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April 12, 2006

Photos of Parker in Australia

After two spring training sessions that featured veteran international players, USA Basketball brought in some younger kids to test the waters and also to give collegians a look of what the game is like on the senior level. Tennessee freshman Candace Parker has fit in well among the four Olympic gold medalists and WNBA vets. How has the experience been?

What is it like being out here with professionals and long-time USA Basketball veterans?

PARKER: It's a great experience, honestly. I'm just absorbing everything, taking everything in. There's so much history on the court and on the sideline, with Dawn and Anne being three-time Olympians. And then playing alongside two-time Olympians, it's just a great experience.

What kind of things are they teaching you on or off the court?

PARKER: They're helping me out with different things, parts of the game. With the offense, in terms of staying positive, with some of the little parts of the game that I don't necessarily know not having played a lot of international basketball. From knowing most of them, they don't seem to be the type that wouldn't help us out and I've been thankful that they've taken us under their wing and helped us out a lot, with everything. Even in everyday life. This is new to us, traveling with the team, it's been a great experience. (Off the court), usually when you go with your college teams or junior teams, there are a lot of team things that you do. With the senior national team you get a lot of individual time, but they've actually spent time with me and the other college students here when they didn't necessarily have to. We've gone to dinner and different things like that.

How difficult was it for you to make the transition from the NCAA Tournament and playing with your college team to coming out here with the USA Basketball Women's Senior National Team?

PARKER: I was actually not ready for basketball to end when our season ended, so this gives me another chance to compete. I'm really thankful for that. Our season ended a little early and I was still hungry to play. My transition was ... I wanted to play some more so this gave me an opportunity to continue to do so for a few weeks longer.

How will this help your game next season?

PARKER: This is a huge step, in terms of identifying where I am right now. Going into the summer, it gives me a chance to get better. Just measuring where you are and where you want to be with different people on the court who have had success in basketball. I think that it's a great opportunity for me to go into the summer and work as hard as I can to hopefully come back here and be there next year.

What went through your mind when you found out you would be added to the team for this portion of spring training?

PARKER: I thought it was a tremendous honor. Coach (Pat Summitt) called me and coach is kind of been there, done that. So she mentioned it kind of nonchalantly, you know like 'come by my office, we'll talk about it and see if you want to do it.' For me, it was never an option. I wanted to do it. It was a great opportunity that I couldn't pass up.

How do you like Australia?

PARKER: I've never been to Australia. It's great. All I wanted to do when I came here was hold a koala bear and I did. So I'm really excited about that. I've satisfied everything I wanted to do here.

Did you like the experience of holding the koala bear?

PARKER: It was great. It was so much fun. I didn't realize they were as gentle as they are. They kind of just lay on your chest. They're real gentle animals.