Chatting with the media for the primary time since being introduced as the most recent member of the Seattle Storm’s possession group, legendary retired participant Sue Hen advised reporters Monday, “This really feels reminiscent to my rookie 12 months in a way.”
Drafted by the Storm with the No. 1 decide of the 2002 WNBA draft, Hen spent 20 years as a participant in Seattle earlier than retiring on the finish of the 2022 season with 4 championships and a report 13 All-Star appearances to her credit score.
Given Hen’s shut ties to the town and the group, making the transfer to workforce possession was no shock. Beforehand, Hen had invested in NWSL franchise NJ/NY Gotham FC in 2022 whereas nonetheless an energetic WNBA participant.
“I really feel prefer it was form of inevitable in lots of methods,” Hen stated. “It was one thing that I’ve all the time needed, one thing that I’ve all the time had behind my head. For no matter purpose, that is simply when it labored out. I’ve solely been retired not even two years, so give me a second, proper?”
Talking on behalf of Power 10 Hoops, the workforce’s possession group, Lisa Brummel echoed that expectation of formalizing Hen’s relationship with the group past her retirement as a participant.
“We have all the time had it behind our thoughts as effectively to welcome Sue to this group, however like she stated, she wanted a minute to dwell her life,” Brummel stated. “She had quite a bit to do previously 12 months and this was a good time to deliver our joint pursuits collectively and have her be part of the group.”
From the Storm and Gotham FC to sports activities media and clothes firm TOGETHXR and A Contact Extra, the manufacturing firm she launched with fiancée Megan Rapinoe, Hen’s off-court investments have centered on development in ladies’s sports activities. She’s passionate concerning the monetary alternative as ladies’s sports activities acquire growing reputation.
“There’s actually no higher enterprise,” Hen stated. “I all the time inform folks, in the event you have been to take away ‘ladies’s sports activities’ or ‘ladies’s basketball’ or ‘ladies’s soccer’ or no matter sport you are speaking about from the identify of the enterprise or the corporate and also you simply appeared on the numbers, the expansion, the trajectory, all of the issues, folks could be leaping at this chance. That is actually how I see it.”
On the identical time, it is clear that becoming a member of Seattle’s possession group is about extra than simply {dollars} and cents for Hen, who had her No. 10 jersey retired by the franchise final summer time and continued to attend video games as a fan frequently.
“I’ve seen every thing there may be to see by way of what this group has completed, a number of the hardships it has been via,” Hen stated. “I have been on that journey. So for me to be part of possession, I get to proceed the journey, so to talk. It comes from a spot of good enterprise, however after all there is a heartstring for me as effectively.”
Hen is the third retired WNBA participant to put money into one in all her former franchises, and people roles have been distinctive to these people and organizations. Lisa Leslie turned the primary former WNBA participant to transition to possession with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2011, adopted by Renee Montgomery with the Atlanta Dream. Montgomery additionally serves as vice chairman of the Dream, giving her a extra energetic administration place.
This early within the course of, Hen and the Storm are nonetheless determining precisely how concerned she might be in serving to run the workforce.
“I am the kind of one that likes to see what is going on to suit, see how issues really feel,” Hen stated. “I haven’t got something preconceived on what sort of proprietor I’ll be. I believe that normally naturally performs itself out. If my enjoying profession tells me something, it is that.
“All you are able to do is present up, deliver the worth that you’ve got, deliver the intangibles that you simply deliver and see the way it all matches. That is the way you create good groups, in order that’s the way it’s all the time performed out for me and I am assuming it’ll be the identical manner on this facet of issues.”
Brummel and the Storm’s present possession welcome no matter Hen feels snug contributing.
“She’s going to have observations and we will have observations and we will determine the place we are able to align to assist develop the enterprise as a result of that is what we’re all about right here,” Brummel stated. “I haven’t got any preconceived notions about the place Sue will select to be concerned or the place we might need her to be concerned, however we have all the time had a great dialogue again to once we first purchased the workforce in 2008, so I’ve full confidence that we’ll be capable to focus on the goings on and discover the precise position.”