LORAh 2 + Ruivona

Storm’s Braintrust Thrilled by Jackson’s Return

Brian Agler had just stepped off a plane when he got the news. The Seattle Storm's head coach and director of player personnel turned on his cellphone after arriving back in Ohio to spend a couple of days with his family to find a message from Lauren Jackson. He called her back, and the two-time WNBA MVP shared that she had decided to re-sign with the Storm for the 2009 season.
"She told me what her thoughts were, and I said, 'You've made my year,'" Agler said by phone Monday afternoon, after the Storm had announced Jackson's new contract. "We laughed about that and talked about moving forward here and training camp and our team, those types of things. It was sort of moving that direction over the last few days."

Across the country here in Seattle, Storm CEO Karen Bryant's reaction was "relief" at Jackson's decision.

"More than anything, I'm sure there was a huge, collective sigh of relief across this city as the news spread," Bryant said. "It's been a long couple of months, but we were respectful of the magnitude of the decision for her."

Jackson entered free agency in January as the most coveted player in WNBA history - a two-time league MVP in the prime of her career and available to any team as an unrestricted free agent. While every WNBA team showed interest, Jackson narrowed her choices to staying with the Storm or signing with the Phoenix Mercury, where she would have played with close friend Diana Taurasi and potentially Penny Taylor, her fellow Aussie and teammate on the national squad.

In March, Jackson made public her desire to return home at the conclusion of her season in Russia to discuss her future with her parents before making a decision, a position the Storm understood.

"As I shared with her yesterday," said Bryant, "We've all been sitting on pins and needles, but I said to her that we really respected the fact that she wanted to eliminate all the distractions and get back home and spend some time with her family and have conversations with the people closest to her before she ultimately decided. To her credit, she was only home I think 36 hours before she made her decision. I think she was as responsive to us as she promised she would be, and we're just thrilled that Seattle is the choice."

Throughout Jackson's decision-making process, Bryant remained "cautiously optimistic." Agler admitted to occasionally feeling somewhat pessimistic, something that was easy to do as speculation mounted on the Internet that Jackson was Phoenix-bound.

"I never lost faith, but there were moments of concern, to be honest with you," he said. "The one thing I tried to focus on was there was so much peripheral talk about what people thought Lauren was going to do. I just focused on what Lauren was telling me the whole time. Everything that Lauren was telling me was absolutely the truth and came full circle. If I stayed focused on that, then it was easy not to lose faith or confidence that this could happen."

While optimistic, Agler and Bryant never took Jackson's return for granted. As they outlined to media last fall at the conclusion of the 2008 season, they ensured throughout the offseason that Jackson knew how much she meant to the organization as well as the Seattle community as a whole. Agler reiterated Jackson's crucial role on the court time and again, a message he delivered while meeting with Jackson in person in Europe three times during the offseason.

The Storm's fans offered a big assist in April. When he traveled to Spain to watch Jackson and Sue Bird lead Spartak to the Euroleague championship, Agler brought with him a book filled with printed copies of hundreds of e-mails from Storm Season Ticket Holders explaining what Jackson's return would mean to them, many lengthy and heartfelt, as well as a video produced by the Storm's marketing staff looking back on her career in Seattle.

Agler saw first-hand what the displays meant to Jackson.

"I know that made a big impact," he said. "The last time I was over in Spain visiting with her, I knew and I could hear her talking about some of those materials to her friends. It did have a big impact. This was a team effort: Everybody had real positive things to do with getting Lauren's attention and helping get her back in the city."

"Some of the things that we did over the last couple of months were really designed to reinforce what a special part of this community she is," added Bryant. "That means not just the basketball community that she spends so many countless hours in the gym with, but really the broader community. As much as she has embraced Seattle as a second home, Seattle and the greater Puget Sound has really embraced her as one of our own."

Fittingly, Jackson's decision came just as the Storm is preparing to ramp up celebrations of the team's 10th Anniversary season. Naturally, Jackson has played a key role in the franchise's history, arriving in time for the Storm's second season as a talented but unpolished 19-year-old and quickly developing into the WNBA's most dominant player. Bryant counts re-signing the franchise's all-time leader in games, minutes, points, rebounds and blocks as one of the best days in Storm history.

