the other being New York native Aubrey Griffin<\/a> \u2014 at 1 a.m.<\/p>\nShe began 2026 WNBA training camp with the Los Angeles Sparks, but the 33-year-old had been cut by the team for the second consecutive year.<\/p>\n
The tough luck almost led her to stop chasing her WNBA dreams. But a conversation with her mother changed her mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a bit overwhelmed. It was a tough week,\u201d Vanloo said after flirting with a triple-double. \u201cI\u2019m a little bit overwhelmed, and I\u2019m just trying to take it all in. That\u2019s it, just being raised, trying to stay positive, trying to stay confident. I had a lot of conversations with my family, my close people, I really wanted to give up and go home, because I was exhausted from a long season overseas and from giving everything I had in training camp [in LA]. And so I was just like, \u2018am I gonna give up or no?\u2019 Like, do I need some time at home to just reset? But then I said, \u2018No.\u2019 My mom said, also, you\u2019re not a quitter. So I didn\u2019t do it, and I\u2019m super thankful for this organization. It\u2019s like my anxiety just went away, and I just feel super free, liberated. It feels good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The talk occurred after Vanloo\u2019s agent told her the Liberty would be interested in signing her.<\/p>\n
The Belgian stayed ready by hooping at courts on the famous Venice Beach.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s my favorite place to be,\u201d she said. \u201cI also have a penny skateboard, and I just go there and, like, just be kid again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, Vanloo looked ready.<\/p>\n
She knocked down her first shot of the night after coming off the bench \u2014 a 26-foot three-pointer assisted by French rookie Pauline Astier.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first shot I made was like a full relief, because I just really came off with just some \u2014 I don\u2019t know. It was just I couldn\u2019t be myself before that. And I\u2019m an emotional player. Everybody knows that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Vanloo credited new Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco for instilling confidence in her throughout the process. She said she felt like \u201d I played under him for longer than maybe a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new system the coach is implementing also made Vanloo\u2019s addition seamless.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just share the ball really well. Play uptempo basketball,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of spacing, a lot of movement, just because you have players like JJ, she can shoot, she can go inside, outside. Stewie, the same thing, they can handle the ball. It\u2019s just, I mean, there\u2019s nothing like it. I just, I\u2019m like, I knew it was good, but I was like, \u2018whoa, OK. Like, this is easy.\u2019 And then also, like playing with Marine, I know how to play with her. I know what she thinks. So it\u2019s just easy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The breakout performance was great for Vanloo\u2019s confidence. And her opportunity in New York isn\u2019t for proving doubters wrong. She just wants to do her job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I belong to the WNBA, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the thing that I wanted to show but I didn\u2019t even come here to prove a point. I came here to play basketball, to help out an organization, a big organization that I once dreamed of playing [for]. I never thought I could.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Friday night\u2019s Liberty home opener came with a surprise. It wasn\u2019t Breanna Stewart\u2019s 31-point performance or Betnijah Laney-Hamilton\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,220893,7079,82,2047,630],"class_list":["post-659082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-julie-vanloo","tag-liberty","tag-sports","tag-sun","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}