USA - Working her way back to U(SA)

To say that Tamika Catchings is one of the hardest working basketball players on the planet would be an understatement. It's also a statement that people would have a hard time arguing against. This girl has never done anything less than 100 percent in her life. If she could, she'd figure out a way to give more than 100 percent with everything she does. Which at the moment is rehabilitation from an Achilles tendon tear suffered on Sept. 3, 2007, days before the USA Basketball Women's National Team was scheduled to start training for the FIBA Americas Championship.

Posting playoff averages of 15.8 ppg. and 11.8 rpg. before going down against Detroit in the Eastern Conference Finals, Catchings had surgery to repair the Achilles tendon on Sept. 5 and has been working her way back to the basketball court ever since.

Despite keeping busy with rehab, appearances and her foundation, Catchings found it difficult to think about her USA teammates heading to Chile to earn its Olympic berth without her. Especially with her hopes of a second Olympics in doubt.

Involved in USA Basketball since the summer between her junior and senior seasons at Duncanville High School, Catchings has become a stalwart at the national team level ever since her first practice with the 2002 USA National Team. Her ascent to the USA National Team is well documented: a silver medal at the 1996 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, gold in overtime against Australia (and Lauren Jackson) at the 1997 FIBA U19 World Championship and a gold medal at the 1998 R. William Jones Cup.

She won a NCAA title at Tennessee, garnered every honor imaginable for a college player but then tore her ACL during her senior year, missing the latter half of the season. Despite knowing Catchings wouldn't be available to play for the 2001 season due to rehab, the Indiana Fever selected her as the No. 3 pick that year.

Fast forward to the spring of 2002. The USA National Team was training for the ‘02 Worlds. With the core of the team already set, USA Basketball brought in several players throughout its spring training who were hoping for a chance to don the red, white and blue at the FIBA World Championship in China later that year. Then-USA head coach Van Chancellor wasn't convinced about Catchings. She hadn't played in over a year and had never played in the pro ranks but the USA Senior National Team Committee, the group charged with selecting the team, insisted Catchings should at least be given a look.

On the first play Catchings did what she always does: dove and scrapped for a loose ball like it was a championship game and not simply a practice drill. Chancellor turned and in his legendary Southern drawl told whoever was in earshot, "I can tell you right now, this girl has got to be on this team."

Catchings went on to start in all nine of the 2002 USA World Championship Team's games as the squad captured the gold medal in China. She started on the 2004 gold medal winning U.S. Olympic Team in Athens and in 2006 she was again in the starting line-up for the USA squad at the Worlds. It seemed to be a no-brainer that Catchings would again return to the starting spot at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. But it's not going to be easy for Catch this time around.

Working out several hours a day, Catchings has a few carrots she's using as motivation to return to the court better than ever this season. One is simply the competitor's drive in her to be at top form in order to help the Indiana Fever become a WNBA champion. The other, bigger carrot, is to make sure she's ready when USA Basketball comes calling for her to don No. 10 and help the stars and stripes capture its fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal.

USABasketball.com caught up with Catchings to find out what she's been up to these days. We talked about rehab, her foundation, the USA National Team and several other topics, including how hard she's been working to get back to U(SA).

How is rehab going for you?
Everything's been going really good. They said I'm about a month and a half, two months out as far as getting out on the court and doing stuff like that. I'm actually on the court now taking jump shots, I can do defense, I'm running in the pool for 30 minutes every other day, lifting weights and all that stuff. I'm getting there, my body feels great. My shot feels good, it's now just a matter of getting to that point where I can start running and doing a lot of different things on the court. In my shooing drills I'm doing some cutting and back pedaling and stuff like that. The more normal things I can do, the quicker I will heal. So I've been trying to do a lot of different things.

Are you chomping at the bit to get out and go full-court basketball again?
Oh yes! That's been since at least four or five months ago. When they say I can get on the court, believe me, I'll be there! The doctor was a little scared to even let me on the court.

He said, "when we let you out on the court it's not like you can go 100 miles per hour. You still have to take it really slow, there's still a lot of things you can't do."

I was like, "yeah, yeah. I know."

He put a little scare in me. He told me that where I was at that point, probably in the middle of January, if I were to re-injure it or re-tear it, he told me that nobody's really ever come back after that. I was like, "oh! Now that you tell me that ..."

I knew that I had to make sure to listen to him on that one.

What's your target date to be back out on the court?
I'm hoping to be back on the court by training camp at the beginning of the season. I think that at the beginning, getting back on the court, being able to run, that's going to be the toughest thing conditioning-wise. Right now I can do the ball handling and all the other basketball stuff, but it's more about when you add speed. What's it going to be like? I know I'm going to get tired a lot faster, it'll effect my shot a little bit. But it's all part of the healing process.

