Bristol Bears
Trailblazing, empowering, refreshing: Inside Bristol Bears’ baby boom
When Abbie Ward announced her pregnancy this week, she became the third Bristol Bears player in the last eight months to do so.
Ward, who is already mum to two-year-old Hallie, followed in the footsteps of fellow World Cup winner Lark Atkin-Davies and Wales international Alisha Joyce-Butchers.
The latter welcomed her son Ralphie, alongside wife and fellow Bear Jas, in November and is soon to return to training.
“What a great advert for Bristol Bears and just a great advert for women’s rugby to have that, and for it come from our club is amazing,” head coach Scott Lawson said.
“We are trailblazing, and we really want to be that club. When Abbie announced her pregnancy in the squad meeting, the atmosphere was electric, it superseded any rugby achievement, and it shows the togetherness we have got.
“That will help us as a group as well because we talk about the on-field side of things, but Abbie and Lark are really involved in training, they are still a huge part of our leadership group and a big part of our culture.
“We also have Alisha as well at the other end of the pregnancy spectrum. Jas is back in training fully, and we are supporting her and supporting Alisha at home, and then we will be supporting her in the coming months, coming back into train with us.
“It is great that we are a club where people feel they are really comfortable and have the ability to go away and do that.”
There are few, if any, clubs in world sport that can match Bristol Bears in terms of the number of mothers, or expectant mothers, who are all professional players on the international scene.
For newly appointed co-captain Ruahei Demant, it is a part of what has made her time at the Bears so enjoyable.
She said: “It is so empowering to see players who train, compete and play at the highest level be able to do what they are doing now and return back with the security and they are enhanced, not just as a person but as a player.
“It is very refreshing also, it brings a really cool energy to the team. Despite the challenges we have faced this season, it is such cool positive news.
“Everyone here is really like a family, so sharing that news and their journeys with us while they are still training, it is really cool to watch and very inspiring.”
Ward’s first pregnancy was a landmark moment in women’s rugby in England as it was the first to happen under the Red Roses’ maternity policy, which entitles players to 26 weeks’ fully paid maternity leave and funds for children to travel to games with them.
Co-captain Sarah Bern said: “Abbie has been through this before at Bears, and it was really exciting because it was the first time it was something we could do in the Premiership, because maternity policies came in, which was great.
“So now seeing more and more athletes take that stand and show that they feel empowered that they can also be a mother and an athlete in the professional rugby space is amazing.”
With Bears proud to lead the way on the global stage, they are also keen to learn as much as possible from supporting their players through pregnancy and post-partum to develop knowledge on the process for generations to come.
“We still fully integrate them into training, S&C and meetings where we can,” Lawson said.
“It is just from a safety perspective in terms of training, but they still do full skills, full S&C and individualised programmes that allow them to maintain their high-performance mindset.
“The thing that has impressed me the most is the mindset that they are international, fully professional rugby players that want to have a child, and the sooner they can get back to that, the bette,r because that is their job and that is their passion.
“The more often this happens, the more evidence we will have and the more successful we can be in terms of the science in supporting them through that.”
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