Howcoaches,players balance juggling being a mom in the WNBA

Aug. 6—Sun point guard Natisha Hiedeman launched a Nerf football into the air, while White's four sons, ages 11 through 9, raced to see who'd catch it first. Each time Hiedeman threw it, the boys stared down the football trying to get to it before the other.

While White and her family are still relatively new to living in Connecticut full-time, knowing her team embraces her kids and makes them feel as welcomed as they did with her, makes balancing working in the WNBA and motherhood that much easier — especially during the weeks when her sons aren't with her.

"The emotional part of being away is hard," White said. "That's why it's so important that I'm surrounded by people that I love, you know, my staff and a team that I enjoy. ... They fill me up because they're competitive and because they love the game and because they're passionate about what they do. And you know, for me, that gives me energy. That gives me joy that helps make it hurt a little less being gone."

Whether it's White's four boys, DeWanna Bonner's twin daughters or even raising newborns like former UConn women's basketball stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, the juggling act of working in the WNBA while also being a mom is common within the league. While motherhood and parenting look different for everyone, having to add on the constant travel and physical demands of being a professional basketball player can make it that much harder.

Yet, it's because of their kids, and their vast support systems off the court, that these players and coaches feel motivated to bring their best out on the court each and every day.

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"I'm more focused. I think I want it more (because of them)," Bonner said. "It's pretty cool to look up and see your two kids sitting there going crazy and cheering for you. It makes you go a little bit harder. Everything I do is for them."

After the Sun's game against Minnesota on Tuesday, two of White's sons were seen in the hallway outside Mohegan Sun Arena's press room having a sword fight with orange boom sticks they got during the game. One of them was wearing a kids' size Bonner jersey.

Women's basketball is everything to White and her family. Her sons love the sport just as much as she does. One of her favorite moments was when she took her oldest son, Landon, to his first NBA game to see the Pacers while she was coaching the WNBA's Fever (2011-2014).

During the game, he looked up at her and said, 'Mommy, boys play basketball too?'

White's spent the past 20 years holding various coaching roles within both the professional and collegiate world of women's basketball. She got into coaching after a standout career at Purdue and playing in the WNBA during the early 2000s.

So, it wasn't a total shock her boys fell in love with the sport just like she did. They watch all her games, enjoy going over film and attending practices and even play as Sun players in NBA 2k.

During home games at Mohegan Sun, her sons can often be spotted sitting a few rows up behind the team's bench. When they join her on road trips, White makes it a priority to fit in family time.

During the team's road trip to New York in late May, the family took the train down from Connecticut to New York together and visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.

"The thing that I've had to learn from being a young mother, the first time I was a head coach in this league to now is that you know, we always talk to players about being where your feet are, and being present," White said. "Like for me to be present with them (her kids), I gotta be present. I can't be distracted. I need to manage my time enough to where I can have my work time and I can have my time where I'm completely present for them. And, you know, there's no balance. It's just finding the right flow."

But perhaps one of her favorite things about having her sons by her side during the season is that they get to watch passionate and talented women put in the hard work to be successful.

"I love the fact that my kids get to be around strong women, that they get to understand what it means to champion women," White said. "That they can build relationships with these women and continue to watch them grow. It shows them what you have to do to be really good and to be great at the things that you love."

In Connecticut, one such woman White's boys look up to is Bonner.

Bonner is a fellow mom and has twin 6-year-old daughters, Cali and Demi.

The two also come to Sun games and sit a few rows up behind the bench. Bonner always makes sure to wave hi to them as she comes out of the tunnel for pregame warm-ups — sometimes walking up into the stands to check in on them before the game.

To Bonner, it's refreshing that her girls don't care about what happens on the court every night or how many points she scores each game. They just want to spend time with her.

"It's just so fun because they have absolutely no idea about what's going on," she said. "So, when I get off that court and just get to be a mom, it's the best."

Bonner said having kids has made her a more focused player. Former Husky and current Minnesota Lynx star Collier agrees.

Collier welcomed her first child, daughter Mila, in May 2022.

"It like changed my life, you know, obviously, it just impacts every part of who I am," Collier said. "I feel like because even (when) working out, like I have less time than I did before, but I feel more focused in that time because I know I'm separating my life out, like, 'I need to get this done so I can get home or whatever it may be.'

"And having her at the games is awesome. And having her around the team, it's like she has 10 or 11 other aunts and people who love her."

When Collier first found out she was pregnant, she wasn't quite sure how much she'd play in the 2022 WNBA season. But with longtime Lynx star Sylvia Fowles retiring after that season, Collier threw herself into rehab and recovering so she could finish the season alongside Fowles.

The recovery was hard. She had to balance getting back in shape while caring for a newborn. That meant finding time during her workouts and training to step aside and breastfeed Mila and pump.

Collier played Minnesota's final four games that year, averaging 22.7 minutes after delivering Mila three months prior.

A huge part of why the former Husky was able to make it work was because of her family. Collier's mom came and lived with her and her fiance Alex Bazzell last season to help. This year, Collier's dad is stepping in to help.

"I wouldn't be able to do this without them," Collier said.

For most moms in the WNBA, that balancing act only works because of vast support systems made of up close family, friends and spouses.

Stewart, who is expecting her second child in October, credits her wife Marta Xargay for helping take care of almost 2-year-old Ruby while she's working during the season.

"Sometimes it can get a little bit crazy, but Marta really helps me handle it all," Stewart said. "(She) knows that you know, when I'm at work when I'm doing things for the team, that's my primary focus. And then when I come home, you know, being with Marta and Ruby and making sure that her experience is just as good as mine."

While WNBA does offer support to moms, including a childcare stipend, guaranteed salary while on maternity leave, and an extra hotel room during road trips, it can still be hard to escape the pain that comes with being away so much throughout the season.

Bonner said as her kids get older and she misses more of their lives because of her career, it's hard not to think about retirement in order to spend more time with them. She said being gone during the winter months while she's playing overseas is the hardest part.

"I think of them overseas, you know, now that they're in kindergarten," she said. "They had their first school year and (I) had a little bit of mommy guilt because you miss out on so much you know. So now that they're in school I feel like they need me a little bit more, so overseas is on the back burner."

But no matter how hard it gets, these moms know they're setting an example for not only their own kids, but for all the kids, and moms, that watch them play.

"I have a lot of young kids looking up to me, but now I have Ruby, you know, who's like literally looking up to every, every single thing that I do," Stewart said. "I realize that no matter what I do with my platform, I have the ability to kind of make an impact so that as she gets older, she can do whatever she wants."