"It's definitely amongst the highlights for any number of reasons," she said. "I think the fact that we can bring back who I think is the best player in the game today to our franchise is significant. I think it's coupled by the already strong roster we have on paper - adding Lauren to that mix gives us a lot of excitement about what our team is going to look like and what it's going to perform like on the floor. And especially with the 10th Anniversary season - to have her back as part of the organization as we celebrate that history is a special opportunity for both the team and Lauren."

With Jackson's free agency settled, attention - and anticipation - now turns to the start of training camp, less than two weeks away. Agler's excitement was matched by that of the Storm's All-Star point guard, whom he talked to after the announcement.

"It's just great to have (Jackson) be a part of our team," said Agler. "I'm really looking forward to it, and I know talking to Sue (Bird) today, Sue is just delighted. I don't think Sue was totally surprised, but she never took it for granted either, obviously.

"It's just a happy day. We're very delighted that Lauren's going to be back in Seattle playing for the Storm and look forward to getting her out on the court and working with her and our team. I really felt like a year ago, the last seven games or so before she left, we had a good thing going. I'm hoping we can pick up from that point on."

Monica Attard: Hello and welcome to Sunday Profile, I'm Monica Attard. Tonight we're joined by arguably the greatest female basketball player in the world; Lauren Jackson.
Known for her brilliant and aggressive play, Lauren Jackson is back home in Australia for a short break after winning the Russian and European leagues with her glamour Moscow team.

Well if anyone was destined to star in basketball it was Lauren Jackson - the daughter of two basketball players who both represented Australia.
A giant in a game of giants.
She's almost two metres tall, yet agile and exceptionally skilled.
At the age of 16 Lauren Jackson was the youngest ever player to join Australia's national basketball side.
Twelve years on and Lauren Jackson has a swag of titles, won in the American, Korean and Russian basketball leagues.
She's represented Australia three times at the Olympic Games, and won three silver medals against the domineering women's team from the United States. Gold still eludes her.

You'd presume most basketball players would always want to play exclusively in the game's heartland - the United States, but a modest salary cap means that players like Lauren Jackson can earn more in Russia, where cashed-up oligarchs as they're called, pay players big money to win. To boot, they provide their star players with the best money can buy - fabulous apartments, drivers, translators, lots of nightclubbing and lots of first class travel when the private jet isn't available.

So once Lauren Jackson is done in Seattle - she's going back to Russia.
There, she'll play for the Moscow team "Spartak" where she says the team's owner Shabtai von Kalmanovich or "poppa" as she calls him not only pays her exceptionally well to play and win - he looks after her like a dad!
Jackson's story is less of a fairytale when you think about the state of basketball here in Australia - her home country.
This week Basketball Australia announced that the national men's competition, the NBL would be reduced to seven teams or possibly eight. It's a different story for women's basketball - it's long been semi professional and its star players usually end up playing overseas…like Lauren Jackson.
So with basketball in this country seemingly in disarray, how big is the game in Russia?
Lauren Jackson: It's surprising big actually, I mean we get full coverage on national TV over there and through Europe and you know, we obviously get paid very well to play over there.
I think it's a different set up to Australia and America, but it's pretty big, we have a lot of support.

Monica Attard: And of course the team is owned and paid for by one of the Russian so-called oligarchs?

Lauren Jackson: Shabtai, yes, he's taken a fond liking to women's basketball. He's married to one of the ex Russian players and since then he's sort of brought basketball on in leaps and bounds in Russia. So he's definitely been great for the sport, I'm very lucky to have been able to play under him.

Monica Attard: It's curious isn't it because Russian oligarchs love to own sporting teams.

Lauren Jackson: Yeah they do and they're very flamboyant characters and a lot of them have been through…just have some amazing life experiences and just sitting there listening to him and knowing what he's done in his life, it's pretty crazy to think that he's owning a women's basketball team now.

Monica Attard: Oh I imagine it would be. So has he told you much about what he has done in his life? Because the reports are…

Lauren Jackson: Pretty crazy stuff yeah.

Monica Attard: He does certainly sound rather crazy. At one point he was actually jailed in Israel for passing on Israeli secrets to the Russian KGB correct?

Lauren Jackson: Yeah. Well I mean they're the stories. I'm not 100 per cent sure about what's true and what's not, but I know that he's definitely had a very decorated past and yeah like I said, I'm just proud to sort of know somebody like that and yeah he's been very supportive of me and we call him 'poppa' because he does everything for us over there and it's crazy to be involved with somebody that has that much power.

