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As I walked out of the South Campus gym after watching the Lady Stars practice, I could only think of one word: swag.
Williesha "Shorty" Spencer is admittedly short compared to typical basketball players, but the brevity of her stature does not depreciate from her value.
Shorty is packed with so much swag that when I asked her, "What are your expectations for this year?" she looked me dead in my eyes and calmly replied, "We're going to win conference." She was so convincing that when I left South Campus, I was ready to start printing "Lady Stars 2012 Conference Champions" t-shirts.
On the court, Spencer has the game to match her off the court swagger. During two-on-two drills she displayed a full arsenal of moves and passes that were as clean and crisp as a new set of sheets. On one sequence, Spencer crossed her opponent up at the top of the key, penetrated the lane by showing off a powerful jump-stop, and proceeded to finish with her off-hand. On another play, she exhibited a Euro-step that reminded me of Manu Ginobili.
Another player that impressed me during practice was freshman guard Monecia Cook. If the Lady Stars are going to reach coach Ward's goal of scoring 100 point a game, I would bet a big chunk of my little paycheck that Cook will have a say in it. Cook is a dynamic and authoritative guard who gets after her opponents on defense, and definitely doesn't lack in the swag department. She showed no conscience as she fired shot after shot with effective accuracy. Coach Ward is going to need someone that is not afraid to shoot from anywhere on the court if she wants to reach triple digits every game, and Cook could be that player.
With all that swag in the air, there has to be someone around to rein it in from time to time, and that person is coach Kristy Ward. When I think of a way to describe coach Kristy Ward's coaching style, one hyphenated word pops to mind: bi-polar. I'm not using bi-polar in a derogatory way, the way you might describe an unstable boyfriend or girlfriend, but in a positive way you might use to compliment a magnet. During most of practice, coach Ward is shouting instructions to her players in order to keep their intensity high. But when she sees something she doesn't like, she stops the players in their tracks and calmly explains where they went wrong.
I love coach Ward's style, but next time I get a chance, I would like to ask her one question: "Where were you when I was playing basketball?!" When I was 10 years old throwing up bricks at the iron rim hanging in my local YMCA gym, I could have used some help! I'm sure if I had coach Ward to let me know I should, "aim at the top stripe when you go to lay it up", or say "Travis, if you try one more hook-shot pass, you are doing laps," I'm sure that I would be an overpaid third string player riding the bench for some NBA team instead of a banging the keys as a lowly sports writer. My lack of NBA success has nothing to do with the fact I am slow, uncoordinated, and get called for traveling more than a flight attendant. I am really looking forward to watching the Lady Stars play this season. It should be a fun an exciting ride that has a ton of high scoring games and more "swag" than a Lil Wayne concert.
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