“My initial plan was actually to go overseas and play for [the Townsville Fire] in Australia and was super excited for that opportunity. ” Sheldon explained. “Found out I was worsening an injury during the WNBA season, and had to kind of prioritize my rehab and recovery, so had to miss out on that opportunity. But this opportunity came about right after the season, when I got home after finding out about [the injury], and I was super excited. I obviously was here not too long ago, and on the other side of things as a player, and know a lot of these girls, know a lot of the newcomers as well. So being able to now be on the coaching side of it, and look at the game from a different perspective has been really cool.”
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They also discussed what it has been like working with players that Sheldon had previously played alongside:
“It hasn’t been too difficult. A lot of these girls I’ve played multiple years with, and still are some of my really close friends,” Sheldon said. “If anything, I think that’s just is an advantage accepting this position and being able to, I don’t even want to use the word coach, but guide them through this process. And obviously it’s something I’ve been through before, and have been in their shoes before, but now, you know, being able to watch the game from a different perspective and see things that they’re doing now that maybe I didn’t as a player. And obviously I know the ins and outs of our offense and defense pretty well, and I’m pretty familiar with it, so that that’s an advantage as well. But no, it hasn’t been difficult. It’s been it’s been fun to be honest, and I hope they would say the same.”
Sheldon and Megdal also spoke about making the leap from the college level to the pros, including which aspects of her game translated well and which aspects she’s continuing to develop:
“I think obviously, when you jump from one level to the next, there’s always going to be an adjustment period,” Sheldon said. “For me, my speed is something that translated pretty well to the next level, and my speed and quickness on both sides of the floor, to be honest, mostly defensively. I think that’s the area I thrived in this year, as far as just translating pretty quickly and and being able to adjust guarding full court. We did a lot of that at Dallas, which we did [at Ohio State] as well. So I think that was something that I was able to catch on to pretty quick, and had a lot of great matchups at that level that were that were really fun and that I looked forward to.”
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“But also offensively, … it’s more about confidence when you get to that level and everyone’s fast, but I think my speed and quickness also translated in that aspect. But like I said, you’re always going to have an adjustment period. All the rookies did. And I think it was fun. It was fun, you know, finding our niche and and even competing against the best women in the world. It was definitely an experience,” she continued.
Tune in to hear more from Jacy Sheldon about her new role at Ohio State and her transition to the WNBA. Make sure to subscribe to the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast to keep learning about the WNBA, women’s college basketball, basketball history and much more!
