By Cassandra Cousineau
LVSportsBiz.com
Chat with any professional athlete about the transition from their playing days to post-game life and the former pros will tell you it happens in a blink.
“It happens a lot faster than you think it will,” WNBA legend Sheryl Swoops said during a retired players event during NBA Summer League week in Las Vegas.
It’s not easy to make the transition from the sports court to the business world for pro athletes. The process of retiring from a sport requires a support system for retired athletes who have spent most of their lives playing before big crowds while not planning for business and life after the games end. When the cheering is done, pros are forced to confront business and employment changes.
This week NBRPA puts on its annual Legends Summit at Caesars Palace on the Strip in tandem with the 83-game Summer League that is based at Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion a few miles away at UNLV.
Rushia Brown, the WNBA Las Vegas Aces player programs and franchise development manager, moderated a panel titled “Women of Influence” that included former women’s basketball stars Nancy Lieberman, LaChina Robinson and Swoops.
Kathy Behrens, the NBA’s president of social responsibility and player programs, joined the former hoops stars on the panel.
Over three days this week, the retired players group gives a platform to women of the game, including leaders like Behrens who may not have had a career on the court, but has a seat in the boardroom next to decision makers.
“We’re really focused on the future of girls playing sports at the league office. Making sure young girls are playing sports at a young age because they are learning so many lessons that will allow them to become leaders in business, their communities , and elected officials. We want more of that,” Behrens told 20 former players in the room at Caesars.
Swoops, known as the female Michael Jordan, was the first player drafted into the WNBA and the first woman to have her own shoe made by Nike. She took time to speak with LVSportsBiz.com about the importance of female athletes having allies especially as they handle the business side of their sports jobs.
“It’s important to have more male allies who can see where we’re coming from and what we’re capable of doing. Instead of making it a competition, and you better than me and me better than you, it should be more about we’re on the same team,” Swoops said.
Lieberman, 60, who has a son, T.J. Cline, playing in the NBA Summer League and vying for a spot on the Milwaukee Bucks roster, earned the nickname “Lady Magic.” She knows pro basketball well and is the coach of the Big3’s team, Power.
Last season, in her first year as Power head coach, Lieberman led the three-man club to the BIG3 championship. She is the first woman to serve as head coach of a men’s professional team in any sport.
“I want young women to understand that they have to be prepared for the sports business. You aren’t just an athlete anymore. You’re a brand and there’s a lot of power in that,” Lieberman said.
To which Robinson, who played basketball for Wake Forest and is now an ESPN college basketball analyst, echoed, “Research, research, research. Don’t just come in the room and sit at the back. Get to know decision makers. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask about salaries for any job you’re interested in.”
Most pros are not business and finance majors. The elite ones hire representatives to act faithfully on their behalf.
The NBRPA and its Legends Summit this week helps fill the gap for the ex-pros who need to get the business and career information they missed while being laser-focused on their basketball careers.
As Brown put it, “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”
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