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Taking time to heal Mystics' coach and star recovered from tough season
Posted: Saturday May 13, 2000 11:08 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Chamique Holdsclaw was bitter, frustrated, alone. The so-called female Michael Jordan was trying to adjust to a new city, a new league and new coaches she didn't always understand. And she wasn't used to losing. Nancy Darsch was grief-stricken, burdened, distracted. Her mother died of cancer days before her new team was to play its first game. Two weeks later, her brother had open-heart surgery. The stoic coach's demeanor at practice and at games was replaced by tears behind closed doors. The inner turmoil was part of a difficult 1999 season for the Washington Mystics. Now the baggage has been left behind. Holdsclaw and Darsch are back, going through a two-a-days at training camp in preparation for another WNBA season. Darsch, who shuffled back and forth to Massachusetts last season to see her brother and attend to family matters, is relaxed and smiling. Holdsclaw, who a year ago always gave pat answers in a soft voice to any interviewer, finally looks and sounds comfortable. She guarantees victories with long, confident answers that would fill any reporter's notebook. "This is it," said Holdsclaw, whose participation in practice has been limited as she recovers from stress fractures in her foot. "We can't be so wishy-washy all the time. We're going to make the playoffs. That's our pressure now. We put that in the locker room -- we've got to make the playoffs. If we can't make it with these people in this room, I don't know. Get rid of me, get rid of coach. It's not going to happen." There were times last year during the Mystics' 12-20 season, particularly during the 2-8 start, that Holdsclaw really did wonder whether someone should get rid of the coach. The No. 1 overall pick in the draft and winner of three NCAA championships at Tennessee was struggling with the triangle offense used by Darsch and longtime assistant Melissa McFerrin. Holdsclaw couldn't understand how even the expansion teams were playing better than the Mystics. Darsch's personal problems hardly seemed to matter. "At first, the whole situation of me being here and losing and not seeing the same attitude everyday in the locker room, it made me kind of bitter," Holdsclaw said. "At times I was very upset with the coaches, across the board. Then I realized, I took a perspective in the offseason, how hard she had it. It's always hard when you lose a parent. "After understanding that, and getting to know them a little better in the offseason, I can say there's a change in their attitudes, that they're recommitted." It didn't help that Holdsclaw had only one confidant in town: backup guard Rita Williams. Now that Williams is gone, chosen by Indiana in the expansion draft, she and Holdsclaw call each other almost every day. "Rita's gone, but I know I can make it through this by myself," she said. The 22-year-old Holdsclaw, whose moves and ability to score earned her that comparison with Jordan, is now playing for the former Chicago Bulls star. In January, Jordan bought a share of the Mystics, along with the Wizards and Capitals. However, he has made it clear he will be involved only in the Wizards' operations. As for Darsch, she'll probably have something else on her mind, in addition to coaching, when the Mystics open the season May 31 against Orlando. The date will mark the one-year anniversary of the death of her mother, Arline Darsch, at age 78. Nancy Darsch missed eight days of training camp to join her brother, Jack, at the bedside when their mother died. On June 17, Jack, a diabetic who has had part of one leg amputated, had open-heart surgery. "I think it zapped some of her energy," said McFerrin, who has been Darsch's assistant for 10 years with Ohio State, the New York Liberty and now the Mystics. "It forced her to withdraw a little bit, and those are things you do when you're hurt. I think she's progressed through those things. They don't ever go away, though." Darsch said her brother started getting stronger in September and "is pretty much back to his old stubborn self." The mourning period for her mother is over, and she finally felt settled as the players started arriving for camp. "It's a huge, huge difference," Darsch said. "Just having your head cleared. Knowing that that's all taken care of. My focus can truly be on preparing this team, and that's a huge difference. You know when you're going through it that it's hard, but when you look back at it, you don't know how you got through it."
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