a lot growing up.
Earlier this month, she announced she was retiring from international wheelchair basketball. Passion drives her, she says, admitting tennis was her “first love”. Beaming, Robyn says “I just love hitting the ball… I love the sound.
“I feel like I owe it to myself to follow my dreams because with Alba, I want her to feel like she can do anything, and I think it’s really important, as a parent, that if that’s what you’re preaching, then you’ve got to do it as well.”
Robyn says switching to wheelchair tennis will test her psychologically without team-mates to support her on “that service line”. She explains: “the biggest challenge is how I talk to myself and how I support myself.”
Laurie is sticking to wheelchair basketball and is hoping to compete in the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris to “end on a high”. After disappointment in Tokyo, being knocked out in the quarter-finals, she is keen to help Great Britain make a mark.
“We were on track to bring home a medal [in Tokyo] and we just didn’t get there but I think now, for me, having a child, it gives you a completely different perspective on life entirely, like everything for me has changed.”
“I think, to get to Paris and to compete, I’ll be satisfied, because I know how much I’ve already achieved. When you win, it’s not all about winning a medal, like there’s so many different ways you can win in life, and I think having Alba is one of them.”
Laurie and Robyn are smitten with both each other and Alba. The new family dynamic has put them in a fresh headspace to compete with the best. Their personality, perseverance and pride is profound.