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Becky Hammon

Becky Hammon

American-Russian basketball coach

Oct 14, 2026

3:54
Exactly
3:54
... maybe that they didn't like.
3:55
So, you know, I, I think a lot of women struggle with that though, for sure.
3:59
I know I did.
4:00
And be ambitious but stay likable, um, I'm sure it happened early, in my early years, in the sense of like, you know, my friend's looking at me a little bit funny because we just left a camp and I went right into the gym.
4:15
But a more recent one, when I say recent, it's like 20 years ago, was when, um, I wasn't, I wasn't picked to play on our Olympic team and I ended up playing for Russia, and, uh, people did not like that.
4:31
And it, it, it, it kinda went from kinda being this all-American girl to the girl next door to like, "I'm this traitor and I'm this, that," and people calling me all sorts of names.

14 MINS LATER

18:33
What the-
18:59
that whole time you sent me sets.
19:01
I was like actions.
19:03
Yes.
19:03
I was like, we're going to do this.
19:06
And and so we you know, it was.
19:09
Every year is different.
19:10
And you got to just kind of go with with the flow of the season and obviously dealing with different injuries.

31 MINS LATER

50:19
So you have a lot of support and a lot of, you know, but growing into that voice of understanding what it is to fight and when it is to just be silent and let your work do the talking.
32:57
And she's...
33:01
Most players will say, oh, yeah, you can coach me hard.
33:04
No, you can't.
33:05
Because you don't want the truth.
33:07
If you want to be coached hard, you've got to be able to handle some truth in there.
33:11
And hopefully whoever's coaching you up throws a lot of love in there, too, because that covers over even mistakes.
33:18
Because coaches can make mistakes.
36:27
Like that balance, though, of her having fun and doing what she loves really, I think, shines through as well, which is fun to see.

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