The tour brings in maternity wildcard and parental leave, with surfers saying it is a ‘huge step in the right direction’ and ‘so sick’ for the sport
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his year’s Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach has felt different for Connor O’Leary. After almost a decade on tour, this is the Australian Japanese surfer’s first World Surf League campaign with a baby in tow. Romii-Sakura O’Leary, who will celebrate her first birthday this month, is one of a growing number of children hanging out in the competitor’s area.
“I was watching her crawling around the competition site yesterday,” O’Leary says midway through the Pro, the opening event of the 2026 WSL calendar. “Seeing her crawling around, playing with Kelly [Slater], Steph [Gilmore] was grabbing her, it makes you appreciate the life that we live.”
Working parents are not exactly a novelty on the WSL. Past world champions Lisa Andersen and Chelsea Hedges both competed after having children, the former winning four world titles in the 1990s as a single mother. Australian world champion Joel Parkinson was well known for travelling the globe with his three kids, as was Hawaii star Sunny Garcia.
