The Lady Vols from the University of Tennessee won another woman’s national basketball championship. They beat a team from Stanford which had had a terrific season. Prior to meeting the Lady Vols, the Stanford Cardinal team had won against Maryland and Connecticut. Against the Lady Vols, the score was a decisive 64 - 48 and another championship for the University of Tennessee.

What is remarkable is that Candace Parker was on the floor for the Lady Vols. She played and she contributed. And she probably did so through a significant amount of pain. On April 1st, Candace Parker had dislocated her left shoulder. Twice. Undoubtedly, the short time between the injury and the championship game was not sufficient for the damage to heal completely. It did not matter. Candace Parker played.

If this had happened to one of the NBA players and he came back to play days after a dislocated shoulder, that news story would have been splashed over every sports page on the planet. Because it is a women’s sport, the achievement receives far less attention. Henceforth, when the discussion about tough, competitive, ‘play-through-pain’ athletes come up, remember Candace Parker. Shoulder separations did not stop her from a national championship.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster:  http://flyinghamster.com/

[tag]basketball, lady vols, university of tennessee, stanford cardinals, candace parker, national championship, injury[/tag]