Claire Polosak named Her Sport Her Way champion to cap off stellar year

Polosak was named the Her Sport Her Way Champion at the state government's NSW Women's Sports Awards just over a week ago, in recognition of her becoming the first woman to stand in a men's test match and oversight of Cricket NSW's umpire development pathway.

"It was very much a surprise, and very humbling to have work recognised," Polosak said of her award.

"It's really humbling to think that people regard what I've done - both as an on-field official and creating opportunities for females through my Cricket NSW job - that they thought it was worth being recognised.

"It's really a testament to Cricket NSW in terms of my off-field work with educating female umpires. It shows that four years ago, when they employed me, they were ahead of the curve.

"I think I've been really fortunate, and in the right place at the right time for a lot of my opportunities."

Despite her many achievements as one of world cricket's foremost female umpires, Polosak said she was not confident in her chances of winning when compared to her peers.

"There are so many other females in the sport industry that I would consider to be much more accomplished than I am," Polosak said.

"If you look at Belinda Sharpe in the NRL, Amy Perrett in the rugby union, she's also working with Australian rugby I believe.

"There's lots of other people that work behind the scenes to keep pushing forward for females involvement, whether that's on the field or as umpires, or playing, or administrating, or coaching, so there's a lot of possibilities that are around."

A major driving factor of Polosak's desire to continue her work and promote the role of women in cricket is visibility.

She believes in the adage "You can't be what you can't see", and hopes the recognition she and others like her have received will inspire more young women to chase their sporting goals.

"Having these awards in the public eye and having media interest in it shows younger females that there are pathways and opportunities in whatever avenue of sport they're interested in," Polosak said.

"Which I think is the most important part, that it creates awareness that females can do whatever they want to do."

If ever proof was needed that Polosak's efforts are having an impact, it is borne out by the difference between the number of female umpires when she began her professional journey compared to that same number today.

"When I first started, there was probably myself and one other female who was umpiring women's club cricket," Polosak said.

"This season that's starting to wrap up now, across the state there are 21 different female umpires, and between them, we're sitting at 287 umpiring appointments.

"So that's a massive increase, and each year I've been involved, I've been fortunate that the number of females has increased, and the number of games with a female umpire have increased.

"I think that shows that there's females out there who want to be umpires, and if you provide a welcoming environment, the training, and the support when they get on field, that they'll hang around."

The full list of winners from the award night is as follows:

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