Monica Attard: And like all of the Russian oligarchs of course it's really hard to kind of figure out how they actually made their money. Have you been able to get to the bottom of that one?

Lauren Jackson: No, that's a question I've been asked for about six years by people that know me: Where does the money come from? And I think you know the sporting world in Russia is so much different here. A lot of the money comes from the government and all their players get huge financial support from the government. They're very much into developing sport over there, and having winners obviously, they love winners.

Monica Attard: And I've read that spectators are not actually charged an entrance fee.

Lauren Jackson: I know. Yeah. In our gym anyway we have a lot of kids that come from Vidnoye - it's a Moscow region city and you know the government definitely backs the kids and their families coming to games and we try and do a little bit of work with them.

And the team that I'm playing for actually develop younger players, they bring them in from all around Moscow and Russia and develop these players, give them houses to live in, give them jobs and school and everything like that. So it's pretty awesome that I get to play in that in Russia. I think it's one of the first teams that are actually getting behind and doing that.

Monica Attard: I have to ask you, I mean how was it living in Moscow in a situation almost entirely paid for by an immensely rich individual? I imagine that your lifestyle would have been pretty salubrious.

Lauren Jackson: Oh yeah, it's been a dream come true really. You'd think that living in Russia wouldn't be all that great but honestly I get treated so well, as does every player on our team. He really appreciates what we do…

Monica Attard: Describe your lifestyle a little bit for us. I mean where do you live and what do you do that's so fantastic?

Lauren Jackson: Well I mean, I shop a lot. Moscow's crazy for shopping and of course all the designers and everything come straight out of there. So number one, that suits me perfectly because I'm a bit of a shopaholic especially when I'm away from home.

But we live…I live with two of my teammates and we live in a pretty big house in a Moscow region. Yeah we've got a pool and a sauna and a spa and a woman that takes care of us - Babushka we call her, she's affectionately known as cause she's a grandmother. And just a lovely woman, cooks and cleans and does everything for us.

All we really have to do is you know play basketball, so life is pretty easy you know in terms of just getting out there on the court and doing what you have to do. There's no real worries that you ever have.

Monica Attard: And so downtime is what - shopping and discoing I assume?

Lauren Jackson: Oh yeah, there's a little bit of partying but not much, it's hard because we're travelling so much over there. A regular day over there is sort of practice for four or five hours and then sleep and TV. We do live about 40 minutes out of the city without traffic. You know with traffic it's sort of two hours in there, so it's a bit of a struggle getting into the city, but when we have days off we head in there.

Monica Attard: And are you kind of living, or have you been living in a bubble because you have translators, you have people who are looking after you? I mean have you managed to get out there and learn Russian or catch the metro or do things that normal Russians do?

Lauren Jackson: Yeah I'm not much of a trains kind of girl, so catching the metro is sort of, it's a no no wherever I am. But yeah I've been living in a bit of a bubble. I know a little bit of Russian, I can understand certain things, its hard not to.

I've been over there for two years now so yeah we do live in a bubble. I don't have to worry about translation or anything like that really, we are fairly protected and like I said all you really have to do over there is get ready to play and win.

Monica Attard: It sounds extraordinary. And all at the whim or somebody who is prepared to pay for all of this, not get anything in return really, apart from the joy of seeing you win.

Lauren Jackson: Yeah it's pretty awesome, I mean Shabtai really he does love winning and that's one thing that you know about him; he's a very fierce competitor and I've often heard him say you know after games that we've lost that he hasn't slept at all you know. And he doesn't, he takes everything to heart.

Monica Attard: And how does that make you feel, that he hasn't slept at all cause you lost a game?

Lauren Jackson: It makes you feel pretty bad. When you hear that he's not happy or he's not healthy or he's not sleeping or he's trying to figure out ways for our team to win, it's definitely kind of heartbreaking and you want to perform your best and be your best for him. So…

Monica Attard: It really does sound like a father daughter relationship and presumably that's why you call him 'poppa'.

Lauren Jackson: Poppa yeah well he does, he takes care of us and he knows that we're so far from home that he tries to make it perfect for us over there, so yeah.

Monica Attard: A lot of the Americans were most upset when he began to raid the American teams as well. Can you understand that anger?

Lauren Jackson: Well I mean at the end of the day we can only play sport for you know, it's a very short window so I think the players and the people that coach the American teams, the Australian teams, they know that we have to go over there to make our money and to be the best you know and so there's not much really people can say about going over there and playing.

