CHICAGO \u2014 On Monday, the Chicago Sky held training camp practice at their temporary home, the University of Illinois at Chicago, as work continues on their new training facility in the suburb of Bedford Park.<\/p>\n
Inside UIC, it was a normal training camp scene, but not one that would\u2019ve been possible at the Sky\u2019s previous training hub, Sachs Recreation Center. On one court, the Sky held a full, five-on-five scrimmage, while on the other, veteran point guard Courtney Vandersloot<\/a> was spotted running sprints as she continues rehabilitating the torn ACL she suffered early last season.<\/p>\n In between the two courts, Sky owner Michael Alter watched the team practice while general manager Jeff Pagliocca kept an eye on all the players training as he spoke to staff and media.<\/p>\n UIC offers a more expansive and professional site, located right in the heart of Chicago. However, the Sky don\u2019t plan to stay long: team officials have said the timeline is still to get into their new facility this season.<\/p>\n But the change in location has already had palpable benefits, and players who previously practiced at Sachs are noticing it. For one, the Sky have their own locker room. At Sachs, they shared one with the general public.<\/p>\n Veteran guard Rachel Banham<\/a> told The IX Sports how much of a difference the move has made as the Sky work to become a team.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hang out a lot after practice and just sit and talk, or we sit and talk in the training room a ton, or in the locker room. We talk about crazy stuff,\u201d Banham said. \u201cWe never did that up at Sachs because there wasn\u2019t really a space to hang. It was like a regular locker room with other people. Now we have a couch and a locker room that\u2019s all facing each other, so we all just sit and chat. My favorite time is in the locker room. It\u2019s when you talk about wild stuff, and it\u2019s just fun. You get to know people really well.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women\u2019s Sports Daily Creating those bonds as quickly as possible is important for the Sky. The team brought in several free agents during the offseason, including Skylar Diggins<\/a>, Azur\u00e1 Stevens<\/a> and Dijonai Carrington<\/a>, and traded for Rickea Jackson<\/a> and Jacy Sheldon<\/a>.<\/p>\n With so many new faces and the WNBA\u2019s short window for training camp, the Sky have to find a way to turbocharge connection.<\/p>\n Hailey Van Lith<\/a>, who is in her second season with the Sky, said that the new location allows the team to get to practice early and spend more time with each other.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing in a facility that is a lot closer for everyone on the team, we get to practice earlier, and we\u2019re hanging out in the locker room earlier. Especially with a group that has so many new pieces, getting that off-court time can really speed up on-court chemistry, and it\u2019s been great,\u201d Van Lith explained. \u201cWe have a variety of personalities, and it\u2019s been cool, even over the course of training camp, to see some of the rookies come out of their shell and have jokes with them. Who gets aux in the morning is a big topic, and what type of vibe we set, and we love to see the fit that Skylar [Diggins] walks in with. So there\u2019s always something going on in the morning that just gets us excited to practice and excited to be around each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
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