Kiah Stokes plays for the New York Liberty of the WNBA. A graduate of UConn, she won three national titles with the Huskies. She spoke with JWS about the Liberty’s struggles this season, how they’re building for the future, and the importance of the WNBA’s social justice platform.

You’re a verteran and a leader on the team. How have you rallied the team throughout what’s been a difficult season? 

It’s just tough because we don’t have a full roster. We had seven rookies, and then Sabrina [Ionescu] hurt her ankle so she hasn’t been around. It’s a lot of learning. I was fortunate that my rookie year we had great vets. We had Tina Charles, Swin Cash and Tanisha Wright. They know the game, they’ve been here, they’ve done everything that we want to do. I learned from them, but the biggest thing that I took from them is just to try to lead by example. So, coming to this team when I’m the second oldest person and third most veteran when it comes to years in the league, I wasn’t really ready in terms of being a leader. It was difficult for me, but the one thing I just tried to do was just play hard and do my job. And the coaching staff seems to like it. So I think I’m doing some things right.

This whole season has definitely been a learning process for everyone. Us older players call ourselves baby vets, because we’re vets compared to everyone else who’s a rookie, but in the league, this is my fifth season, Zahui’s in her sixth, I think Layshia’s in her seventh or eighth. But like I said, when I was a rookie, I had Swin Cash and Tanisha Wright who were 10 plus years in the league. So, we’re baby vets compared to them.

You have a new coach this season, Walt Hopkins, and a lot of new rookies. How has the team adjusted to the changes?

It’s been good. Our record doesn’t really show how good we can be, but like you said, it’s a new coach, new system, new everything. We’re in the middle of a pandemic. So, there’s a lot of things going against us. Everyone really wants to work hard. They show up every day at practice. It’s hard because we don’t have enough practice time to get the on court chemistry that we need. When you’re going against teams like Seattle who have been building this for years or Phoenix, although they have a new roster too, but they brought in superstars. But we’re getting there. The rookies, they’re super energetic, willing to learn. They’re easy to talk to. They don’t take things personally when you try to correct them or try to give them advice. I think that’s one thing that we’re super lucky on because a lot of teams have a lot of egos and we don’t have that, which is a very, very big blessing.

Now that you are almost done with the season, what are your thoughts on playing and living in a bubble?

Oh man, the bubble. I have a lot of complaints. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say all of them, but I will say the one good thing is we don’t have to travel for games, which has been amazing. My knees swell up when I fly, so I’m totally cool not flying. So that part has been really good. But it’s just hard because we can’t leave. We can’t do anything. We see the same people every day. It’s a lot. I don’t like being stuck in one spot. I don’t like Florida weather. It’s too hot. It rains all the time. I hate it.

But we still have a job, which I can’t say for a lot of people in America right now. So I’m trying not to complain, but it could be better, could also be worse. But this has never happened before. It’s all a learning process for everyone, and I know the league worked really, really hard to make this happen. I’m grateful for the opportunity and the job and just that we’re able to have a season. But bubble life is tough.

I talked to Sabrina when she went to see the doctors in New York, and I was just texting her, filling her in, just seeing how she was feeling. And she was like, “Bro, it’s so crazy. You don’t realize how isolated you are until you leave the bubble.” I was like, “Wait, what?” She’s like, “Yeah. You’re missing out on life.” I’m like, “Oh no.”

WNBA players joined the NBA in going on strike following the Jacob Blake shooting. I wanted to hear from your perspective how that all unfolded?

I guess it starts from the beginning. I think it was my rookie year or second year, us and Minnesota, we were the first teams to wear BLM tee-shirts to warm ups, and we got fined for all that. We’ve always been at the forefront of all that. And then like in the beginning of the season, Layshia Clarendon, she’s our oldest vet, and she is one of the head people on the social justice council, and so she is super passionate about this and her attitude about it makes us want to do more.

So when we all decided as a league to dedicate this season to Breonna Taylor, it was kind of a no brainer. And we’re lucky that there was a pandemic because there were no sports on TV forever. So, we knew we were going to have a platform. Off course, we get all the hate and the “Nobody watches you” comments. We don’t really care because the people that follow us understand what we do, and we’ll talk to anyone who will listen. And the fact that we’ve had a lot of games on TV and even us sitting out the game after the shooting, it just brings awareness. And I think that’s our whole thing is just bringing awareness to what’s going on. And it’s frustrating, the majority of our league is Black women and I’ve said this a million times, but the Black woman is the most disrespected woman in America. She’s sometimes forgotten about. So, we just want to keep bringing awareness and just the fact that there was another shooting with the police in the middle of the season. It’s tough and it’s draining.

