Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Bec Cole has spent the past year rehabilitating her body, dreaming of a fairytale ending to her sparkling basketball career.
But at times the 34-year-old has questioned if she would make it back to the WNBL after undergoing surgery on her right foot.
“I was by myself in a gym … working my arse off,” the two-time championship winner told AAP.
“I was like, ‘Well, I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t still want to go out and win another championship’.
“I’m towards the end of my career, so I couldn’t be more proud of myself to get back here.”
On Thursday, all eyes will be on the league’s newest team, the Tasmania Jewels, when they play their first game against the Geelong Venom in front of a sold-out MyState Bank Arena in Hobart.
But Cole, who won the 2020 and 2024 WNBL titles with the Southside Melbourne Flyers and was one of Geelong’s big-name off-season signings, will be looking to spoil the party.
To add to the multitude of storylines around the new season’s curtain-raiser, the Jewels’ Darcee Garbin is set to play her first WNBL game since the 2021-22 campaign.
But the 32-year-old is coming into this season with a different view after giving birth to her first child, Rose, in December.
“It’s so funny. My perspective on basketball and life has completely changed,” the 2016 and 2018 league champion told AAP.
“I’m a very Type A personality … (If) we played on a Friday night and lost, I would be the person thinking about it all weekend.
“Now I might get to a Sunday and be like, ‘Oh, that’s right. I’ve got training tomorrow’ … I don’t even have time to be stewing over mistakes.”
The Adelaide Lightning are also looking to race out of the blocks after registering just six wins last season, and they’ve been bolstered by the addition of Opal Zitina Aokuso.
Coach Aja Parham-Ammar said the star forward’s signature was a full-circle moment.
“I was in Queensland, and she’s a Queensland baby. I remember when she was in the under-20s, and I helped with one of her teams and met her there,” the coach told AAP ahead of the Lightning’s clashes against the Sydney Flames on Sunday and the Townsville Fire on Tuesday.
“She was one of the only ones that could dunk the ball, and that was a big thing in Queensland.
“We’ve just run into each other a few times. My husband’s also good friends with her sister.”
Elsewhere, the Flyers face Sydney on Friday, before Jade Melbourne returns to Canberra on Saturday to play the UC Capitals for the first time since moving to the Bendigo Spirit.
Later, the Perth Lynx will look to exact grand final revenge on Townsville.
