WNBA Chicago Sky – for the ‘Love of the Game’

Perhaps in no other professional sport is the concept of playing for the ‘love of the game’ truer than in the WNBA. Having had the opportunity to take care of the Chicago Sky athletes for the past 2 years has been an incredible experience. By attending the Sky games, I’ve developed a great appreciation for the WNBA athletes- their hard work in mastering their craft, teamwork and motivation to succeed is unparalleled. It is also important to highlight their resilience, as many WNBA players play overseas during their off-season, which essentially means very little rest. Fortunately, the WNBA and the players made great strides with their new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) on January 14, 2020.  Briefly, this agreement increased base salary, improves travel accommodations, and provides better support for maternity leave. In addition, the new CBA moves closer to a 50-50 revenue split with the league (up from 20-80), similar to the NBA. Overall, it appears to be a step in the right direction and may encourage more players to rest and recover during the off-season.

By all accounts, the 2019 season was a great success. The Sky made the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and advanced to the second round. Their new coach, James Wade, was named Coach of the Year. Courtney van der Sloot continued her dominance of the point guard position and was named a Peak Performer for being the WNBA assist leader. Diamond DeShields had a great year and lead the team in scoring, averaging 16.2 points per game. Allie Quigley led the team in ‘treys’, with an impressive 44.2 three-point percentage (as a reference, Steph Curry’s percentage last year was 43.7). Jamierra Faulkner returned successfully from a major season ending knee injury requiring surgery a year ago. Jantel Lavendar, who was signed as a free agent last year, sustained a season ending foot injury, however, has been recovering well during the off-season. Overall, the team had great chemistry on and off the court and expectations are high for next year for a deeper playoff run.

With regards to the medical team, Meghan Lockerby, served successfully as head athletic trainer, alongside assistant trainer Sam Almendarez. In addition to yours truly, Drs Holly Benjamin, Christopher Hicks, Brendon Ross, and Sherwin Ho all helped provide team coverage last year. We are looking forward to the start of the upcoming season, with preseason starting in May.

If you haven’t been to a Sky game yet, please consider going at least once next year and supporting your team! I have no doubt you will leave impressed with the quality of play, talent of the WNBA players and overall atmosphere of the game. You can also stay following the end of the game to take pictures and get autographs with your favorite players! I have always found the games to be very family friendly with kids in attendance (including both my daughters for several weekend games!). UChicago Medicine has a Kid’s corner where there are opportunities for kids to participate in arts and crafts, shoot ‘arcade style’ basketballs, get free UCM branded giveaways, and take pictures with UChicago Medicine mascot, Remoc and team mascot “Sky Guy”. You may also see a celebrity- Mike Ditka, DJ Casper (of Cha Cha Slide fame), several Bulls players (Coby White, Daniel Gafford, Wendell Carter Jr), Mayor Lightfoot, Dwayne Wade and Anthony Davis were all spotted at some games last year.

Ultimately, being a team physician for the Chicago Sky is a very rewarding experience and am truly thankful for this opportunity. As Minnesota Lynx player, Maya Moore, who is widely considered one of the all-time WNBA greats once said “You have to not only love the game, you have to love the training, the practice, and the competing. You have to love everything about it.”