CHICAGO — Every coach will talk about the importance of good habits on the basketball court. The habits that help teams win and players have long, successful careers don’t happen by accident. Though the Sky’s season will end without a postseason appearance, they are still continuing to try and get better in the remaining few weeks of the season.
The Chicago Sky’s players have been around some of the league’s best, and spoke about the habits they have picked up along the way. One of the most important habits? Sleep.
“I’m a big sleeper. I do not mess around with eight hours of sleep. I’m gonna get my eight hours, and I like to nap,” Rachel Banham said.
“I take a lot of naps, and I think that helps me recover,” Elizabeth Williams said. “I knew players around me were sleeping a lot more, and so I think I just picked that up from them.
It’s not that they were told they needed to prioritize sleep as much as they watched good players use sleep as a recovery. Both Williams and Banham played with Jasmine Thomas in Connecticut, and cited her as a professional they learned from.
“She’s amazing, and was such a good leader,” Banham said. “She always led by example. She just was the ultimate professional. So I’ve always felt like I tried to be like her. She’s never too high, never too low.”
After playing in the WNBA for 13 years, Thomas now serves as the Dallas Wings’ assistant GM showing how those good habits helped her build a career beyond playing.
The Chicago Sky are the fourth team Kate Martin has played for after stops with the Las Vegas Aces, Golden State Valkyries and Los Angeles Sparks, which has given her a chance to learn from so many different veterans.
“Alysha Clark was very good at watching film and studying players, and she’s been in the league for a really long time, so she knows everybody like the back of her hand,” Martin said. “The way Kelsey Plum takes care of her body, I learned a lot from her in that regard. She’s not much of a vet, but Veronica Burton, the way she works out and how hard she works, definitely learned that from her. It’s kind of hard to keep up with her.”
Jacy Sheldon played with the Wings, Sun and Washington Mystics before getting traded to the Sky. She said her veterans have taught her how to be aggressive in the right way.
“I think it’s more advice from along the way, especially here with the vets we have about just aggression and being aggressive and confident,” Sheldon said. “They’ve done this for a while. They know what works, what doesn’t, and the little things like how to draw a foul, how to catch them off guard.”
Away from the game, Natasha Cloud said Kristi Tolliver and Elena Delle Donne in Washington both taught her how to treat the people who supported her.
“At the end of every season, you take care of your ball kids. You give them a little bit of money, each of them, because they’re here every single day for us,” Cloud said. “Our scout guys, our staff, our medical staff, our strength and conditioning. You just make sure that you get them a gift at the end of the season. I usually write handwritten notes, so it’s more intentional.”
The mentorship doesn’t stop with players. Sky coach Tyler Marsh was an assistant coach under Becky Hammon with the Las Vegas Aces for three seasons.
“Being very intentional in the communication with players, giving thought into areas that maybe other people or other coaches don’t give thought into when it comes to decision making and and things of that nature,” Marsh said. “But most importantly, it’s being authentic to yourself while allowing the players to be authentic to themselves, but still in a way that adds value to a team, that doesn’t detract and distract from what the common goal is. I think Becky is probably the best that I’ve been around in terms of being able to do that.”
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