[2] She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in beach volleyball, but she and team-mate Becchara Palmer did not qualify from the pool stage.

[3] Bawden earned a volleyball scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport when she was sixteen years old.

[3] As a nineteen-year-old, she represented Australia at the 2000 Summer Olympics in indoor volleyball, where her team finished ninth.

[3] Following the 2008 Summer Olympics, she approached the Adelaide-based Australian beach volley programme about the possibility of getting into the sport.

[3][5] That year, she shared the world beach volleyball association top rookie award with Angie Akers, an American.

[3] At the 2009 Mazury Open in Stare Jablonki, Poland, Bawden and partner Palmer finished second.

[6] In 2011, Palmer and Bawden were Australia's number one ranked team,[3] and the duo finished ninth at the 2011 World Championships.