Women Flock To New Pro Leagues
American women once had to travel overseas to play pro basketball. Now, women from other countries are coming to the United States to play in the two new pro leagues.
The American Basketball League, just wrapping up its inaugural season, and the Women’s National Basketball Association, set to start this summer, are causing a stir on the international scene.
“I know a lot of players who want to play in the United States,” said Isabelle Fijalkowski, a French centerforward who will play for the WNBA’s Cleveland Rockers. “For the men, every player wants to be in the NBA because it’s the best. I am so proud to … play for the WNBA in its first season.”
Shelley Sandie, a 6-foot guard on the Australian Olympic team who played this season with the ABL’s San Jose Lasers, said she expects some of her fellow Australians to join her in the United States.
“A lot of the Australian women are talking … about coming over here to play,” she said. “I think you’ll see quite a few of them from our national team over here.”
Gary Cavalli, the ABL’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said his goal was to provide professional opportunities for U.S. women. The growing international interest was a pleasant surprise.
“Our league is more focused on bringing American players home, but it is interesting that a lot of foreign players are interested in coming here,” he said.
Val Ackerman, the WNBA’s president, said her league has signed six top foreign players, including Russian center Elena Baranova, who was second in scoring in the 1996 Olympics to Lisa Leslie, captain of the gold-medal-winning U.S. team.
However, Cavalli and Ackerman said the ABL and WNBA will consist primarily of U.S. players.
“It’s important for us to create opportunities for players who for so long had to go overseas to fulfill their dreams of playing professional basketball,” Ackerman said.
Before the ABL and WNBA, U.S. women had very few options if they wanted to play after college. A handful of the most talented could aspire to play for the Olympic team. Some turned to coaching or other jobs related to the sport.
For 1988 Olympian Bridgette Gordon, there was only one way to keep playing and get paid for it: leave the country.
Gordon, a 6-foot forward who led Tennessee to NCAA titles in 1987 and 1989 and won gold with the U.S. Olympic team in 1988, has played in Italy for the past eight seasons, currently with Pool Comense.
This summer, however, she’s coming home to play for the Sacramento Monarchs in the WNBA.
“My highest ambition in the United States was to win a gold medal. That was as high as I could go at home,” she said. “I never thought I’d be a professional basketball player in the United States.”
Fijalkowski, who plays for CJM Bourges in France, said the United States is THE place to play ball.
“In the United States, basketball is a part of the culture,” she said. “In France, people don’t know the sport so well. It is like a different game.”