Mental Health narrative in WNBA must start at the top
“I don't think you have any business being a leader if you don't care about the people that you're leading,” coach Becky Hammon. PHOTO: Courtesy Las Vegas Aces
By W.G. RAMIREZ
When WNBA coaching veteran Curt Miller was interviewing for the Dallas Wings general manager position and CEO and managing partner Greg Bibb stressed the importance of mental health within the organization, he knew it was a job he wanted.
"Dallas has been a leader well before (first-year coach) Chris (Koclanes) and I arrived, and I appreciate that commitment to our players with mind health and mental health," Miller said.
Koclanes includes some form of mental health conversation in his messages at practice, reminding his players - including No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers - there is more to the game than the physical aspect.
"We are aware and we are very intentional," Koclanes said. "We're not talking about mental health because it's May. We're talking about mental health because it matters to us here with the Dallas Wings. It's two very important anchors of mine, in our culture of playing positive and poised.
"The league has been at the forefront. So we're right in step with the league and just talking about it first, and then creating a space for our players to feel comfortable, and then also increasing their awareness and giving them tools and resources to be able to help each of them, because it's so different for everybody."
Said Miller: "Throughout the interview process of over 30 plus candidates, knowing how much mind health, mental health is important to Chris, and a major pillar, it was a differentiator between candidates for this head coaching position because it's such an important topic, it's such an important part of the WNBA. And I knew that he was going to make that a part of the Dallas Wings.
"So I'm really proud to be a part of an organization that really takes pride and is a leader in our area when it comes to mental health and mind health."
At this year's draft, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the league worked hard during the offseason to combat hate and vitriol experienced by our players, teams, staff and fans, adding the league assembled a dedicated task force to monitor a four-pronged platform that includes continued services of dedicated mental health clinicians addressing concerns that players have in a timely manner.
"We want to ensure that the WNBA remains a space where everyone - players, fans and partners, corporate partners - feels safe, valued and empowered," she said.
Las Vegas Aces president Nikki Fargas said it's important the narrative begin at the top of every organization, and work its way down, so that everyone in every organization knows the resources available to them.
The Las Vegas Aces recently hosted nearly 100 high-school students to participate in a mental halth summit at their world-class facility. PHOTO: W.G. Ramirez
"(It's) not just on the basketball side," Fargas said. "Those resources are also available on the business side. Because, mental health, we want to end the stigma. It is okay not to be okay. When we first moved into our beautiful headquarters, one of the first events that we hosted was the mental health summit, and we invited about 100 (high school) administrators and teachers to come in and work with some of the professionals in the mental health space and give them the necessary tools and resources that they need to then go back into the classroom and work with the students."
That was in 2024. Earlier this month, back at the Aces headquarters, the organization held its second annual mental health summit with nearly 100 high school students working at four stations on the team's practice court, learning and discussing mental health techniques.
Aces coach Becky Hammon, known for her harsh halftime speeches to rile the troops, said she's learned there's more to coaching professional athletes than, well, coaching.
"Coaching is really just about relationship building," Hammon said. "I think I make a lot of investments in them as people, spending time with them, talking with them. I don't think you can go at them hard in the locker room and not love on them hard out of the locker room.
"I think you have to have a certain amount of care for the person that you're coaching, whoever that is. I always want their mental health and their approach to want to come to the gym, to be happy to come to work. Because one thing I know, I had some not-so-fun years as a player, and those were my least productive years."
Hammon knows happy players make more efficient, better players, comparing them to employees who walk into work every day with an excitement about their surroundings.
"So creating that environment for them to come in where, 'Hey, let's go,'" Hammon said. "That kind of gas pedal approach comes with a lot of relationship building, and I don't think you have any business being a leader if you don't care about the people that you're leading. ... So, yeah, I'm going to pull out on some of those withdrawals, but I've made a lot of deposits to be able to have that relationship with them."
