Imani McGee-Stafford Sees The WNBA As Just The Beginning

By Michell C. Clark


Imani McGee-Stafford plays by her own rules. The 24-year-old WNBA center, who is in her fifth season in the league and her first season with the Dallas Wings, is identically concerned with performing to the perfect of her ability on the court and using her platform to speak out on issues like the anti-abortion expenses emerging across the nation. (She told ThinkProgress in May, “I am pro-minding-my-business.”)


The Los Angeles native, who is the daughter of gold medalist Pamela McGee and the younger sister of two-time NBA champion JaVale McGee, credits her family member for teaching her how to embrace every facet of her identity. Nevertheless her past also serves as a motivating force beyond her work as a mentor and mental health advocate.


Right after her parents divorced as soon as McGee-Stafford was three years old, her mother and JaVale moved to Flint, Michigan, while McGee-Stafford moved to Inglewood, California with her father, Reverend Kevin Stafford. She started experiencing suicidal ideations soon after repeated sexual molestation by a family member member; she was also forced to survive with different relatives, and afterward turned to basketball as an escape. While attending the University of Texas at Austin on full athletic scholarship, she discovered slam poetry as a means of openly expressing, processing, healing from painful memories.


Poetry keeps it up and continues to serve as a means of self-expression and healing for McGee-Stafford, who released a book of poems called Notes In the secret of Heartbreak in January 2018. The book specifics the emotional highs and lows of her first marriage and subsequent divorce. She also plans to launch her non-profit, the Hoops and Hope Foundation, later this year, and takes trips to college campuses to share her hints and experiences through the closed-door conversations with administrators and female student-athletes. As a Adidas athlete, she takes part in the Adidas Legacy program by visiting inner city public schools with other girls who work for the brand  to show students the different career paths that they can pursue through sports.


MTV News talked with McGee-Stafford about her mental health advocacy, how she uses basketball as a car to make possibilities, and what it means to nurture the entire identity of Black athletes.


MTV News: How are you feeling about the starting of this season? What dreams do you have for you and your team this year?


Imani McGee-Stafford: I'm excited to have a new possibility in Dallas. Coach Agler is detail-oriented in a way that’s reminiscent of my college coach. We don't leave practice up until we get it right. I appreciate perfectionism in a coach. It might be frustrating in the moment, however it lets you know that he believes in you.


I played for the University of Texas at Austin, so it's nice to be back around my Longhorn family member. I didn't play much for the Atlanta Dream, so I’m hoping to carve my niche in Dallas. We have our sights set on the playoffs. It doesn’t matter what the scenario is — that's the goal.


MTV News: It feels like folks are finally giving more attention to the WNBA on social media and giving athletes like you your due. Have you saw a shift in how folks are embracing the sport? What do you suggest led to that?


McGee-Stafford: CBS Sports beginning to broadcast our games has been a big step. We have a long way to go, although we’re ahead of the curve in comparison to other professional women’s sports leagues. We’re the most accomplished, and the highest paid. Having people like Skylar Diggins and Liz Cambage be ready to put themselves out there means a lot. Having Derek Fisher as a WNBA coach is big, too.


MTV News: On the flip side, you’ve spoken out against the sexism you and your teammates have faced. What has that experience taught you?


McGee-Stafford: I was raised by powerful females, including my mother. I also grew up around boys who advocated for me. I was never told to back down. My big brother JaVale would take me to play ball with him. The 2011 NBA lockout was the ideal time of my life because I got to go to open gyms and be on the court with him.


I’ve habitually had people pushing me forward, and I’ve grown comfortable with that. A lot of females don't have that. Males are given the possibility to be openly imperfect. Females are told to shrink and fit in alternatively opposed to embracing who we are. I've learned that it’s OK to be imperfect. I'm a disaster some days, nevertheless I want you to be able to see it, and to be comfortable with my imperfections.


MTV News: Why did you turn to basketball? Did you habitually desire to compete at the WNBA level?


McGee-Stafford: My brother is seven feet tall, and I'm 6'7", which made it clear that basketball was what we were going to do. Everybody knew I was planning to play basketball before I did. I didn’t play seriously up until high school. I had my own website, sang, and wrote poetry. I thought I was going to be the next Alicia Keys.


Throughout my freshman year in high school, I got the lead role in the school play and made the varsity basketball team. As I started to plan for my future, I realized that basketball was probably the only way I’d have the ability to pay for college.


MTV News: You have referred to basketball as a car that provides unprecedented possibilities for athletes to experience the world. How do you ultimately seek to use basketball as a car in your life?


McGee-Stafford: I believe that the only reason I'm playing basketball for a living is so that I can talk about mental illness, sexual abuse, and healthy relationships. I thought I was the only person experiencing those issues any time While I was growing up. Right now that I have this platform, I have to use it to let people know that they’re not alone.


As soon as basketball sucks I know that I have the chance to help people and impact lives. That's why I wake up day-to-day. I’m launching a non-profit called the Hoops and Hope Foundation later this year. If I perish and the only thing people mention is that I might ball, I'll feel like failed. I want to create the most of the time I have.


