Wow! What a whirlwind of events have taken place in my life throughout these past couple of weeks. The amount of time I had to make the mental transition between being a Stanford University student athlete to becoming a professional athlete and playing for the San Antonio Silver Stars was very minimal. I decided to make this blog about how crazy that time period is for every rookie coming out of college and making that change. Shout out to all the rookies who survived it along with me!
We finished our NCAA Championship game against Connecticut at 10:30 p.m. at the Alamodome. I was clearly full of so many emotions at that time that I didn't even know how to express them. I had just lost my final game wearing a Stanford uniform. I was going to be leaving my teammates and best friends in a matter of hours, leaving me with feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. To top it off, I was pondering when to inform the public (and everyone outside of my parents and teammates for that matter) just how bad my injury was throughout the tournament. I was so nervous, yet relieved that I didn't have to hide the fact that I had a stress fracture throughout the entire tournament and had just experienced a third degree ankle sprain in the championship game. Trust me - trying to hide an injury like that from the press every day gets tiring! I've had some people ask me why I did this. My answer: I wanted to keep the focus of myself, teammates, and coaches purely on the games and our goal.
I left my teammates the next morning at 4 a.m., heading to the airport and not wanting to see anyone except for those wearing Cardinal red. I flew to New Jersey and had about an hour to get ready for the NBA Store promotional WNBA event. I was exhausted! It was fun going to the city and seeing all the other draftees and everyone involved in the WNBA.
The draft was the following morning! I was so excited that it was finally here and just told myself to be open to anything and pray that my name would be called! After our walkthrough of what would happen and some time spent practicing walking around in one boot and one heel (it’s more challenging than it looks!), we were brought to our table and the official draft began. I sat with my parents and [Stanford Associate Head Coach] Amy [Tucker], with other support in the stands behind us as well. When my name was finally called I was so relieved and excited to be a Silver Star! I honestly thought that it would be a fabulous fit. I also would be returning to where I had just come from, San Antonio, the NCAA Final Four city that did a tremendous job in sponsoring the whole event. After my name was called I was walked through interviews, did a live feed with some San Antonio fans who were at a promotional event and took pictures with the people who came to support me at the draft. That night I went to a fun celebration dinner in New York. Dang, they have some good restaurants in that city!
The following two days were filled with rookie orientation and so much information. My brain was on overload and I was still sleep deprived, but I was hanging in there and knew I was so blessed to be in my position. I was finally talked into getting a twitter account (@jayneappel) and was told that I would create a retirement fund for myself at the age of 21 – two things I honestly never thought would happen!
I was able to head home for two days where I was met with more stuff to do before heading off to San Antonio! I became a godmother and went to my godson's baptism, I met all the new pledges of Pi Beta Phi (my sorority) at Stanford, and gave my final, and very emotional, speech at the Stanford Women’s Basketball banquet.
After those two and a half busy days at home, I was finally off to San Antonio. I have been able to get settled and begun to feel like a real person again - not one living out of a suitcase. :)
Slowly, I am starting to discover San Antonio, including the best restaurants, a place to practice my bikram yoga and finding charities and causes that I want to get involved with. It has been a very busy, blessed, and eventful couple of weeks! Training camp was very competitive for our team. I wish I could have been playing in it! As a very competitive person, it was so hard being patient with an injury, but I was continually reminded that a “slow and steady” recovery will allow for proper healing.
The season is just now starting and I couldn't be more excited to get back on the floor and play ball. Until that time, I will be cheering and supporting my teammates who are competing. Our fans were tremendous at the first game and it was quite an experience!
Until next time, let's go Stars!
Jayne Appel #32