And then that’s when it hits you, that we’re fortunate we have our jobs and we’re in a bubble and we’re safe here, but what if our family member was in that situation or what if a sister or a brother, or my father — it could be anyone that you know and love. It just hits home and it’s tough. So, while we’re here, yes, we want to win games, we want to work hard, we want to fight for the title and get the ring, but at the end of the day, life is bigger than basketball. So, we’re just trying to use our platform in any way we can just to bring awareness and demand justice.

How much discussion was there between players before sitting out games? Or was it a somewhat spontaneous decision?

There was a small discussion, and then once Milwaukee sat out, we were like, “Oh, it’s for sure. This is what we’re going to do.” It was tough though because our season is so short in general so we didn’t really think of the logistics of everything, like, okay, if we sit out now do we get the game back? Is it a forfeit? But at the time, we weren’t worried about that. We were worried about what’s right and what’s wrong. We just want to be seen and heard.

What has it been like being in the bubble while all of this is going on in the outside world?

It’s tough. It’s really hard because I feel like I can’t help in the ways that I want to. Just using our platform is all we can do right now. We had a meeting, and there were talks about players wanting to just go home after this because it’s draining emotionally and mentally and physically, but we decided if we’re here and we’re playing, we have a platform. We’re going to try to just do what we can, stay relevant, stay on TV, stay in the media. We need to keep the conversation going, because once the conversation dies down, people tend to forget about it. Especially in a hard time, everyone has short term memory and one day something goes viral, the next day everyone forgets about it. So we just have to stay relevant and keep the conversation going.

What more can the league do in order to amplify social justice messages? 

Besides having someone run for president? In all seriousness though, we’ve done a lot of voting initiatives because that’s how we can affect change by electing officials that we know and trust and believe in. People in their local markets are just reaching out, just trying to find people, make sure they vote, and know how to register.

I think we did a program here within the bubble to make sure all the players are registered to vote because there’s this stigma, “Oh, my one vote doesn’t mean anything,” but if a million people feel the same way then we’re out of luck. So, we’ve definitely just tried to reinforce how important voting is. Not only for president, but for your local officials, the Senate seats, because it’s a chain reaction, and that’s one thing that they really, really focused on because yes, we want to bring attention and awareness, but we need people in the positions who can actually make change. And that was the biggest thing I think that the league has done. And I think they will continue to do it as well.

What are you personally focused on during the rest season both on and off the court?

Off the court, just the same things with social justice. Just trying to have my voice be heard. On the court, I’m just trying to improve my game. It’s a contract season for me. So, I try to do my part to stay around in this league, but it is tough. And this season hasn’t been how he wanted it to go, especially record wise, but it’s one thing I just had to expand my game because the game is evolving.

And what would you say the team’s focus is for the last few games of the season? 

To perfect the little things. In film, the eye in the sky camera is the worst thing invented, because it shows literally every single mistake. You think in a game you’re doing things right, but then on film you’re like, “Oh, I should have been one more step this way. Or I should’ve cut now instead of then.” So we’re just focusing on the little things and our coach, he’s been great. He’s very positive and he understands the situation with the seven rookies and a pretty young team, but it’s just trying to do what you’re good at and do what you know how to do and just perfect that.

After an illustrious career for both club and country, Gotham FC and U.S. Women’s National Team defender Kelley O’Hara announced today via Kelley on the Street that she will be retiring from professional soccer at the end of this year, making the 2024 NWSL season her last.

"I have always said I would play under two conditions: that I still love playing soccer, and if my body would let me do it the way I wanted to," O’Hara told Just Women’s Sports in the lead-up to her retirement announcement. "I realized a while back that I was always going to love it, so it was the physical piece that was going to be the deciding factor."

The 35-year-old will retire as a two-time World Cup champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and at least a two-time NWSL champion, depending on where Gotham finishes this season. Her legacy as a player is hard to fully encapsulate, and will forever run through some of the biggest snapshots in USWNT and NWSL history. 

In 2012, O’Hara played every minute of the USWNT’s Olympic gold medal run, after having recently converted into a defender. Her soaring goal off the bench in the 2015 World Cup semifinal is the stuff of legend. And her return from lingering injury to play in every knockout match of the national team’s 2019 World Cup win cemented a storybook international career. 

It was O’Hara who scored the overtime goal in 2021 to earn the Washington Spirit their first-ever NWSL championship, and O’Hara who returned to help see Gotham earn a title in 2023 after years spent in the trenches with the club’s previous iteration, Sky Blue. Her 15-year career spanned two professional women’s soccer leagues in the U.S. (she earned her first professional title in 2010 with WPS’s FC Gold Pride), as well as sweeping changes to the sport both on and off the pitch.