MTV News: What are your plans for the foundation?


McGee-Stafford: The Hoops and Hope Foundation has three purposes. The initial is to facilitate family member friendly conversations about sexual violence, sexual abuse, and healthy relationships. Secondly, I want to help bridge the gap between arts and athletics. I reside in a gray area as someone actively living as both an athlete and an artist. We tend to force children to be one or the other at a fairly early point in life. I want them to know that they can be artistic and still be a boss on the court.


Lastly, I'd like to get funding and home therapists in inner city schools categorize in attempt to help break the school-to-prison pipeline. Oftentimes the children who get labeled as “bad” need more attention and nurturing than public school systems can issue. They get shuttled from option schools to juvenile detention centers, and the cycle continues. My objective for inner cities is to give them the capacity to stop suspending kids and send them to therapists instead.


MTV News: The WNBA isn’t without its struggle points as a business, in each respect from pay to fan support. What do you hope happens in the future of the WNBA, especially as a player?


McGee-Stafford: I want the WNBA to be around Once I have kids. I'm the initial second-generation WNBA player. My mom was the 2nd pick in the opening WNBA draft in 1997. I'm piece of the initial age categorize of female basketball players that grew up knowing that it was possible to play basketball professionally In the United States right after college. If I have a daughter, I want her have the ability to envision that possibility.


MTV News: You advocate for nurturing the complete identity of the Black athlete. What do you mean by that, and what would a higher class of support system look like?


McGee-Stafford: When you are a college athlete, they don't give you time to love anything outdoors of the sport. You are a unpaid professional athlete. Several athletes graduate without sense of self. They don't know what their other skills are, or what else they like to do outdoors of playing their sport. Each person else in college is finding themselves. I'm routinely telling athletes to build other skills and do other things because their athletic career is finite.


My alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, has a Black student-athlete summit every year. I wish I was more aware of it Whenever I was in school. The summit pushes athletes to have serious conversations and visualize that there really are other options outdoor of professional sports. We need to have more of these conversations.


MTV News: What inspired you to open up about your own mental health journey?


McGee-Stafford: It was an accident. I was on the youth slam poetry team in college and we went to an international poetry festival. I had to miss practice sort in attempt to take that trip, so my coach made a deal with me. I had to take Longhorn Network, ESPN’s 24-hour network serious about University of Texas athletics, with me group in attempt to generate some good publicity.


I was performing a poem about the abuse that I experienced as a child. I didn’t think my poem could be a big deal to a lot of people, however it ended up getting picked up by ESPN for a SportsCenter feature and became much bigger than me. So several people reached out with words of encouragement, or to share their stories.


I'm aware of the privilege I have the ability to talk about my trauma because of the fact that I'm no longer in mobile danger. I reside in a profession where I can do what I want. I'm happy that I opened up and told my story because doing so allowed me to understand my purpose.


MTV News: Where do you find inspiration for your poetry? How has that work helped you in other areas of your life?


McGee-Stafford: Life inspires my poetry. For the longest time, my poetry was how I coped and dealt with extreme emotions. Right now, it's just something that I do. I appreciate that I’ve healed from those extreme emotions to the point that I can simply like the art. Once I need to express myself, it’s fun to write things out. I love going to poetry readings and seeing other people take their walls down.


I had written enough poetry to put out a book by the time I was 15 or 16, yet I didn't think any of my work was crucial enough to publish. My marriage changed that. I got wedded and divorced very early in life. I didn’t believe in divorce, and I still don’t — although I had to pick that for myself. I released Notes In the mystery of Heartbreak as I sought to memorialize something I was deeply ashamed of. I had to publicly express that while things didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to, the passion that I felt and the moments that we created were real.


MTV News: You’ve been vocal about your faith in the correct to pick, especially in light of the anti-choice legislation sweeping the nation. What inspired you to use your platform to support that cause?


McGee-Stafford: It's critical. Certain media streams tend to portray ladies who get abortions in a negative light, although females who get abortions oftentimes have no other alternative. People who are [anti-choice] don’t believe in allocating assistance once the baby is place on Earth. I don’t think it’s anybody’s firm to judge a woman’s reasoning for getting an abortion. I can’t mention for sure that if I got pregnant tomorrow, I would carry a child to term.


I got birth control at a Offered Parenthood for the opening time any time Once I was 16 or 17. I never knew a life without access to Suggested Parenthood. Any time If I went to college in Texas, they were shutting down Suggested Parenthood, which served because the only available means of healthcare for a lot of people. I know firsthand how critical they are, so I had to speak out.


MTV News: Speaking out on polarizing issues can be a point of contention for several athletes, especially in light of the way Colin Kaepernick was blacklisted right after protesting police brutality. Why is it key to you to use your platform to speak out?


McGee-Stafford: My platform is blessing as well as a privilege. I’m from Inglewood. A lot of my companions don't have a college education and are still at residence working. As a part-time basketball player, I make more cash than my father does. Several people would give so much to have what’s mine. I'd be doing myself and my people a disservice if I stopped talking about things that I think are crucial as soon as I’ve been blessed to beat the odds.