Lydia Pingel

Lydia was 26 when she was selected to play in Bond University’s elite women’s AFL program – QAFLW (Queensland’s top league under ALFW). After suffering seven concussions in three years she was forced to medically retire. Her life has completely changed as a result of the head injuries sustained playing sport and now  she wants to raise awareness of the ‘invisible disease’ she lives with.

Lydia wants sport to be safer for everyone – she aims to help create strict protocols for all levels, age groups and genders and see some of the decisions taken out of the players hands. ‘There is no room for grey area in concussion, it needs to be black and white.’

Lydia wants to drive change in awareness and education and desires to help players of all ages, genders and levels feel empowered to speak up (without judgement or punishment) and say ‘I’m not ok’ if they feel as if they have a concussion. She wants to help change the perception that concussion isn’t a serious injury and instead, ensure it is treated like one.