Meet Katrina Robertson, owner and founder of the Women’s Sports Academy, an Australia-based program helping young women thrive in sports as athletes or someone working behind the scenes. Driven by a passion for mentorship and wellbeing, Katrina created the Academy to offer more than just athletic training. With a 12-month program that blends sport psychology, diploma studies, strength training and industry exposure, the Women’s Sports Academy takes a full-circle approach to development.
With a clear vision and a sharp brand to match, Katrina has created a space where young women can grow, learn and show up strong. In this exclusive interview, Katrina shares how it all came together and how branding helped bring the academy’s mission to life. Let’s meet this local legend!
Tell us about Women’s Sports Academy, how did it all get started?
It has been a long time in the making. I love sports and I’ve been around for a little while. As I’ve gone through life, I’ve worn many hats. Prior to becoming a psychologist, I had a bad accident and was told I’d never play sports again. While I was off, I became a nurse and I studied psychology. That’s when I decided maybe I need to go back to the gym and get fit again. Three years later, I found myself winning a world powerlifting championship.
After all that, I was thinking there’s so many things in women’s sport that just don’t have a pathway. There’s not too many places you can go to learn about the holistic approach to health and sport. Our Diploma of Sport gives women the opportunity to see what they might enjoy in the industry. And there’s pathways onto university once they’ve completed their diploma. You can be a CEO, you can be a manager, you can be a strength and conditioning coach, you can be a high performance coach. The Women’s Sports Academy is education. It’s about mentorship. And it’s training, it’s getting into the gym, it’s learning more about yourself and being as strong as you can.
What were some of the challenges you faced while establishing the academy?
Even though everyone was excited about it, it’s not that easy to do. It was really being clear with myself about how to develop the programs and what I will add in addition to what is the standard or universal way of teaching about the diploma of sport. Also, building the right team of women that will do the teaching. We now have a great team and I couldn’t be happier. I always think a story is the best teacher, then people can relate, women can relate to it. We don’t see enough on television around what we relate to as women in sport. So I guess those were the challenges. It’s not something that has been developed before, so how do I do that myself? I think my age helps there as well in that you’ve got to ask a lot of questions of a lot of people and show some courage. You really have to have courage when you go do something that maybe you’re not sure how it’s going to roll out.
How did you create your logo and the brand identity you’ve used so well through all your merchandise?
Well, we rebranded about 12 or 18 months ago,and I think it was about trying to create a logo that actually represented what we’re trying to do. It has to show maybe some pillars we came up with. It ended up being the three pillars and then putting in that colour. And it’s so strong, I love the font. We spent lots of time trying to shift things around, but it ended up being beautiful once we got it.
It was a lot of work coming up with something and it was important for us that we take our time. When the colours came and then the merchandise, it just looked amazing. Honestly, I can’t believe how good it looks! Everyone loved the change, loved the colours and loved how it came up.
How do you manage the different roles you need to do and your own work-life balance?
I think it’s called agility, I guess I’m lucky I’ve been a psychologist for 30 plus years and most of the time I practice what I preach and I have really good people around me. I have a good team, good peers, and it’s an understanding that I don’t have to do everything. That’s why you have a team. So there are times when others will pick up some of the slack, but it’s about great communication in your team. You really have to know, well, what are each of us doing? What do we all want to get out of this? But I love the contact, I love the connection.
I think connection is the most powerful thing that we can offer in our world or as ourselves. So yeah, I manage it quite well. And when I don’t, I check in with my peers and say, Hey, I’m actually on the rollercoaster at the moment. How do I manage this? But yeah, lucky that I’ve got skills over a long period of time.
VistaPrint believes in supporting businesses just like the Women’s Sports Academy. As a customer of VistaPrint, what are your favourite products and how do you use them?
My favourite VistaPrint product is the pull up banner! I just love unrolling it as it is just so bold and makes the logo pop! Every time I pull it up I say to myself (depending on the day/event) “the women’s sports academy is open for business” or “the women’s sports academy is in the building”. It just makes the branding and the message be bold and proud!
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