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The “Inside the Wubble” series gives you a player-first look at life in the single-site location, Brandenton, Florida, where we are playing our 2020 season.

Q: How was practice today?

Practice was fun. Everyone was focused with a new coach and incorporating new players from last season. It’s always nice to just get back on the floor and get in the swing of things. I think there were a lot of teaching moments – both offensively and defensively – getting to know one another and our style of play with the coaches. The biggest thing to describe the practice today was teaching and learning. The staff is teaching us what they want from us and how to execute plays on both sides of the ball. For us, we just need to listen to feedback and incorporate that into our style of play.

Q: Does this year’s first practice feel different compared to year’s past?

To be honest, for some reason to me it doesn’t. I woke up today knowing today was the first day of training camp, but the only thing that was different was just how we got there. And I mean literally like we’re a college team getting on a bus to go to practice like we did today. Other than that, we all go to practice and once we start, you look up and realize it isn’t in Bankers Life Fieldhouse and we just keep playing.

Q: How was quarantine down in Florida?

It was tough to say the least. You see snapchats, you see Instagram and Twitter from players on other teams playing on the courts we’re supposed to be on as well. They’re able to go out and mingle with one another on campus and get extra work in with each other. It takes a toll on you when you’re sitting in a room not able to do anything about it. We know what we’re here for though, and what we went through was because it is a safety protocol. You know in the back of your mind you’ll be out of it in a few days, but you have to keep reminding yourself that you’re almost there, whether it’s a countdown on your phone or texting teammates that we’re going to make it. We worked out on the track and ran stairs by ourselves and did our best to hang in there.

Q: Did you learn something about yourself during quarantine?

I’ve continued to stay motivated. This is something I heard from a lot of players throughout the league was to continue to workout because we hoped we were going to have a season and we knew we had to be ready at some point. I just needed to keep myself motivated and I think players know it’s easier to stay motivated when they know something is coming up. When you have all the uncertainty we faced, it’s certainly not the easiest to plan for, but when you have to dig deep and tell yourself to stay ready so you don’t have to get ready, that’s a different sense of accomplishment and maturity.

Inside the Wubble with Stephanie Mavunga