As a kid, I had fantasies… I was a superhero, I was a star
athlete, I was on TV etc. The closest I could get in my reality was trying to
be a jock. As a little one, basketball was the easiest. My dad had put up a
basketball hoop at both our homes, one in the driveway in Cherry Hill and one
in the back alley at our summer apartment in Ocean City, N J. In Cherry Hill, I
would take shots with my brothers or on my own but in Ocean City, I had several
friends who were boys, not boyfriends, that I would play games against. I got
to be pretty good in a 4 foot tall, 11-year-old kind of way and I really
enjoyed taking it to my slightly taller friends who were boys. They thought
they should be better than the little girl.
With adulthood came reality. I stopped playing long ago,
long before I no longer could. But the game never lost its magic for me. My
father and I went to see Big 5 Basketball at the Palestra in Philly for several
years. This year for Christmas, Janet bought me season tickets to the
University of Delaware women's basketball games. I love it!
There is one standout player on the team… Mind you, the
players are all good but she is excellent. Her name is Elena Delle Donne.
She was the top high school player in the country and I
heard that she was going to go to the University of Connecticut, one of the top
women's teams, as one might expect her to. Then the rumor mill started… She
disappeared, she quit University of Connecticut, she quit basketball entirely.
It seems as if all the rumors were true, she appeared at the University of
Delaware and started playing volleyball for a year. Then she got her head
together and started playing basketball and the team has had the best season
ever. I'd heard rumors that there was more to it but I never followed up on
finding out.
Then I watched a little ESPN exposé about her and it changed
my opinion of her totally. She isn't just a great basketball player, I think
she's a great person. I've attached a link to the ESPN story:
The reason she left the University of Connecticut wasn't
that she went from being a top high school star to being one of many great
players… She missed her older sister who has cerebral palsy and is autistic, blind
and deaf. Her sister can't see her play, actually she doesn't even know she
plays. But to see the two of them together, how they interact with each other
is absolutely magical. And it's not just her sister, the segment showed Elena
with several other people with CP and her connection with them all was amazing.
She didn't hold back anything because of the cameras and she seemed to bring
out that sense of caring in her teammates as well.
I'm sure there'll be people who
will say that you can't tell anything about a person based on a short news
clip. I don't think those people are right, and it's surprising because I'm
usually the cynical one. I don't think basketball will be enough for her to be
fulfilled.
Maybe I'm gullible, but I do see
the potential for her to serve as an advocate for the differently – abled in
the future. Watch for her, and see what you think.
But right now, I have to change the
subject…we need her to concentrate on basketball. The conference championships
are this weekend and if they win, it's on to the NCAA championships. Wow, who
would've thought that little Delaware could make it to the Big Dance!
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