A new Roku Originals documentary, "Gamechangers: Mother/Athlete," premiered at the 24th annual Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival, exploring how WNBA players balance motherhood with professional sport. The film features Sheryl Swoopes, one of the league's founding stars, alongside Skylar Diggins-Smith, Bria Hartley, Natalie Achonwa and Allison Feaster, who share candid reflections on pregnancy, postpartum recovery and parenting while competing at elite level. Director Christine Turner said the aim was to humanise athletes often seen only as heroes, showing them as complex, multidimensional people.

Swoopes, who became pregnant just before the WNBA's inaugural 1997 season, recalled her fear of telling her team and the public, given the pressure she felt as the league's first signed player. The documentary highlights a long-standing lack of institutional support for maternal welfare in the WNBA, noting that the league only introduced fully paid maternity leave in 2018, more than two decades after its founding. Turner said she hopes viewers gain a greater appreciation of the challenges these women have faced and can relate the athletes' experiences to their own lives.