Andrea Gardner, the Utah Starzz's second-round selection in the April 19 WNBA Draft, has three older brothers.
Many WNBA players learned to play basketball from their brothers.
But Gardner — whose wedding planned for this summer has been postponed by her chance to play in the WNBA — learned basketball in spite of her brothers.
"My brothers wouldn't let me play. They wanted me to be a girlie," said the Starzz rookie Monday as the team held its media day in the Delta Center in preparation for the opening of training camp Tuesday afternoon at the Franklin Covey Wellness Center.
The 6-foot-3 forward/center from Fort Washington, Md., who led the nation in rebounding as a junior at Howard University, was one of 13 Starzz present Monday.
Veterans Jennifer Azzi, Cara Consuegra, Amy Herrig, LaTonya Johnson, Kate Starbird and Natalie Williams were joined by guard Erica Routt, a returnee from last year's Starzz training camp, and six of seven brand-new players. Free-agent guard Elisa Aguilar is still playing in Europe, as are Starzz veterans Margo Dydek, Marie Ferdinand, Adrienne Goodson and Michaela Pavlickova.
Gardner, 5-9 guard LaNeishea Caufield, 6-2 forward Danielle Crockrom, 6-6 center Edmarie Lumbsley and 5-8 guard Jacklyn Winfield are 2002 draftees. Crockrom was Utah's first pick at No. 11, and Caufield was its second first-rounder, the 14th overall choice. Gardner was taken in the second round, Lumbsley in the third and Winfield in the fourth. Also in camp is 6-0 free-agent guard Sarah Hicks.
Also new is assistant coach Bobbi Morse, who will direct post players.
Gardner's mother circumvented the wishes of her brothers by sending Andrea to a sports camp, where she tried it all. There, "I just happened to play basketball. I loved it," she says. She also loves gospel music, computer games, laughing, hugging folks and shopping at the Gap.
By the time she was a freshman at Howard, her brothers relented. They let her play basketball with them; and, no, she can't beat them.
She was first-team all-conference, all-tourney team and MEAC player of the year as a junior when she led the country in rebounding. She repeated all-MEAC and player-of-the-year honors as a senior, when she passed the 1,000-1,000 level in points and rebounds.
Here's a look at the new Starzz:
DANIELLE CROCKROM: Crockrom's upbringing was about the opposite of Gardner's. She's the eldest of three girls in a Houston family. "My dad wanted a boy," says Utah's top draft choice for 2002. Dad was a football and basketball player, and Mom played volleyball, so it was an athletic family.
Crockrom's parents let their daughters experiment with lots of things. She tried cheerleading, dance, modeling, track, volleyball and basketball. "I kept my parents busy," said the Baylor University communications major who loves being on-camera and wants to be a sportscaster.
By her junior year in high school, Danielle concentrated on basketball, but it took until her junior year of college for her to really blossom. A coaching change made the difference for Crockrom, who went to Baylor despite Starzz' coach Candi Harvey's attempts to recruit her to Texas A&M.
Now she's reunited with Harvey, who chose her just after the Houston Comets passed on their hometown girl. "That was fine with me," Crockrom said. "I just wanted to go somewhere."
LANEISHEA CAUFIELD: Caufield came to pro ball via a traditional route. She's been playing since she was about 7. Her family loves sports, and her mother coached a girls team and her father a boys team in her Ada, Okla., neighborhood. "We played the boys," she said. "We never won, but the guys hated playing against us because they said we were too rough."
She also ran track and played softball until she accepted an Oklahoma scholarship.
She'd never been to Utah but said her first impression is good. "It's so beautiful," she said. "I actually had no idea where I'd go in the draft, so I feel blessed and thankful to be here. I'm just going to work as hard as I can."
She's only been here since Saturday, and she's already met Karl Malone. She saw him working out at Franklin Covey on the weekend and introduced herself. "I just sat there with a big, ol' grin on my face," she said.
EDMARIE LUMBSLEY: Five years ago, friends encouraged her to join them in a basketball game. She loved it. "That same year I got offered to play on the Jamaican National Team," said the native of Kingston. "It's been beautiful since then . . . I do believe it is my calling to play basketball."
She went to Tallahassee Community College for three years, redshirting a year, and then to Mobile for two. At Mobile she led the Rams to the NAIA Sweet 16 for the first time in school history. She was an NAIA All-American in 2002.
Lumbsley said it might be a slight disadvantage to have started playing so late in life, but she's a quick study. "I honestly didn't think about playing at this level because I started so late," she said. "I just have to thank God."
When Utah picked her 43rd overall, "I was happy," she said. "I started crying. I was filled with joy. I couldn't believe it." Her mother has never seen her play, but Lumbsley hopes that will change if she makes Utah's roster.
Lumbsley hopes to be a television reporter when basketball is done, another who loves being in front of a camera.
JACKLYN WINFIELD: A middle child in a family of five girls and five boys from Stringer, Miss., Winfield learned to share. Her best basketball trait is, "I think I see my players and set them up, put them in position to score."
She attended Meridian Community College and moved with her coach to Southern University, where she was SWAC player of the year as a junior and first-team all-conference plus tournament MVP as a senior. She underwent a personality transformation at Meridian, going from a defensive person to one who's open, cheers her teammates and tries to be a positive influence, she said.
SARAH HICKS: The first in her family from Roanoke, Va., to go to college or to become a pro athlete, Sarah played soccer, softball, volleyball and basketball as a kid. This future basketball coach says she shares a family trait of being laid-back. "My personality is, go with the flow," she said. "I'm outgoing, though. I like to take to people and like to meet people."
She's had plenty of chances to meet others, having played overseas for a season with Athletes in Action, played in Europe with her Virginia Tech team and traveled this country with an AAU team. She brings "intensity, hard work, willingness to win and a big heart for the game," she says.
BOBBI MORSE: She had no choice but be a basketball junkie. Daughter of a coach, she grew up in Terre Haute, Ind., when Larry Bird was playing at Indiana State. She's starting her 17th year as a coach in college and pro situations. Morse was an assistant at San Jose of the ABL when Azzi played there. She remains an assistant at St. Louis University, leaving her little time off during the year. Doesn't matter. "Basketball is vacation," she says.