Roberts started playing sport as a teenage girl in a working class family in apartheid South Africa. Over the past thirty years she has spoken, written and published widely on the gender inequalities, issues, challenges, good moments, memories and the current state of South African sport. Roberts studied at the Universities of Natal (Howard College), University of Cape Town and University of York (England), graduating in various subjects with an emphasis on African government and politics. Roberts played non-racial anti-apartheid under the South African Council on Sport (SACOS) and National Sports Council (NSC) and is involved in sport at all levels – from club level to national level, as a table tennis player, administrator, coach, anti-apartheid sport activist, campaigner for non-racial sport and gender equity in sport.