My Draft Day Experience-Amy Jasechke

The days leading up to Monday, April 11th, aka Draft day, were full of anxiety for me. It all began with the simple decision of if I was even going to watch it or not. I felt like when I told people that I was considering not watching they thought I was crazy and most of them didn�t hold back expressing those feelings. They would immediately go into persuasion mode, �you are only going to have one opportunity in your lifetime to watch yourself get drafted, and that�s one more opportunity than most people get in a lifetime.� They would ask me what my reservations about watching the draft were and try and counteract those points. I thought about it for awhile and although everything they were saying had some truth, what finally helped me make the decision to watch it was I knew I had worked so hard to get to the point where being drafted became a real possibility and I deserved to see that moment transpire.

On draft day, I purposefully planned to make it a busy day like any normal day would have been. I scheduled my basketball workout and conditioning workouts before 2 pm (when the drafted started) that way, I would have something to take my mind off of how nervous I was for the event. In fact, 30 minutes before the draft started I was just exiting my last workout in the Northwestern University weight room. I rushed home, took a shower and sat down right at 2pm as the Draft began.

I watched the draft from my family room with my parents. I am pretty sure as soon as the draft started we all took a deep breath and didn�t exhale till my name was called which was approximately around two hours later. In hindsight I think I lost about three years off my life in those two hours. With each and every name that was called I would get more and more nervous, to the point where someone could have cut the tension in the room with a knife. You start doubting different things like if your name is ever going to get called, etc. As soon as I started thinking about getting up and walking out of the room to cool down for a minute, my name was announced!

Huge, huge exhale and a big feeling of relief swept over me. A split second later my phone started going crazy with friends and family texting me congratulations, which would continue into the night. My parents immediately gave their congratulations accompanied by big hugs. When my mom said �I cannot believe it is the Chicago Sky, that�s so perfect�� it finally hit me that OMG IT IS THE CHICAGO SKY!!!! I think the reason it took a few seconds to have it sink in that it was my hometown team was that the whole time leading up to this point I just wanted to my dream to come true by getting drafted by any WNBA team.

The fact that it was the Sky�� I have yet to find the right words to respond to people asking me �what is it like to be picked by your hometown team?� Responses like �it is awesome, remarkable, a dream come true� or any similar clich� just don�t do justice for how I feel as someone who has been a Chicago girl for all 21 years of my life (including my college years) who has been given the chance to try out for the Chicago team. I have been cheering for Chicago sports teams since I was born and now I have the opportunity to compete on one and represent the area I grew up in.