Double trouble – How Emma de Broughe juggles the best of both sporting worlds
Written by Will Faulkner
Dual athletes are rarely seen at the top level in the modern era, which is what makes Emma de Broughe’s status as a professional cricketer and hockey player so remarkable.
Both a contracted cricketer and Australian hockey player, the 21-year-old has been regarded as a multi-talented sportsperson since her early junior days.
Commitments with the SA Scorpions, Adelaide Fire, the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI) and Australian Jillaroos have made de Broughe an athlete that is always on the clock; especially given her willingness to develop all aspects of her game.
“I have a drive to get better in whatever I do; at trainings I’m always happy to work on something that I’m not great at,” says Emma.
Despite her successes so far at juggling two sports, de Broughe admits that you can never truly be at your best for both sports simultaneously.
She stressed that the coaches for each sport are ‘really good at communicating with each other’, but it can sometimes be too hard to please everyone.
Emma has been juggling the demands of cricket and hockey from a young age - Photo credit: Brody Grogan (2017)
“You can’t really be committed 100% to both… you’re sort of 80% committed each way”.
“It’s actually impossible to get to everything; doing every skills session isn’t possible so it’s just about making the most of the trainings that you can get to.”, exclaimed the SA Scorpions batsman.
Most athletes are prone to injury as it is playing one sport, so naturally it has been tougher for de Broughe to avoid when playing two.
Irritating shin splints for the last five years paired with lingering knee issues have at times made it that extra bit harder to line up on game day, though Emma acknowledges that it comes with the territory.
General overuse injuries have required management in recent years, yet conversely it has also forced the Adelaide Fire forward to occasionally play through a pain that almost none of her competitors, in theory, would share.
de Broughe’s status as an international player has been put on hold like many others during COVID, and prevented her from playing more games overseas for Australia’s U21 hockey side the Jillaroos.
As a result of these travelling restrictions, a greater focus has been put towards her hockey performances within SASI and Adelaide club side Seacliff, as Adelaide Fire games continue to get delayed and cancelled with COVID.
Interruptions to the international schedule has allowed de Broughe to focus on more local level competitions - Photo credit: The Leader (2021)
“I was probably a bit young when I first started playing for Adelaide Fire, but now I’m looking to have more of an impact in games and be a senior player who’s looking to get to that next level,” spoke de Broughe of her road back to Australian duties.
Her determination to represent Australia again still burns stronger than ever, after her shock omission from Australia’s Youth Summer Olympic side that travelled to Buenos Aires in 2018, despite dominating in the Oceania qualifiers.
Across the seven games held in Papua New Guinea, de Broughe scored an incredible 32 goals; including an eight-goal onslaught against PNG themselves.
No stranger to dominating in either sport, Emma has also been piling on the runs so far this season at grade level, in preparation for the upcoming WNCL season starting next month.
Having captained several games in the last few months for Sturt’s 1st Grade T20 side, the right-hander has hit three scores above 40; including a first-class 95 from just 48 deliveries in her side’s 4/236 off just 20 overs.
Having played 1st Grade since the age of just 12, Emma has seen significant improvement in the competition's standard, stating that 'everyone in the team has a role to play each game', with players no longer filling voids in sides that used to be dominated by the same players each week.
de Broughe says that she had felt considerable improvement in her game in recent times, which has become quickly apparent from her performances of late.
The right-hander has been catching the eyes of Scorpions selectors after a solid start to the grade cricket season - Photo credit: Dean Martin (2018)
“This year has come a long way in developing aspects of my game that I needed to improve… my goal is to play as many Scorps [SA Scorpions] games as possible; hopefully that will happen if I make some runs at club level,” noted a humble de Broughe.
Fresh and ready to tackle the second half of the 2021/22 season after the Christmas break, Emma’s commitments will once again go up a notch as she steps back into juggling life between two sports.
In the foreseeable future, locking down a spot in the Scorpions top six is one of many goals she has going forward, not to mention her desire to continue making Australian development squads and camps for field hockey. Ready and raring to pull back on the green and gold for Australia, as well as the red and yellow for the Scorpions - make sure to keep not just one, but two eyes on Emma de Broughe heading into 2022 - one for each sport.