He's made a huge opportunity for us, given us a huge opportunity to really have a career in basketball and focus purely on basketball which you know I'm so fortunate to be a part of that and I think the Americans are too and it's only a very small group of people that get to go over there and get to live the lifestyles that we do, so it's nice.

Monica Attard: And has playing in Russia do you think improved your basketball, has it improved your game?

Lauren Jackson: Um I think so. It's been good for me because there's two leagues over there and there's rules so you can only have a certain amount of foreigners on the court at one time and you know. Whereas when I played in Korea and I was sort of playing 35 minutes, 40 minutes a game and I was so tired. But now it's like I get to play 20 minutes a game.

I do work on basketball, I work on my fitness and you know when this time of the season comes around, when I have to go back to WMBA I have to be my best, I have every opportunity to be my best.

Monica Attard: And do you think you will be a better player for them now that you've had this experience?

Lauren Jackson: Definitely, yep, I think so. And I'm looking forward to another great year in America.

Monica Attard: And these experiences of course are things that you'd never have had the opportunity of doing in Australia would you? That level of basketball?

Lauren Jackson: No not at all. Yeah the sport's definitely taken me to very great places and I've seen things and done things that probably people don't get to do in their whole lives and I'm very fortunate to you know, to have the genes that I have and to be able to play basketball.

Monica Attard: Is that what it comes down to do you recon? Do you really believe that it's the genes?

Lauren Jackson: I think so, I'm six feet five and my parents both played basketball, so I think I got a little helping hand from them.

Monica Attard: And what sort of reaction do you get in Russia, being such a tall woman?

Lauren Jackson: A lot of Russians are very tall and blonde so I think I fit right in over there. But yeah, people are lovely. I think anywhere you go… I think I tend to tune out to sort of the comments about 'oh she's so tall', you know I've been dealing with it since I was a kid so you don't really think about it that much and I don't notice it. I think my friends do when they're with me but I really haven't.

Monica Attard: Now Lauren, clearly you and most of the other women in the competition are very well paid. You've been asked this before I know, but how well paid are you compared to the say US competition?

Lauren Jackson: Well I mean I've been able to start building a life you know after basketball with the money that I've been paid from Russia which I think that's an opportunity again that I couldn't get just from playing in America alone and you know that's only from two years of playing over there. So it's very good. That's sort of maybe eight years of basketball in America I made in one season last year.
So it's pretty crazy the sort of money that you do make over there.

Monica Attard: So reports of compensation in excess of $US600, 000 would probably be in the vicinity.

Lauren Jackson: Ah yeah definitely up there.

Monica Attard: Talk to me a little bit about the team, about Spartak Moscow, tell me a little bit about the team.

Lauren Jackson: Well we have a team, a fairly colorful team in terms of people from all around the world.
Our coach is Serbian and he doesn't speak very good English and he doesn't speak very good Russian. We have three American players that played for the American national team and won the gold medal at the recent Olympics. We have me, an Australian. We had a Turkish player, three Russians - four Russians.

God we've had players from everywhere, I can't even begin to sort of tell you how we all get along and understand each other and I guess that comes with time and the chemistry that's built between the players over a period of time.

So it's definitely a different environment, but it's a lot of fun and like I said, you get to be involved in a lot of different cultures and learn a lot about people and it's awesome.

Monica Attard: And you're so well cared for that those differences, I imagine would diminish somewhat.

Lauren Jackson: They do and over a period of time like I said, you learn about people and you learn what they like and what they don't like and the language barrier is obviously a barrier that you have to get through, but it's one that you can over a couple of months or whatever, you learn to breakdown.
And it's fun, I mean it really is a lot of fun. I mean we spend a lot of time together as a team and like I said we practice quite a lot and we travel a huge amount.

Monica Attard: Have you in your time there, seen the kind of seamier side of sport in Russia? Cause that is most certainly the case isn't it, there's sort of heavy gambling on the outcomes of games.

Lauren Jackson: Yeah. Yeah.

Monica Attard: There's a fair bit of kind of peripheral crime associated with sport in Russia.

Lauren Jackson: Well I mean I don't really see that much or that side of that. You know like I said, I've definitely had my eyes open to a lot of things that go on outside of basketball in Australia and America and I hope that that never becomes a culture, which it wont in Australia or America. But I honestly, I don't really know much about that side of it and I try to stay out of it, because I think the more that you know about that, the scarier playing it is over there.