On the field, O’Hara has always been known for a motor that never quits, making the right flank her domain in attacking possession and defensive transition. In recent years, she’s also been celebrated for a competitive fire that raises the level of her teammates, whether she’s in the starting XI or supporting from the bench.

But injuries take a toll, a reality not always seen by the fans watching from home. "I've never taken anything for granted, and I feel like I've never coasted either," O’Hara said of her late-career success in the NWSL despite battling injuries. "I've always been like, 'I gotta put my best foot forward every single day I step on this field' — which is honestly probably half the reason why I'm having to retire now as opposed to getting a couple more years out of it. I've just grinded hard."

Recently, O’Hara has been sidelined at Gotham with ankle and knee injuries, and the situation motivated her to really prioritize listening to her body. "To get injured and come back, and get injured and come back, and just keep doing it, it really takes a toll on you.

"People don't see the doubt that's associated with injury,” she continued. "As athletes we feel a certain way, we perform a certain way, our body feels a certain way, we're very in tune with our bodies. And there's always so much doubt surrounding injury. It’s like, 'Can I feel the way I felt before?' The reality is sometimes you don't."

O’Hara didn’t arrive at the decision to move on from her playing career lightly. But once she began seriously considering making 2024 her final year during the last NWSL offseason, it felt right. "Once I was like, 'Alright, you know what, this will be my last year,' I have had a lot of peace with it," she said. "Truly the only thing I felt was gratitude for everything that my career has been, all the things I've been able to do and the people I've been able to do it with."

She said she’ll miss daily interactions with her teammates and all the amazing memories they’ve created, though she feels lucky to have formed relationships that go beyond sharing a locker room. "You're basically getting to hang out and just shoot the shit with your best friends every day," she reflected. "Which is so unheard of, and I just feel very lucky to do it for so long."

The Stanford graduate also mentioned that the NWSL’s suspension of regular season play in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic made her realize how much playing allowed her the space to simply be creative every day. The tactical elements of soccer provided O’Hara an outlet for problem solving and made use of her naturally competitive edge.

She’s now gearing up to channel her on-field intensity into her post-playing career full time, which is a new chapter she’s excited to begin. "I don't know if the world's ready for it, like the fact that I'm not going to be putting all of my energy into football all the time," she said with a laugh. 

O’Hara said she would like to stay connected to the game in some fashion, whether it be as an owner, coach, or member of a front office. She’s also interested in the growing media space surrounding women’s sports, having provided on-camera analysis for broadcasters like CBS Sports in addition to starting a production company with her fiancée.

"I just feel like I have a lot of passions, and things that excite me," she says. "And I do want to stay as close as I can to the game, because I feel a responsibility — and I'm not sure in what capacity — to continue to grow it."

A sense of responsibility to grow the game has been a consistent refrain for the USWNT and NWSL players of O’Hara’s era, who ushered in a new age of equal pay for the national team and collectively bargained protections for those in the league. The landscape for new players looks different than it did 14 years ago, in large part due to this pivotal generation.

"I feel an immense sense of pride around that, because I don't know if any of us knew that was gonna happen," she said. "We kind of, as things unfolded, took the next step towards changing what women's football looks like in this country and around the world.

"I'm really grateful to have been part of this era with the players that I was [with], not backing down and pushing and knowing that was the right thing to do."

Whatever the future holds, O’Hara is going ahead full throttle. It’s a piece of advice she’d also give to the next generation of professionals looking to make their own impact.

"Whatever you do in life, do it because you love it, and the chips will fall in place," she said. "If you love something, you're willing to do what it takes. You're willing to make the sacrifices, you're willing to handle the roller coaster.

"To me, it's simple. Don't do it for any other reason but that, and I think you'll be alright."

The Phoenix Mercury center spoke with Robin Roberts about her 10-month incarceration, reflecting on her poor living conditions and shaky mental state ahead of her May 7th memoir.

"The mattress had a huge blood stain on it. I had no soap, no toilet paper," Griner told the ABC News anchor in last night’s 20/20 special. "That was the moment where I just felt less than a human." 

She also detailed some of her lowest moments during that time, saying with tears in her eyes that she went so far as to consider taking her own life on more than one occasion. However, the thought of Russian officials not releasing her body back to her family made her reconsider.

"I just didn't think I could get through what I needed to get through," said Griner.

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In February 2022, Griner was arrested and charged with drug possession and smuggling by a Russian court after Sheremetyevo International Airport police found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. The cartridges were prescribed by Griner’s doctor for chronic pain back in Arizona, where medical marijuana is legal. In the interview, the two-time Olympic gold medalist said she had a "mental lapse" while packing, and never intended to bring the cannabis products with her when she returned to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg.

