Note from blogger Cathy Benko: Following is a ‘book-end’ entry from guest blogger, Donna Orender, President of the Women’s NBA (see March Madness for original entry). Who do you think’s “got game”? And when’s the last time you told them so?

She’s got confidence. She’s got determination. She’s got strength. She’s got courage. Isn’t that what any woman aspiring to the top of her game wants those around her to think about her? Yes, of course! But don’t we all also want and need to be able to say that about the women around them.

You see, role models are critically important. No one knows that better than the women of the WNBA. On May 19, we start our 11th season, and the stories of this year’s players are nothing short of inspiring. But these players are the first to say that they were inspired by women who came before them.

Take Lindsey Harding, this year’s No. 1 draft pick who can remember attending her first WNBA game and knowing from that moment that she wanted to play in this league. Or Noelle Quinn, another first-round draftee who can remember attending the very first WNBA game played between the New York Liberty and the Los Angeles Sparks. Or Brooke Smith, a second-round pick who claims she wants to be able to "have the same effect on young kids as earlier players have had on me."

As president of the league, I am proud to lead an organization that’s founded completely upon a belief in women and by those who believe in women. With each passing season, the athletic abilities of our players grows. But equally important is the growth of our players as role models both on the court and in the community. Because that is what ensures that other women will follow their own dreams, whatever those dreams may be.

By Donna Orender, President of the WNBA
Friday, April 19, 2007 6:05 p.m. EDT
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Comments to She's Got Game

Eileen in Sydney wrote:
As an avid basketball-fanatic*, I have always believed in the power of sport (especially basketball) to inspire and unite people.

The WBNA's success has been on the back of not only the players that put their heart and soul on the floor every game, but those behind-the-scene players - including men. I love the WNBA and I love that the players have game on the court and off.

For example, Kim Perrot's courage in her battle with cancer, Sheryl Swoopes and her coming out, and of course my sentimental favourite - Michelle Timms and her pioneering ways in bringing the game to Australian homes.

I love that women share an understanding of our common struggle and like the black civil rights movement before us, I'm both empowered and excited about the challenges that lie ahead.

Although I am a general fan of the WNBA and therefore all the teams, with Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor, Erin Phillips, I gotta send a big shout-out to the Storm and the Mercury!!!

*I once spent an entire northern summer, backpacking across the U.S (travelling Greyhound as an indigent student) just to watch as many WNBA games as I could. In that year, I was inspired by the amazing talent and power of women to achieve the seemingly impossible.

Sara in Chicago wrote:
I was an intern at the Detroit Pistons during that inagural WNBA season and I'm lucky to have seen first hand the women of the Detroit Shock being great role models AND playing a great game. Thanks for posting about this.
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