Lauren Jackson returned to basketball at 41. When she told her eldest son, he called her a 'liar'.

At the age of 41, Lauren Jackson decided to make a basketball comeback.

It's a testament to her strength and ability. But it wasn't the painful rehab and gruelling training that was the hardest part of returning to the sport she loves the most. It was telling her two kids about her decision.

Jackson has long been considered the GOAT (aka greatest of all time) in Australian women's basketball. Before the 2024 Paris Olympics, her last Olympic games was back in 2012. She had retired from the sport in 2016 after a routine leg wax while recovering from an ACL injury went bad.

"With that type of injury, it was so painful when it happened. And initially, I was like, 'Oh there goes everything,'" Jackson said on Mamamia's No Filter podcast in May 2024.

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Then in 2021, she made the big decision to give basketball another shot.

"I was mentally and emotionally in a really good place. Work was good, life was good, kids were good. The Australian team asked if I'd be willing to do some physicals and see if I was interested in trying to make the 2022 World Cup team. I didn't feel like I had anything to lose. So day by day I would train and it was just one of those opportunistic things," she explained.

Then the Olympic qualifiers came knocking. It took Jackson a bit of convincing, though she credits her mum for giving her the reassurance she needed.

"She's been so supportive of my career. She said to me, 'If you don't go to the qualifiers and the girls [the team] don't qualify, you'll feel s**t.' That's what got me over the line," Jackson said.

However, Jackson's two sons did struggle with their mum's decision to return to the sport, because it meant she wouldn't be at home as much.

"I got called some choice names by my five, and seven-year-old kids," Jackson recalled. "My eldest called me a 'liar' for returning after retiring. They're really kind, gentle kids. But for the past few years I haven't spent huge amounts of time away from them. The sacrifices that we have to make, it's brutal. I cried."

Needless to say, the feelings of 'mum guilt' were well and truly present in the lead up to Jackson's Olympic return.

"They don't understand the enormity of the Olympics," she explained at the time. "Now we talk about the Olympics, we read through books about Paris. That's accumulated over a period of a time and it's got them to the point where they're pretty excited about it now. If I make it, they're excited about the prospect of going overseas."

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Speaking to Mamamia's No Filter guest host Libby Trickett, Jackson detailed her pre-Olympics schedule as she trained for Paris while raising her children. Unsurprisingly, it was jam-packed.

"When I was playing at 15, I thought I had no time whatsoever," she said. "Even in my 20s and 30s I didn't know how good I had it. Now it's up at 5:30am to make lunches, get the kids ready for school, take them to school, train, do work, then physio. I pick the kids up from school, take them to their sports or appointments. It's just non-stop. Then you do it all over again every single day.

"I think basketball has given me an outlet though," she added. "My life feels fuller now."

Jackson has battled anxiety and depression throughout her career. After her injury forced her into retirement, Jackson said that it was the mental — rather than the physical — requirements of her comeback that proved to be the greatest challenge. 

"When I had the injury, I felt like I was letting everybody down. I didn't feel like I had the support network either, and I really closed myself off to everybody. That's what mental health does.

"But I knew I couldn't go back down that track again. And I've been very committed to that."

Listen to the full interview with Lauren Jackson here. Post continues after audio.

In May, Jackson was feeling confident that she was "fit enough" to compete once again.

"I'm playing well enough to make the team," she said. "It's just now whether my body holds up. And that's ongoing every day, something I'm always working on."

Of course, Jackson did make the team, and is currently in Paris competing once again.

As for what life will look like post-Olympics? She wasn't sure at the time, but said she was looking forward to a return to more normalcy.

"My parents, my friends, my kids — they've always sort of brought me back down to Earth. I love being around the people I trust the most. I'm looking forward to coaching my kids, taking them to sport over the weekend and doing all that stuff with them."

Hilariously, Jackson said that her youngest son cannot stand being at basketball games and watching his mum play.

"It's too long for him, it's too loud and he wants to be right with me. He's run onto the court before the games, like he does not care," Jackson laughed.

"My eldest son enjoys it though. He wants to be a basketball player, and he wants to be in every sport. I just want my kids to be happy and to be good and kind boys."

You can listen to the full interview on No Filter here.

Feature Image: Instagram.

This article was originally published in May 2024 and has since been updated.

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