Cathy Neap, the captain of Papua New Guinea's first national women's rugby league team, led the PNG Orchids to the 2017 World Cup in Australia and became a national hero. The odds were stacked against them in representing PNG at the historic women's tournament. 

Most of Neap's teammates were unemployed, single mothers from rural settlements, and they had just three months to transform themselves into a decent national team to compete on the world stage. 

“Some of them are still in school, some of them are mothers, (while) mostly 80 percent are jobless.  They are just in the house,” said Neap. 

Neap talked about the makeup of her team - amateurs playing with a lot of heart and passion. “They are motivated. They always wanted to be the best and do the best for their team and to represent their country.” Even though it's tough to be a captain of this team, Neap feels it's worth it. 

The most critical tasks for Neap's daily training are to set the pace, to lead by example and to make sure to keep everyone together and to work as a team. 

Neap grew up in a family where everyone loves Rugby, including her brothers and uncles. They influenced her. “Every time I watched them, I want to be like them. I want to play in the field to prove myself that I can be like my brothers and my uncles.  That's what motivated me to play.” 

Even though people had different comments on her and her team, she didn't care that.  She just wanted to prove herself. “We heard them laughed at us (and) made fun of us.  We were the laughing stock for them, but I didn`t take notice of them.  I knew that I played well in the field.  I didn`t care (about) anyone laughing.  I wanted to do better and prove them wrong. We now have the national team playing in the World Cup,” said Neap proudly. 

When talked about the most challenging part of this sport, Neap said: “The most difficult part would be it is a male-dominated sport.  Everywhere you (look) in the Rugby league, there always man.” 

However, Neap still enjoy the honor this sport has brought to her, “What I enjoy most is that I play (my) best, and I prove to the men and other people in our nation that we can play this sport (too).  We can be like any other woman. We can do jobs that men can do. We are equal in this society,” Neap concluded.