Monica Attard: Have you ever had any scary moments over there?

Lauren Jackson: No not really. I mean, like I said I've been very much taken care of and all of us are in a bit of a bubble in terms of you know we know what's expected of us, we go out there and we play and we be good teammates and make each other better and that's pretty much all we have to worry about which is nice.

Monica Attard: The rich in Russia of course aren't immune from the global financial crisis and they're paying you as you said, you know huge amounts of money. Are those kind of figures really a thing of the past now do you think?

Lauren Jackson: Not necessarily in basketball. We definitely felt it over there; one of the teams had a lot of financial trouble paying their players and were almost going to go under in December and then they got picked up by another guy and somehow survived. But I don't know if they're going to back it to next year.
And there's another team now that still hasn't paid any of their players for you know six months.

Monica Attard: Basketball players?

Lauren Jackson: Yeah in our league in Russia. So a couple of teams have been hit pretty hard. We saw a few things. Last year we flew private jets all around Europe and this year we sort of, we went commercial which is fine.

Monica Attard: Presumably first class though Lauren.

Lauren Jackson: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah so I mean we felt it in different ways, but the money's still there are there are a couple of teams that are still paying which is good. And like I said it's great that I've had the opportunity to be a part of that.

Monica Attard: And given all of this, you're now sitting on a contract I believe to return to Russia, to play for Spartak?

Lauren Jackson: Yeah, I'm just waiting to sign it actually. I've had a lot to deal with since I got back, having to sign with Seattle again and just actually coming down from this season, it's been a long year and I've just had some time off which has been good but I'm pretty much ready to go ahead and sign there again.

Monica Attard: So you will sign there again?

Lauren Jackson: Yep.

Monica Attard: And will that be at the same salary level that you've been paid previously? Or will that be less?

Lauren Jackson: It'll be the same.

Monica Attard: Not more?

Lauren Jackson: Not more.

Monica Attard: Not more. Now you're going back to Seattle to your old team, Storm.

Lauren Jackson: Yes that's right.

Monica Attard: Why are you doing that?

Lauren Jackson: You know I've had a lot of time to think about it, but I think you know for me it's a huge opportunity to be able to play in Seattle throughout my career as a professional athlete we don't really have that opportunity very much. So I think my legacy in Seattle and just everything I've been through and I hope to win a few more championships there with the team, I kind of want to leave it in Seattle you know. I'm very lucky to be there and I want to see my career out in America in Seattle.

Monica Attard: So you're presumably then the Moscow thing is really all about just bolstering up your financial future and then your basketball future and prospects really lay in America.

Lauren Jackson: Yeah. Although you know we've won a few championships over in Russia now. And there's nothing like winning and I think as much as it is fun to get paid and you get to reap all those benefits, being able to win championships with great players around you and again be able to live that lifestyle, you don't really get to do that in America and I think for me being in Russia is very important, just so I can have those experiences. And I feel like I've changed so much over the last few years because I've been able to experience it and you sort of start to cherish home a little bit more too. So…

Monica Attard: After all that though, it seems like a very very long way from country New South Wales.

Lauren Jackson: Oh it is, it's a world away - it's probably the furthest away in the world.

Monica Attard: Will you ever be able to settle back into Australia?

Lauren Jackson: Absolutely. I have to. I love it here. I mean it didn't take very long to get settled in at home again and I've been in Albury for the last week and oh I don't want to leave. Yeah I don't think it will take that long at all.

Monica Attard: I mean you're famous of course for your rather aggressive play, you're the first line of defense. Is it that level of aggression in your play that attracts the Americans and indeed the Russians?

Lauren Jackson: I'm not sure actually. I guess I'm a good player and everyone's said that, but I'm not 100 per cent sure what they're attracted to about my game. I think that, you know I love playing and I've been playing for a long time, so I guess in terms of professionalism and everything else, I've never done anything else so…basketball I know how to do and I'll definitely give it 100 per cent every time I step out onto the court.

Monica Attard: And you're not tired of the game?

Lauren Jackson: Nope, not yet.

Monica Attard: You think you're at your peak at the moment?

Lauren Jackson: I think you know I've got a couple of years left in me at my peak, so like I said, I'm just going to go to America and work on it and try and get the best years out of me, the best years are ahead.

Monica Attard: And so you think you are in fact at your peak? You've haven't got further to go?

Lauren Jackson: I think you know every athlete can always work on different things in their game. I think that I can get better definitely, yep.

