The transition from being a star collegiate athlete to a rookie on a professional team can be rocky, regardless of your sport or your gender.
But in the small and hyper-competitive WNBA (just twelve teams with twelve players each) – that transition can be especially challenging. Often, teams only have capacity to sign one or two rookies per season, if any, leaving those new players swimming in a sea of veterans and without direct peers to confide in.
Plus, there are the many cuts, trades, waives and signings that come with being such a small league. Not to mention, the grueling, compact schedule, and the potential pressure that comes with all the new eyes on the W.
But if you’ve watched enough games, you’ve likely noticed that while the on-the-court play is highly physical, something different – and special – is happening on the sidelines, and in the huddles.
“Our league is a sisterhood,” says Ariel Atkins, a guard for the Washington Mystics since 2018. “It’s a small league, and it creates this system where we really want everyone to succeed.”
The hugs, high-fives and pep talks between veterans and rookies that we witness as fans are just the tip of the iceberg that is the tradition of mentorship in the W – a tradition that doesn’t just help rookies thrive in professional life, but bolsters the league as it grows.
Why Mentorship is So Essential in the WNBA
You’ve probably heard about how important mentorship is for women in fields dominated by men (lack of mentorship opportunities is one reason women have been found to leave such fields, for instance, and though mentorship is linked to many success metrics, fewer women than men report having mentors). And while there’s no denying that the women of the WNBA have been dominating for many years, by the numbers, the league still lags behind the NBA. (See: the huge salary gap, the more-than-double number of NBA teams, and the fact that WNBA teams weren’t even allowed to fly charter until recently.)
Until that changes (we’re getting there), one role of mentorship is to help players fill in the gaps of the sometimes under-resourced league, and to navigate the unique challenges of being a woman in sport. Atkins points out that having so many Black and LGBTQ+ players in the league also makes those mentorship relationships all the more essential, especially as those players often find themselves in positions of advocacy and activism off-the-court. “At the end of the day, as much as it is about mentorship, it’s about supporting the person to the left and to the right of you,” says Atkins.
And while coaches can act as mentors, too, Atkins says that teammate mentors serve the essential purpose of being a resource and a confidant who isn’t also evaluating you. “Your mentor is somebody who is also in the trenches with you,” she says. “They’re running with you, they’re taking hits with you. They’re feeling the same emotions you’re feeling with wins and losses, because at the end of the day, you’re on the court together with the same jersey. It just hits different because you can look to your left or your right and see this person battling with you.”
These rookie-veteran relationships are also key to on-court chemistry, says Atkins, giving rookies the sense of comfort and confidence that allows them to play their best and building the trust between players that leads to basketball magic. “My biggest thing with our rookies and younger players is for them to know that we trust them,” she says. “Because I’ve seen them put the work in.”
Brionna Jones, a forward for the Connecticut Sun since 2017, agrees: “When you have good vets on a team who can help the rookies along, the faster the teams can build that chemistry and build that connection on the court,” she says. “That’s what makes teams more successful.”
What Mentorship in the W Looks Like
When former Villanova star Maddy Siegrist joined the Dallas Wings last year, veteran teammate Natasha Howard helped teach her the “stay ready” mentality that Siegrist says is crucial to thriving in the W. “Things can change in a second, so that mentality is huge,” she says. “You could go from not getting in a game to starting in the next game, which I think is pretty unique to this league.”
Howard also cooked Siegrist dinner when she first joined the team. “That meant so much to me,” says Siegrist. “You’re going from college where you’re a young adult and now you’re a real grown-up. I leaned on my vets a lot for that.”
What any given player needs from a mentor, on or off the court, is highly individual. For instance, Monique Curry taught Atkins a trick to help with her serial fouling, and Tierra Ruffin-Pratt helped her understand that her journey through the league wouldn’t be the same as anyone else’s. Siegrist’s mentors, like Howard and Kalani Brown, taught her to take care of her body – “something I definitely didn’t do as much as I should have in college” – and that more isn’t always more.
For Jones, it was mentors like Alyssa Thomas, Jasmine Thomas and Shekinna Stricklen who encouraged her not to lose her identity as a player as she tried to fit into the system her coaches had designed. “They were always the first ones to cheer me on,” she says.
Mentorship in the W isn’t just limited to teammates, says Atkins. “Something cool about our league is that it’s uber-competitive and insanely physical,” she says. “But at the end of the day, you see people dapping each other up after games. If you have a question about something, about business, medical, anything like that, everybody is super helpful. Young players need to have that comfortability to actually go to people and ask questions.”
A Growing, Changing League
By 2026, the W is expected to have expanded to 14 teams, with the goal of adding two more in the next several years. Those veterans will be key in anchoring their teams and teammates in a time of change, especially as the league will have room for more roster spots, and therefore more rookies. “It’s definitely going to help as we transition, having those people in place to help all the new players coming in get where they need to be,” Jones says.
As for what the growing number of eyes on the league means for the players themselves, and for what they need out of their mentors? “I don’t think it changes anything,” says Atkins. “I just think we need to continue to be who we are.”
Lauren Wingenroth is a freelance journalist covering all things sports, fitness, and the performing arts. In addition to PS, her stories can be found in The New York Times, GQ, Outside magazine, Women’s Running, Well+Good, Dance Magazine, and more.
