San Antonio Spurs assistant coach, Becky Hammon, shared her story to the Behrend community in the Junker Center Wednesday evening.

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Hammon shared with students the various challenges she has faced in her personal and professional life, from playing for Colorado State in a low profile conference, to eventually becoming an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs. Becky also discussed her personal motto, “TODAY” in relation to the challenges she has faced and encouraged Behrend students to follow this motto to achieve their dreams.

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Hammon is currently an assistant coach for the Spurs under Gregg Popovich. The youngest of three, she grew up with two older brothers and two very supportive and involved parents in small town South Dakota. She played her college ball at Colorado State University, where she led her team to the NCAA Tournament, set university scoring, assist, and steals records, became an All-American, and was voted the Colorado Sportswoman of the year. She was signed by the New York Liberty after being undrafted, where she became a key player and a fan favorite.

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After sustaining a knee injury in 2007, Becky was traded to the Silver Stars (now the San Antonio Stars) and subsequently was runner-up for WNBA MVP in 2007 and in the top five the next year in MVP voting. She is a member of the 3000/800 (3000 points and 800 assists), a seven-time WNBA All-Star, a bronze medalist and two-time olympian for the Russian team, a Euro-League All-Star and MVP, and was named one of the 15 best WNBA Players of All Time.

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After a torn ACL sidelined her for the remainder of the 2013 WNBA season, she started attending Spurs’ practices. Becky retired from the WNBA in 2014 to pursue a full-time coaching job. She eventually became the Spurs’ Summer League head coach, where she won a championship in July 2015.  Now she can say that she is the first ever female coach in NBA history and in the history of the four major sports.

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Our own Editor-in-Chief, Julia Guerrein, sat down with Hammon prior to her speech. Hammon was asked about her career, the Spurs organization, and how she feels about being the first female coach in the four major sports. What Becky treasured most about her career was the relationships she had made in San Antonio and New York. Of course, she enjoyed her great success in the Olympics and WNBA Finals, but she enjoyed being a role model and an impactful athlete even more. She feels that the Spurs organization is one of the best in the business due to their values of trust, integrity, and truthfulness, which are their three primary pillars of business, according to Hammon. Lastly she described her experience of being the first female coach in pro sports history. Becky pointed out that she has always been sort of a “player coach,” so the transition and responsibilities of the job have not overwhelmed her. In regards to her favorite part of the position, she said, “To me that’s probably the best part about the job, you get to impact other people.”

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As I mentioned earlier, Becky has a motto that she lives by and that she encouraged Behrend students to follow. That motto is the acronym “TODAY,” which stands for Theology, Opportunity, Daring, Affect, and Yours. She described theology as what you believe about yourself and what you can achieve.

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Hammon had the goal in mind of being an Olympian, and through endless hard work and dedication, she did it in 2008 and, as mentioned, became a bronze medalist. For opportunity, she used the analogy of seeds pressing through manure and soil to grow, become rooted, and reach their full potential. Opportunities that are taken advantage of allow for seeds (people) to grow and reach their potential, no matter where they come from or what they are trying to do. “D” stands for “Daring.” She described comfortability as a farce to success. Her and her brothers, as she said, would jump in the water if someone exclaimed “Shark!” It is at this point in her speech that she said, “Risk a little more than what feels safe and comfortable...” and opportunities for success will present themselves. Just like a pebble has the greatest ripple effect on the water of a lake, so do individuals who affect the ones closest to them when they make decisions. This is the analogy Becky used to describe how individuals affect one another. The “Y” stood for “Yours.” “TODAY” is your own and no one else's. As Becky said toward the conclusion of her speech, “You are your own author. You write your own story.”

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It was truly inspiring to see a historic sports figure like Hammon share with students her triumphant story and how she has overcome so many hardships and setbacks in her life.