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It was one of those things where it seemed possible. SJ: Just like being young, I was outside, and I’d think to myself, "If I make this shot, I’m going to play at Duke" or "If I make this shot, I’m going to the WNBA." Before ’97, women didn’t have another place to go. OMC: When did you realize that basketball was something you could do as a profession?
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SJ: (laughs) We won’t discuss those feelings about practice. OMC: Do you have the same feelings on practice that Iverson did? That ended up being one of my patented moves that I used from high school on through college. I just remember looking it up and sitting there rewinding it over and over and over, just watching it and getting it down pat. That was back when AOL was your Internet provider, and it was like dial-up. I remember distinctively watching this commercial he did with Reebok that broke down his hesitation crossover, and I was obsessed with it. I tried to emulate some of his moves, because he was an undersized guard, and he was still able to shake-and-bake anybody.
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A guy that I looked up to was Allen Iverson. SJ: The WNBA started in 1997, so that was pretty huge, watching the Houston Comets win back-to-back championships four times with Sheryl Swoopes and Cynthia Cooper. OMC: Who were your basketball idols growing up? And now I’m here, two years in as a Globetrotter. Then I played overseas in Italy and Poland, so basketball has taken me all around the world. I went through school with that – went to college at Texas State University – and played in the WNBA for a short time in 2008. I just realized it was something I loved to do. Sweet J: I started playing basketball when I was 10 years old, just in the neighborhood with the other kids. : When did you first get into basketball? I was, however, able to ask some one-on-one questions with Ekworomadu, about how she became a Globetrotter, how Allen Iverson impacted her easy basketball days and if she ever feels bad about routinely pummeling the Washington Generals pretty much every night (spoiler alert: nope!). Considering I hadn’t shot a basketball since probably middle school, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity fast enough. She said she immediately fell in love with the game.When I arrived at the BMO Harris Bradley Center to interview Harlem Globetrotter Joyce "Sweet J" Ekworomadu – the 12th female player in the 89-year history of arguably the world’s most famous basketball team – in advance of their traditional New Year’s Eve game at the BC, I was asked if I wanted to play a game of horse with Sweet J. “Now it feels just like a shot, like a little bit of an extension from a three-point shot but from half court,” she said of hitting the four-point shot.Īll of this has happened after Ekworomadu and her friend went outside after school in her Irving, Texas, neighborhood at age 10 and played basketball with the boys. She can even tell when she is “off” and “on” her game. She frequently practices spinning a basketball, and hits the gym to work out in downtime so her skills and body are up to par. Now she is consistently able to hit the famed four-point shot from 35 feet out. A lot of practice has gone into her Globetrotter career. It was not as simple as throwing on the red, white, and blue of the Globetrotters to face the opponents. And it’s a fun gig to do as Ekworomadu gets to go out and play basketball - something she has done since she was 10-years-old - and entertain, which matches her personality. Just like any other job, Ekworomadu said, the players have to be mentally prepared to entertain every day. On Christmas morning, she flew out to join her Globetrotters teammates for yet another world tour. Seeing other lifestyles is something Ekworomadu will be doing for the next four to five months. “I would love if every American would go overseas to see another lifestyle that others live in,” she said. “Just growing up, we didn’t have everything and it humbles you and gives you that motivation to say, ‘I want more for myself,’” she said.Įkworomadu hopes to motivate others to do the same through her work with the Globetrotters and her own advocacy, adding we are blessed to have what we have in America. But every time she goes back to Nigeria to visit family or play for the national team, she is humbled by what she has. The 5-foot-10 guard is accustomed to her American culture and the United States is her home. “The only thing different with being a Globetrotter is that we are literally in another time zone every day,” Ekworomadu said.