Reaching new heights

Gabrielle Neal, this year’s recipient of the UNSW Elite Basketball Award, a new scholarship established by the Denholm family, has seen this transformation first-hand.

When she was 12, growing up in Toowoomba, Queensland, there were so few girls playing that she trained almost exclusively alongside boys.

By age 14, in order to compete in the country’s semi-professional NBL1 competition, her father drove her to Brisbane three or four times a week.

“At 16, girls start dropping out of sport in significant numbers,” Gabrielle says. “We were steered towards other paths, not because we lacked talent, but because we didn’t have as many opportunities to compete as boys. We didn’t have the same visible role models in professional sport as they did. There wasn’t much encouragement to keep going.”

Today, the story is very different.

Now 22, the third-year civil engineering student plays for the semi-professional Sydney Comets, where crowds often number in the hundreds. Her long-term ambition is to play professionally.

One reason behind this dramatic growth is the increasing availability of university scholarships that encourage talented women to continue competing at precisely the age when many stop.

“It was daunting moving to Sydney from Toowoomba and leaving behind everyone I knew,” she says. “The cost of living added extra pressure. The scholarship not only eased that burden, it gave me time.”

“I’ve been able to captain the UNSW basketball team, serve as president of the University basketball club, and take part in a student project working with communities in Uganda to improve drought resilience. None of that would have been realistic if I’d needed to work part-time on top of my degree and training.”

The scholarship has also given her a strong sense of belonging. The friendships she has made through basketball have become the backbone of her university experience.

It has also helped her become one of the role models she never had.

And while significant progress has been made, Gabrielle believes there is still work to do.

“Leagues, clubs, coaching pathways and media coverage are still largely built around male teams,” she says.

“Scholarships like the one I have received send a strong signal that women’s sport is just as serious and worthy of support as men’s.

“I can’t thank the Denholm family enough for investing in students like me. It shows younger girls that they can pursue their passions because people believe in them and are willing to support them.”

Learn more about how you can donate to scholarships that open doors to university for students from underrepresented backgrounds.