Streetball and Star Wars: Steph Reid’s offseason of self-care
The star guard wanted to get out of her comfort zone. Ahead of a move to European powerhouse Sopron, an out of the ordinary offseason has Reid looking right at home in Europe.
Credit: FIBA EuroCup Women
“Can you actually hoop?”
This was the simple question posed to Steph Reid when she pulled up at Venice Beach. She hadn’t intended on playing pickup at arguably the world’s most iconic streetball court, but as she was walking to Santa Monica on a picture-perfect Los Angeles day, the urge was too overpowering to resist.
And to be fair, her new teammate could be forgiven for asking the question. After all, he didn’t know Reid was a WNBL champion, a national representative, or one of the best guards in Australian basketball. All he saw was a 5’5 girl with a slick ponytail in a black activewear set, surrounded by a group of guys.
So as Reid pondered the question, she didn’t want to seem cocky. She shrugged, Yeah, I’m alright. But really? Not only did she already know she could, in fact, hoop, but she also knew she was definitely better than the guy standing next to her. And the rest of the guys were all about to find that out too.
“Being a girl, they always give you the worst matchup, which is always the biggest mistake. And I got really lucky with a terrible matchup for the first game, and unfortunately, he got exposed on social media.”
A short mixtape on her Instagram eventually highlighted just how badly her defender was overmatched. She burned him penetrating left and right, from the midrange, and on the step back. As the game progressed, it was quickly clear none of his teammates wanted to go near her. It was lucky for them too, because that was before she broke his ankles.
“No one was willing to switch, so clearly he got really unlucky for the day,” she laughs. “I guess playing on Venice was always a bucket list thing, I’ve seen it in movies, and seen on social media, and I was like, I want to play on the beach. I love pickup basketball, so it all kinda fell into line in one day, so I was like, I guess that’ll do.”
Naturally, the clip blew up on social media. Former NBA star Isaiah Thomas was one of many taking note in the comments, where she was also invited to pull up at any of the famous parks in New York. She hadn’t necessarily planned on becoming queen of the court that afternoon, but good things tend to happen when Reid steps outside of her comfort zone.
In fact, it’s that desire to push herself beyond what’s comfortable that not only prompted a move away from the WNBL, but the chance to dominate NBL scrimmages, and an opportunity to fulfil a lifelong bucket list item before moving overseas.
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