The American Basketball League (ABL) was a women's professional league
that saw its inception in 1995. It couldn't have started at a better time
for Carol Ann Shudlick.
"I thought I might be done with basketball," says Shudlick. The six-foot
forward had played professional basketball in Spain for a year and helped
her team to a second-place finish. But homesickness brought her back to the
United States.
"I had a good experience overseas, but I didn't enjoy being so far from
my family." Shudlick came back home to Minnesota and started a career in advertising.
Then she got a call from the ABL.
In 1998, the ABL was forced to close its doors due to bankruptcy -- a dismal
day for women's basketball. However, the WNBA continues to thrive on relentless
support from fans across North America.
Shudlick tells girls who are interested in the career to focus on both
their intellectual and athletic development in college. "Focus on that, because
there will come a time when basketball won't be there." When her playing days
are over, Shudlick plans to pursue a career in marketing.
Dean Oliver works for a company that used to do strategic scouting for
college teams.
With fierce competition for the few professional basketball slots, what
makes a player reach that level? "Physical skills are the easiest thing to
scout because someone who can jump or who has exceeding quickness demonstrates
it all the time," he says.
"You will see it whether you see them once or several times. That is part
of the reason 'athletes' are making it into the NBA even if their basketball
skills aren't refined. Beyond that -- and I definitely looked beyond that
-- I looked primarily for players who were outstanding in one basketball skill,"
says Oliver.
"Could they dribble, shoot from the outside or block shots exceedingly
well? Specialists often don't get noticed and turn out to be solid contributors
to good teams, if they know that they are specialists.
"The great players are usually fairly obvious, having a combination of
natural ability and refined basketball discipline. Another class of players
are those that score a lot for poor teams. These [players] often get too much
credit, and I looked for things in these players that would show whether they
were to blame for the team's poor record or whether the rest of the players
brought things down."
"Young people need to keep in mind that there are other avenues to get
there aside from going right from a university to the NBA," says Matt Akler,
spokesperson for the Toronto Raptors.
"A lot of people play in the European leagues, which pay fairly well. Another
route is to play for the CBA [Continental Basketball Association], which is
the developmental league of the NBA.
"The CBA is one of the places that NBA teams will scout and look for players
to fill in if someone is injured or to invite people to training camp in the
next year."
Head coach Steve Knight says anyone considering the career must have a
clear understanding of what it takes to be a successful professional player.
"Obviously, you must be quite talented in the sport, but that's just the
beginning," he says. "You must be dedicated, know how to handle
the media, fans, those so-called friends who try to involve themselves in
your life because of who you are, finances and many other things. You must
be a mature, well-rounded individual in order to have success over a long
period of time."