Celebrating the Dallas Wings The buzz
around women's basketball is rig
high after the college Final Fo,
and now it's time for
professionals to follow through.
The new WNBA season tips off
tonight and the Wings have a buh
of new faces this year with ther
first game tomorrow at noon.
I am now joined by Ladondra Wil,
VP of Social Responsibility
with the Dallas Wings.
Hey, Ladondra.
Hi, Megan. Thank you so much
for having us. We're excited.
I'm so excited that you're here.
So First off, why don't we
talk about this new season.
There's been a lot of talk in
the last few days about teams,
rosters, where you guys at?
How you feeling?
Well, we're excited.
This is our 8th year here
in the Metroplex and it's
new beginnings for us.
It is a fairly new roster,
but exciting things coming.
We have a new head coach and gu,
we're ready to bring a
championship to the DFW.
I was just going to ask, I mean,
what are your expectations for
the season? How are you feeling?
We're going all the way.
We left last season on a high.
We made it to playoff and we're excited.
I mean, we're building off of that momentum.
And I'm telling you it's a game to see.
It's a season to be at.
And I think especially with what
happened at the Final Four,
NCAA back in April, March Ish.
It was right here in Dallas,
which is really exciting and I
think it was the most watched.
Final Four for for women's,
college basketball.
And so people are having this ry
renewed excitement around women's sports,
specifically basketball. I mean,
how are you guys capitalizing on that?
Not just on the TV,
but if someone wants to come to the game?
I mean, what is that like?
Absolutely. Well, we play at
College Park on the campus of U.
It is an arena that is just filled with
excitement when the fans are th.
I mean, it gives the players the
excitement that they need to get on that
court and get with that, get that win.
And so we invite everyone to
come help us pack the park.
Let's pack the park, let's pack the park.
And you can see right there,
obviously there's some amazing players.
I know Diana Taurasi,
Brittany Greiner are going to be coming
here within the next few weeks as well.
Can you tell us a little bit abt
some of the expectations you have for
the upcoming season and some of those
specific games that you guys ha?
Yeah. Well, again,
we have an exciting new roster,
so people will get to see how's Maddie doing.
Oh, she's great. She's great.
Everyone is excited about Maddi,
about our first round draft pic.
So again, you got to come out and see.
Them. But more importantly,
while we're doing amazing on the court,
we're also out in the community.
Tell us about that wrapping up to the season.
We've had players that stayed
here in market this season and
we've been out in the community.
We were just out at elementary
school with Diamond Deshields.
We had an eyeglass clinic.
So we're not only putting
in the work on the court,
but we're in the community becae
we care about the DFW community.
And can you talk a little bit at
some of the events that you guys have?
I know Pride Month starts in
a week or so and you guys are
doing something big for that.
Absolutely. Well, in June,
as you already mentioned,
it's an exciting month.
We're going to welcome home BG.
Obviously everyone is excited to
see her here and back in Dallas.
So you'll see that we
also have the Pride game.
We have our June Teeth game on June the 17th.
So something for everyone and ty
or tomorrow we'll have our tip .
$10 only tickets start at $10.0,
so everyone can help us pack that park.
Oh, we're packing the park? Absolutely.
And we should also clarify, you say BG,
Brittany Greiner is obviously cg
off of such a wild situation tht
involved international relation.
I mean, do you know how she's doing and
have you been able to kind of been in,
been in contact with Phoenix?
Well, we've
worked with their team obviousld
everyone has been so supportivef
Brittany Griner while she's been away.
Our players have been very.
Very vocal of their support,
the entire WNBA, we're a family,
so we're excited to welcome her here.
Texas is her home.
So we have to do it big here.
We have to do it bigger.
Everything is bigger in Texas.
Yes, it is. I also kind of
want to expand this out,
if you'll go with me on this, Lazandra,
because I feel like women's spos
is is sometimes overlooked, rig?
And I think especially being that the
Dallas Wings are the only womens
professional team here in the
Dallas Fort Worth region, I mea.
Expanding that right,
making the sport grow,
especially when it comes to the
WNBA where we are seeing some
roster cuts or maybe not as much
funding as the men make it.
How do you see that and how do
you think we can grow the sport?
Well, particularly the Dallas
Wings is important to us.
So we founded our foundation,
the Dallas Wings Community Foundation,
March 2021 to do just that,
to grow the game.
One of our largest pillars of
women and girls is to inspire
young girls and to empower wome.
We are the only professional
women's sports team in Texas,
so who better to do that,
to own the women's space?
To, again,
even if you're not inspired by sports,
we want to empower our women as
frankly A marginalized communit,
absolutely, especially
in the sports world.
Thank you so much, Ladondra.
Thanks for having us.
Are you excited? I'm
so excited. I'm excited.
So you're going to be there andm
excited they're going to be the.
Oh, yes, I will be there as wel.
The Dallas Wings regular season
kicks off right here tomorrow at
noon at the College Park Center.
And for ticket information,
you can log on to wnba.com.