Monica Attard: And the aggression in your game, is that exhilarating? Is that something that really drives you? Is that exciting?

Lauren Jackson: Yeah, I think so, I love being out there and I often say to myself, 'we're not going to lose this game, we're not going to lose this game' and I think that's something that drives me, is my passion for winning moreso than anything. I love being part of a team and when you win and how it feels and you know being able to share it. That's sort of one of the most amazing things in sport. So I definitely, I think that's one of the things that drives me.

Monica Attard: So do you think you're a team player or are you more an individual player?

Lauren Jackson: I'd like to think I was a team player. I think I am like I've been playing this game my whole life and I love, like I said, I love being part of a team and winning as a team. I've definitely had a lot of individual accolades in my career, but nothing beats you know winning championships and being able to represent, you know your country, your - you know Seattle or Russia. It's great, it's so much fun.

Monica Attard: And when you head back to Russia, your lifestyle I assume will remain pretty much the way it has been there?

Lauren Jackson: Yeah I guess so, I don't think there's going to be many changes. With Shabtai, he's great and he sort of tries to make everything as homely as possible, so I don't envision him changing anything from the way that it's been.

Monica Attard: And how does he feel about you going back to the Seattle Storm?

Lauren Jackson: Well he would have supported me no matter what I did. You know, we had a talk over Christmas, you know and I sort of asked him what he thought and he said you know it's up to you, it's your decision and you've got to be happy with it. So he's supportive either way of what I do and that's the best thing about him, he really does care about what we do off the court and away from Russia.

Monica Attard: And are the accolades and the goals, the reaching out for something is that still what drives you? Even at this age - 27?

Lauren Jackson: Yeah the accolades, but I think moreso the feeling of winning. I think that's the one thing as you get older, you sort of start to appreciate more. That's probably my biggest fear is not being able to feel that exhilaration of winning a championship or winning something with a group of people.

That's something that I don't look forward to about retirement is not being able to feel that. So I think that might be the one thing that's driving me at the moment. I'd love to win, I'd love to be a part of winning teams and I know that I'm in a position where all the teams that I'm in, we're good enough to win.

Monica Attard: And anymore that you still want? Apart from gold, Olympic gold?

Lauren Jackson: Yeah everything. I think when you put so much blood and sweat into what you do and you give so much emotionally, of course you want to feel the benefits which are winning medals, winning championships. Just that high, it's amazing, so every team that I play in, my goal is to win and the WMBA it's an amazing league and for me to be another part of a championship there would just be amazing.

Monica Attard: Now have you thought about coaching in the future?

Lauren Jackson: I mean possibly. I really haven't thought that far ahead.

Monica Attard: Because you are studying as well aren't you? I mean you are looking to your future.

Lauren Jackson: Yeah. I get a little bit of enjoyment out of that. You know it's fun when you're away to sort of be able to sit down and really focus on something else.

Monica Attard: You're studying social work and psychology?

Lauren Jackson: I'm doing developmental psychology at the moment, through Cengage and also I'm doing a real estate course.

Monica Attard: Why a real estate course Lauren?

Lauren Jackson: Well I have a few properties and I guess I'm just really interested in the business and my mum sort of suggested it to me in one of our quiet moments and I thought about it for a minute and I thought it might be a good idea to sort of get that and do something. I mean who knows. I'm not really sure what I'm interested in the future, I don't know what I'm going to do. But I want to keep my options open, so…

Monica Attard: And of course there are reports everywhere that you're studying towards a psychology degree at Lomonosov Moscow State University. Is that true?

Lauren Jackson: Well I'm enrolled there, it's been hard at the moment to sort of get into it - fully into it. Like I said, my options are open and I can go over there and definitely get into it whenever I want to. But at the moment I'm kind of busy.

Monica Attard: Now social work/psychology, what draws you to this area?

Lauren Jackson: Well you know, when I was younger I think that was something that I just…I felt compelled to be a part of. I definitely love working with people, and I want to be able to help people as well. So I think you know initially when I was sort of looking towards my future and what I wanted to do, that was something that definitely bounced out at me, the social work. But like I said I've had such a full on few years and trying to…I did a business management course and got my diploma in that and I've done some other things. It's been difficult to sort of really focus on one thing while everything in basketball's been happening.

Monica Attard: Presumably as well when you're living the lifestyle that you have, it would be very hard in between the shopping and the nightclubbing to actually concentrate on studies.