You've gone through other major injuries in the past, does that help your mind-set in terms of what you have to do to rehab this injury?
Most definitely. The first time I got hurt I wasn't one of those people who were like ‘oh woe is me!' and stuff like that. But going through that process was a long journey. It wasn't like an overnight thing. Going through that has definitely allowed me to go through this much better. Obviously my faith is really strong and that's helped. And then there are all the people who are around me who I talk to on a regular basis and they have really helped me get through this.

When you got injured, did you think about this summer's Olympics and whether you'd be healed and hopefully compete in your second Olympics?
I did. Especially since coming back and being a part of the 2008 Olympics is something that I really want to do. I think it's even tougher because of all the training sessions that are going on that I'm missing. I was looking forward to going on the trip (last fall), looking forward to playing with everyone, looking forward to going through the whole process again as far as who's going to be on it this year. For me it was kind of like, ‘man, now I'm not going to be a part of that' because I was really looking forward to it.

Was it difficult to follow the team's progress last fall, knowing you couldn't be there?
Oh yeah, it was hard knowing I couldn't be there. I got some emails, people would email me and let me know what's going on. I really wanted to be there. Tina, Candace, I kept in contact with them. They would let me know what was going on, who played well, stuff like that. In a way I was kind of there, through them, knowing what was going on.

Since you were forced to remain in the States during the off-season to rehab, were you able to focus on your camps some more?
Probably the biggest thing I've done with the foundation is being able to start earlier in the planning process. Most of the time I'm overseas so we don't really start planning stuff on a larger scale, we can't really do that too much because I've been gone, but this year we got a lot of time together. That will definitely help going forward with our foundation.

Have you been following the college game this year?
I've been doing a lot of traveling, a lot of speaking engagements, appearances and stuff. Because of moving around as much as I have been I've been able to follow it a little bit, but it's not nearly as much as I should have been. But I'll be in Tampa when Tennessee wins the whole thing!

There's a player at UConn, Maya Moore, and there's been a lot of people comparing her game to yours. Do you have any thoughts on that?
I actually got a chance to meet Maya at the Tournament of Champions in Phoenix. I remember everybody talking about how good of a player she was. I watched her I think in one game and she is, she's a great player. We have a lot of similarities, including our knee pads (laughs).

The young players today, even those in college now don't really know what it's like to not have the WNBA around. How nice is it for you to know you're now a role model for the dreams of young girls?
Yeah, it's good to see these young players and see that they now have something to dream about. I'm not that old, but when I was young I didn't have female athletes to look up to. I had the ‘96 Olympic Team, but until that came along men were my role models. I wanted to play with the men, I wanted to be in the NBA, I wanted to do the things alongside them. Now to see these young girls coming up who have a dream of playing in the WNBA. Also, with the Olympics they have something else to shoot for. That's awesome.

In addition to keeping busy with speaking engagements this winter, you also went to the NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans. What did you do there?
Everything! I think we did every appearance imaginable. But for me, the thing I really enjoy about going to All-Star Weekend is the networking. You get to meet a lot of people who you never would have the opportunity to meet if you weren't there. This year, probably the best part for me, was with the WNBA/NBA Cares. They have a Care Day where we all go out and do different things throughout the city. We did an event with the Starkey Hearing Foundation. It was good for me because I have a hearing problem. They donated like 100 pairs of hearing aids to kids of families who couldn't afford them. It was cool to go out and be a part of that. For me, to be able to know what these kids are going through, to be able to talk to them about my experiences was pretty cool.

What's on your plate over the next couple of months?
I'm going to Tampa for the Final Four as a fan and to do some appearances. I'm going to be a coach at the Nike High School All-American Game. Me and Lindsay (Harding) squaring off against each other! I'm really looking forward to being back around the game. I went to the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis for the first round games before I had to head out of town. In the next few weeks I'll have rehab every day, trying to get my family time in. I'm going out to LA for the Women's Sports Foundation awards, foundation meetings, that's about it. Later this month I'm going to Starkey to get my hearing tested, get back into wearing my hearing aids.

How long has it been since you've worn a hearing aid?
Ummm ... since I've worn both of them? (Laughs) I think like 2001, 2002 maybe. I'm excited to get them.

What would it mean for you to be back on the court, fully rehabbed and named to the 2008 Olympic Team?
Shoot. I don't even know if I could describe how I would feel. I think the biggest thing is just being able to come back from all I've come back from. All the people who've supported me along the way. Everybody's been telling me not to worry, go out there and do what you have to do, try to get back for the WNBA season, try to get back for the Olympics. Everybody knows my goals and I think that reaching that goal, trying to come back ... my thing is that I don't just want to be on the court. I don't want to get back and able to just play. I want to be on the court doing what I used to do. To be able to get to that point, to get back for the WNBA season, to be able to get back and play in the Olympics and win another gold medal, that's like ... it's not even something you can put into words until it happens. Even then I probably won't be able to.

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