"It's just so easy to have a mental lapse," Griner said. "Granted, my mental lapse was on a more grand scale. But it doesn't take away from how that can happen." 

She was later sentenced to nine years behind bars after her Russian attorneys advised her to plead guilty the following July. Griner was then sent to a remote penal colony where she was forced to spend her days cutting cloth to make military uniforms. From there, it only got worse.

"Honestly, it just had to happen," she said when asked about her decision to cut off her signature long locks. "We had spiders above my bed making nests.

"My dreads started to freeze," she added. "They would just stay wet and cold and I was getting sick. You've gotta do what you've gotta do to survive."

Shortly after Griner’s initial arrest, the U.S. State Department classified her case as wrongfully detained, escalating its urgency within the government and calling even more attention to the situation. On December 8th, she was freed in a prisoner exchange negotiated by the Biden administration.

While she told Roberts she was "thrilled" when she got the news, she was also very upset about having to leave fellow wrongful detainee Paul Whelan behind. She also continues to carry guilt about her arrest, saying "At the end of the day, it's my fault. And I let everybody down."

Griner’s memoir, Coming Home, hits shelves on May 7th.

"Coming Home begins in a land where my roots developed and is the diary of my heartaches and regrets," Griner told ABC News in an exclusive statement. "But, ultimately, the book is also a story of how my family, my faith, and the support of millions who rallied for my rescue helped me endure a nightmare."

Longtime USWNT fixture Carli Lloyd took to Instagram Wednesday morning to announce that she’s pregnant with her first child. 

"Baby Hollins coming in October 2024!" she wrote. The caption framed a collaged image of baby clothes, an ultrasound photo, and syringes indicating what she described as a "rollercoaster" fertility journey.

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In a Women’s Health story published in tandem with Lloyd’s post, the Fox Sports analyst and correspondent opened up about her struggles with infertility and the lengthy IVF treatments she kept hidden from the public eye.

"Soccer taught me how to work hard, persevere, be resilient, and never give up. I would do whatever it took to prepare, and usually when I prepared, I got results," Lloyd told Women’s Health’s Amanda Lucci. "But I found out that I didn’t know much about this world. I was very naive to think that we wouldn’t have any issues getting pregnant. And so it began."

Lloyd went on to discuss her road to pregnancy in great detail, sharing the highs and lows of the process and expressing gratitude for the care and support her family and medical team provided along the way. She rounded out the piece with a nod toward others navigating the same challenges, encouraging people to share their own pregnancy journeys, painful as they may be.

"My story is currently a happy one, but I know there are other women who are facing challenges in their pregnancy journey. I see you and I understand your pain," she said. "My hope is that more and more women will speak up about this topic, because their stories helped me. I also wish for more resources, funding, and education around fertility treatments. There is much to be done, and I hope I can play a role in helping."

The 41-year-old New Jersey native retired from professional soccer in 2021, closing out her decorated career with 316 international appearances, the second-most in USWNT history, in addition to 134 international goals. A legend on the field, Lloyd walked away from the game with two World Cups, two Olympic gold medals, and two FIFA Player of the Year awards.

On Tuesday, FIFPRO announced the launch of Project ACL, a three-year research initiative designed to address a steep uptick in ACL injuries across women's professional football.

Project ACL is a joint venture between FIFPRO, England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), Nike, and Leeds Beckett University. While the central case study will focus on England’s top-flight Women's Super League, the findings will be distributed around the world.

ACL tears are between two- and six-times more likely to occur in women footballers than men, according to The Guardian. And with both domestic and international programming on the rise for the women’s game, we’ve seen some of the sport's biggest names moved to the season-ending injury list with ACL-related knocks.

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Soccer superstars like Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead, Catarina Macario, Marta, and England captain Leah Williamson have all struggled with their ACLs in recent years, though all have since returned to the field. In January, Chelsea and Australia forward Sam Kerr was herself sidelined with the injury, kicking off a year of similar cases across women’s professional leagues. And just yesterday, the Spirit announced defender Anna Heilferty would miss the rest of the NWSL season with a torn ACL. The news comes less than two weeks after Bay FC captain Alex Loera went down with the same injury. 

Project ACL will closely study players in the WSL, monitoring travel, training, and recovery practices to look for trends that could be used to prevent the injury in the future. Availability of sports science and medical resources within individual clubs will be taken into account throughout the process.

ACL injuries in women's football have long outpaced the same injury in the men's game, but resources for specialized prevention and treatment still lag behind. Investment in achieving a deeper, more specialized understanding of the problem should hopefully alleviate the issue both on and off the field.