Lauren Jackson: Absolutely. There is a lot of time for me right now just to get focused and sort of figure out what I want to do, but at the moment I really want to finish off my career on a positive note and play and enjoy it and just have fun you know.

Monica Attard: Now Lauren, many Australians who love watching you play from afar will be wondering if you'll ever play again for a team in the Australian league. Will you?

Lauren Jackson: Yes, definitely. I started my career here and I plan to finish it here. The WMBL has long been a friend of mine in terms of playing and winning and yeah I mean it's where I started so I love it here and I definitely would want to be a part of that before I finish up. But yeah I've got so much more basketball to play, I think that you know every opportunity's there.

Monica Attard: How long will you continue to play do you think?

Lauren Jackson: Well as long as my body holds out I guess. I've been pretty lucky with injuries lately, I've been feeling good and you know since the Olympics I had surgery on my ankle and I've been great since them. So as long as my body holds out, hopefully another 10 years would be nice.

Monica Attard: And the shin problems, they've left you?

Lauren Jackson: Yeah, they've been great. Shins, I haven't had any problems for a few years now with them and yeah I'm really happy. Physically my body's feeling great.

Monica Attard: That was Lauren Jackson who spoke to me from her home town in country New South Wales.

Thanks for listening to Sunday Profile and thanks also to our producer Belinda Sommer.

LooLkita escreveu:

inluvwithrebecca escreveu:

LooLkita escreveu:

Esse vestido ta "meio" apertado nela, não tá não? Parece que o seio vai sair pra fora

Agora nessa foto que o henrique postou a LJ é a mais bonita delas




PS.: MAIS UMA VEZ A LJ NÃO CONSEGUE DEIXAR DE DEMONSTRAR QUE TÁ COM VONTADE DE TIRAR UMA AGUAZINHA DO JOELHO

mas essa é a intenção, ela "demonstrar q os seios" estão pulando pra fora, pois ela nao tem seio, aí quer dar ilusao deq tem
sakou*
asuyhasuahsuashaushasuahsuahsaushaushas
ela ta mto gata, sem noçao
nossa, se ela quiser pode usar o banheiro daqui de casa

LooLkita escreveu:entrevista de volta
nossa, ela é mto tímida(apesar de ja ter posado semi-nua)
ela dá entrevista olhando pra baixo e tals
aushausahsaushashasuas
(a menos q tenha algo mais atraente embaixo, ne? )

Storm's Lauren Jackson returns and talks about a wedding and her return to Seattle

Qdo será q a Lora vai casar? Será q ela quer casar comigo?

Aiin que preguiça de ler :(:(:( hahaha

"ela dá entrevista olhando pra baixo e tals
aushausahsaushashasuas
(a menos q tenha algo mais atraente embaixo, ne? )"


Fiz xixi de tanto rir quando li isso,

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

AnaDT escreveu:

LooLkita escreveu:entrevista de volta
nossa, ela é mto tímida(apesar de ja ter posado semi-nua)
ela dá entrevista olhando pra baixo e tals
aushausahsaushashasuas
(a menos q tenha algo mais atraente embaixo, ne? )

Storm's Lauren Jackson returns and talks about a wedding and her return to Seattle

Qdo será q a Lora vai casar? Será q ela quer casar comigo?

Aiin que preguiça de ler :(:(:( hahaha

"ela dá entrevista olhando pra baixo e tals
aushausahsaushashasuas
(a menos q tenha algo mais atraente embaixo, ne? )"


Fiz xixi de tanto rir quando li isso,

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

LAUREN Jackson has continued her impressive start to the WNBA season, leading Seattle to an 88-71 victory over the previously unbeaten Minnesota Lynx.

LooLkita escreveu:será q a lora foi abduzida?

inluvwithrebecca escreveu:

LooLkita escreveu:será q a lora foi abduzida?

NESSE MOMENTO ELA FOI ENCONTRADA PELO TELETRANSPORTE DO SEU PLANETA NATAL, VOLCANO*, E ESTAVAM TENTANDO RESGATÁ-LA

* -> EXEMPLO DE HABITANTE DE VOLCANO
percebem a semelhança nas orelhas?
ps.: Star Treck (jornada nas estrelas) comanda! *-*

Henrique escreveu:

Henrique escreveu:

LooLkita escreveu:

Henrique escreveu:

eu nao consegui ver a imagem
hmmm