Press conferences are not the only virtual events nowadays involving WNBA players.
Of course, A’ja Wilson will be coming back to the Las Vegas Aces for the 2021 season, but she too was part of a virtual seminar when spoke with the Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada.
KSNV-TV NBC 3 in Las Vegas got a video of the entire Zoom meeting between Wilson and several Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada that occurred on Saturday. Wilson shared plenty of her experiences as a former Girl Scout herself in South Carolina.
Girl Scout-related topics were not the only ones Wilson delved into in the meeting. She was also asked about her feelings about a common criticism of the WNBA – that players do not dunk often and that they rim should be lowered to accommodate this. Elena Delle Donne has notably said in the past that she is open to the idea, but Wilson says she’s opposed.
That’s like lowering standards. We don’t need to lower our standards. We’re fine right where we are.
–A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Wilson says she learned leadership skills through her time in the Girl Scouts and that it was a building block that established how competitive she is. She recalls occasions where she would go to Savannah and she wanted to sell the most cookies.
It got to a point where, you got your people that know they’re going to buy from you. And I just loved it. I would cling on them.
–A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Wilson admitted that there were a couple of occasions where she felt as if she wanted to give up basketball – once in high school and once during her freshman season in college where she came off the bench. She credits the support of her friends throughout the years with giving her that added push to keep going.
Obviously, given where Wilson’s career has gone – which was recently immortalized with a statue outside South Carolina’s Colonial Life Arena – those friends were correct. Among those were her coach at the Gamecocks – Dawn Staley, who told her that it was for her development. She also told her, Wilson said that being true to oneself is another way to ensure success.
In this world right now, we have so many standards that we have to be. We have to look like something, we have to talk like something and there’s no way that I could check all those boxes off. But one box I know I can check off for sure is who I am as a person.
–A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
One message she wanted to share with the girls that took part in the virtual event was to be courageous and recognize their power. Women are “unstoppable,” Wilson says when women are strong and courageous.
Wilson also believes it is important to have “short-term memory” when things may not be going as smoothly as she hopes. She says this is important because one does not want to dwell too long when things may not be going as she wants.
I just really lean on my inner circle to, kind of, help me with encouraging words and things like that. So, when I’m not on top of my game, I just think about times where I was on top of my game and just try to get back into it and get back into the swing of things, whether that’s, like, smiling or hyping up my teammates or just being a good teammate as itself, kind of, helps me get back into the groove of things.
–A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Wilson’s experiences with feeling down on herself also extend back to when she was in Girl Scouts. She says that because she was taller than those she was around that she would take herself out of situations out of fear that maybe she was too tall for certain things.
What allowed her to keep an even keel about those experiences with being bullied was accepting herself for who she was.
You really see who’s really your friend and who’s not and you can’t harp on the people that’s not because you miss out on the people that truly are there for you and truly love you. So, for me, I just kind of continued to be me and if they didn’t like because of it, that’s a shame on them. Because I’m not changing. God put me on this earth to be this way and I believe in God 100%.
–A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
She reiterated later that she has had her issues with acceptance over the years because maybe she was taller than her peers, but it all came back to her inner circle encouraging her to accept who she is.
I didn’t even find out who I was maybe until I got to the (WNBA) and I’m like, ok, this is me. So, it’s not going to happen overnight, but you’re slowly going to develop into who you’re truly are and you just have to love that person. Love that person inside so others outside can love that person as well. And I think that’s kind of what helps my confidence.
–A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Accepting who she is inside and out also meant accepting that she is a Black woman who is unapologetic about it. She was among the many athletes that rallied in support of Black Lives Matter while in the bubble in Florida during last year’s WNBA season.
It’s the life that I live … it could be my dad, my brother, my boyfriend, it could be my mom, it could be myself. And I think I don’t like when moments have to hit close to home for you to really feel it because that’s what that person’s lost or you’re lost in something. So, for me, when it came to standing up for Black Lives Matter, I was behind it 100% because it’s the life that I live.
–A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Wilson particularly mentioned that a major reason for why she is so adamant about social justice issues is to be a role model for the next wave of young woman activists – like those potentially on the Girl Scouts of Southern Nevada Zoom call.
As far as her favorite cookie, she had no problem answering that question – the caramel delights.
Wilson was also asked about who she looked up to in her basketball career. She mentioned that she has looked up to in her athletic career. She mentioned Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker then gained an admiration for Staley when she arrived at South Carolina.
They have really, kind of, just showed me how to be just a great person off the court. I think I look up to them more how they carry themselves off the court and then on the court just speaks for itself.
–A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Wilson credited Parker with giving her – and other young Black girls looking to play basketball the confidence that they could do so and have lots of success because “if you see it, you can be it.”
She did not shy away from a question she fielded on what she believes is the biggest challenge facing woman athletes today. Wilson feels that societal pressures make women feel as if they are less than as opposed to on the same footing as their male counterparts simply because they are women.
It’s, kind of, like, you’re constantly compared to the male and then they try to downgrade you. And, it’s like, no, because I’m training as hard. I do the same thing, like we probably train the same way. Yes, physically it’s different, but at the same time, we both take paths in working hard in our profession and perfecting it in a way. So, don’t downplay me because I’m a woman.
–A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
When you see Kamala Harris, you’re like, ok, I can see her, I can be her, I can accomplish that.
–A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
A great point was brought up during the panel with the fact that the Girl Scouts is an organization that has exceled at ensuring that women ascend to leadership roles.
Even though there are early signs that the vaccines are turning the tide in the fight against the coronavirus, the pandemic has made taking care of one’s mental health more vital than ever. She says being herself, as she stressed earlier in the meeting, is also important for occasions such as this because she understands there are certain people that see her only as a basketball player and not the human being that she is behind the Aces uniform.
It’s ok to just have some me time. It’s ok to, kind of, take a step back and just focus on you. It’s not being selfish, it’s being who you are. And, I think, once I figured that out, it really, kind of, helped me mentally prepare myself for games, and just mentally be happy to be present for my friends and, just people around me, my family members, because I would always get tied up in trying to be perfect for everybody and trying to solve the problem, when in actually maybe the problem is for me just to take a step back. Maybe, that’s the solution.
–A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Towards the conclusion of the meeting, one of the girls told Wilson of a time where she was asked what her favorite basketball team was. The girl said the Aces were and she received weird looks since she mentioned a WNBA team instead of an NBA team. Wilson attributes this to there still being a sizable portion of the population yet to be exposed to the W.
People knock us because … we don’t dunk on a regular basis for the fan to look at. But I feel like we love what we do so much that it looks so nice, it looks so clean, and of course we’re going to have hiccups, but when you see the hard work translate over to the game of basketball, I think it’s a pretty nice thing to see. So, I would just tell them just give it a chance and watch it. And if they don’t want to watch it … their loss.
–A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
She closed by fielding a question on how many other players she has met throughout her time in the WNBA. Wilson mentioned how even at 6-foot-4, she considers herself short compared to other players in the league. Wilson needed to look no further than her Aces teammate Liz Cambage, who is 6-foot-8.
