Charlisse Leger-Walker won the NCAA women’s national championship with UCLA. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Leger-Walker is currently on a four-year, $2 million contract with the Connecticut Sun.<\/a><\/p>\n The point guard told the Herald she took the same route as any other Kiwi.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was growing up, even though it was a dream of mine, it definitely is hard when you don\u2019t have anyone you can see doing that and really being in that space. One of the coolest things for me now is having that responsibility of showing what is possible.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no secret to making the WNBA. It is hard work. It is putting the time in. It is putting yourself in the right situations to try and get the opportunities to play against really good people.<\/p>\n \u201cThe college pathway \u2026 a lot more people are going, and I think there\u2019s more education around it and what could be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Here is Leger-Walker\u2019s practical guide to making the WNBA from New Zealand.<\/p>\n Shirking tall poppy syndrome<\/p>\n New Zealand\u2019s well-known culture of tall poppy syndrome is ideal for keeping us humble, but it can put youngsters off aiming for greatness.<\/p>\n When asked what ingredients make a potential WNBA prospect, Leger-Walker said self-belief is number one.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we definitely limit ourselves and almost have this fear of standing out in New Zealand and wanting to pursue your goals at a really high level. That is the fastest thing to crush your dreams.<\/p>\n \u201cYou really have to believe in yourself and put yourself in situations that day by day you\u2019re making steps towards that goal. But I would say it\u2019s so possible. Anyone from New Zealand can do that. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have the talent to play over here. It\u2019s just putting your head down and really working for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Playing at the highest level available<\/p>\n Standing out in New Zealand is the best way to gain experience against overseas talent, gauge a youngster\u2019s ability and attract the attention of college scouts.<\/p>\n Basketball New Zealand runs age-group teams from Under-15s to Under-19s, which compete at Oceania, Asia or World Cup events. There are three national selection camps each year, held in February, April and October. Twenty-four athletes are selected for each camp, where they are exposed to the national team style of play, physical testing and international preparation.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are in those New Zealand teams, that\u2019s probably the easiest way because you\u2019re getting exposure to international competition,\u201d Leger-Walker said. \u201cA lot of scouts go to those World Cup tournaments, all of that. <\/p>\n \u201cBut you can also make sure you have the highest level of basketball that you\u2019re playing, whether that\u2019s high school, reps, your secondary school nationals.\u201d<\/p>\n Film and advertise yourself<\/p>\n This is where ignoring the tall poppy syndrome comes in handy. When it comes to making waves from the other side of the Pacific, networking is everything.<\/p>\n To get offered a college deal in the United States, scouts will need ample video footage of a youngster succeeding at a high level.<\/p>\n \u201cThat way you can really send it out to coaches, you can connect with people who have connections in the States,\u201d Leger-Walker said. \u201cJust really put yourself out there so that coaches can see that footage of you. Because if they can\u2019t see anything, it\u2019s really hard for them to measure you up to people they\u2019re seeing in America.\u201d<\/p>\n Routine outside of basketball<\/p>\n A laser focus on basketball will undoubtedly garner improvement in any budding WNBA player. However, Leger-Walker highlighted the importance of switching off from the sport to avoid burnout.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing at college for six years, definitely you have to figure out your own routines and stuff like that. Having that balance of not having your whole thing be basketball all the time. <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s one of the most overwhelming things as an athlete; being so locked into your sport 24\/7 that it\u2019s just too much. <\/p>\n \u201cOver my college years and all of that experience, I\u2019ve really been good at finding a routine outside of basketball and just doing other things to help with that balance of being a professional athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n Nathan Limm<\/a> has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast<\/a> and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leger-Walker was the youngest basketball player to represent New Zealand at 16 years, 202 days old, having played…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":914980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[25103,64,63,27586,726,106370,443167,5659,5587,17541,482435,16371,443168,482434,87700,621,3127,85,21506,320,319,34467,8281,5941,24351,3205],"class_list":["post-914979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-association","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-barrier","tag-basketball","tag-broke","tag-charlisse","tag-drafted","tag-from","tag-guide","tag-imaginary","tag-into","tag-legerwalker","tag-legerwalkers","tag-making","tag-national","tag-new","tag-sports","tag-states","tag-the","tag-to","tag-united","tag-when","tag-wnba","tag-womens","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Charlisse Leger-Walker (centre) has provided a guide to joining the likes of Caitlin Clark (left) and Angel Reese (right) in the WNBA. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Charlisse Leger-Walker was the youngest basketball player to represent New Zealand at 16 years, 202 days old, and wants to play for the Tall Ferns at the 2028 Olympics. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n