Richmond's Becca Wann and her amazing perspective

I remember the kid sitting on the bench at Granby High School. The game was over. Her team had lost. She was crying softly. When I sat down beside her wondering if she was composed enough to talk, she offered this, "I'll never do this again, play high school basketball. This was my final game."

The final game. Most athletes don't think about that moment until it hits and even then, it's not always clear in that moment. There's often another level to aspire to; maybe you get there, maybe you don't. Putting down the ball, the mitt, the racket one last time doesn't seem real in the moment. There's always another game or at least probably another game, right?

Richmond's Becca Wann has put down the basketball and put away the soccer ball. She was set to be drafted in soccer, but that is no more. She might kick the ball around on her own or at a youth camp, but no more head games. One concussion too many brought her stellar career to an abrupt halt.

Wann was in Newport News two weeks ago as a speaker at the Atlantic 10's Student Athletic Advisory Committee's weekend conference. She reflected eloquently and poignantly about what she calls "the hardest six months of my life."

Her ambitious athletic career as a Division I athlete in two sports, soccer and basketball, ended Aug. 23 when she sustained a concussion after a header in a game against Old Dominion. Her aerial game was her trademark.

"I play soccer 25 percent with my feet and 75 percent with my head," she says.

She didn't admit to anyone for days that she suspected concussion, telling herself, "If I wake up tomorrow with a headache. . ." When the migraine didn't leave, she confessed the symptoms to her trainer. In consultation with a neurologist, both agreed she was done on the athletic field. That didn't just bring her brilliant soccer career to a close -- Wann won a gold medal playing with the Women's National Team at the 2012 FIFA U20 World Cup in Japan and was the first Spider to be named A-10 Rookie of the Year and A-10 Offensive Player of the Year -- her basketball career was over, too.

The chances of suffering another concussion were too great. She doesn't know how many she's had, but risking another wasn't worth the cost. In a room full of athletes at the SAAC event, she talked about hearing the story of a player who could do nothing but stay in a dark room for three months due to a concussion.

That can't be me, she realized. She can't risk looking across the table as a  young woman and needing to be reminded who is on the other side.

Wann played her final game, and sports -- something she cherished and sacrificed for since her little girl days -- was gone as she knew it.

She is still a Spider. She goes to basketball practice every day and remains an active a part of the team as possible, whether that means handing out water bottles or exchanging high fives. Indeed, she cringes when she hears an athlete griping about going to practice. Wann works out on the treadmill these days, something she's learning to tolerate, but sure, she'd rather have the coach yelling at her on the court.  Yet she is able to dig within herself to find this crux:

“In the end, my identity is in who I am, not what I do,” Wann said. “Who you are is more important that what you do.”

That's a message we can all learn from. Too often we are identified by our occupations; too often student-athletes are lost when they become just students, not athletes. When it is all you know, what happens when it's over? The door may be shut, Wann says, but a window is open. 

"I don't question God with the good stuff; I didn't question him when I won a gold medal," she said. "How can I question him in the hard times?

"If I could do it all over again, I would just do it all over again," she said. "I wouldn't change anything. Well, there's a goal I would have scored in Japan. . . . But I would start those 15 years over starting with the girl in a ribbon in her hair (yes, she grimaced) in a second."

Unwavering faith, family, teammates and friends continue to strengthen her. She doesn't know where she's going -- grad school or coaching are in her mind -- but this much she understands. It's the end of her athletic career. It's the beginning of something else. What that is she doesn't know -- yet. But we have an idea it will be something great.

One on one with Wann: Becca on winning gold, Hiroshima and hoops!

We love Becca Wann. Richmond's full-time soccer player, full-time basketball player and full-time student shared her recent experience of winning a gold medal in the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Japan with both Spider TV in this interview and with LadySwish after.

Some thoughts from Becca, who happens to be the Spiders' leading scorer in soccer with four goals in her last two games. (We even got her talking a little hoops.)

Becca on.....

Making the U-20 national team roster after late-summer camps in California and Florida: Four months ago, even making the roster let alone winning a gold medal wasn't in my mind. I honestly didn't think there was a possibility of my making the roster until the last day of the last camp in July. They had some injuries to the team, and I got a call to see if I could come to a camp at the end of July, the final camp before they left. I found out the last day of the camp. 

On the royal treatment in Japan: Japan was incredible. All the people there were so thoughtful. We were really treated like royalty. We had a liaison with us. She was our translator. She went everywhere with us. She was honestly something like 90 pounds, 5-foot-1. We would have all this gear with us when we went to practice. There would be two of us carrying a cooler of water off the bus to get to practice and she would run up to us and take the cooler and not let us carry it the rest of the way. Random people would come up to us and help us carry our stuff -- they were  just so thoughtful there. That made it awesome.

On touring Japan: We were in four different cities. Each one was like a different way you would think of Japan. We were in Tokyo for the semifinals and final, and that was busy, lots of lights, lots of stores. My favorite city was Hiroshima. It was really clean, really nice, not that crowded. We went to Miyagi. It was more rural farmland. 

In Hiroshima we went to Peace Park, where the memorial is for where we dropped the bomb. When we were in Miyagi we went to the coast that got hit by the tsunami.  Then in Tokyo we went to the U.S. ambassador's house, and we played soccer with middle school kids in his backyard.

On the visit to Hiroshima: It's a very important piece of history for them and for us. It's was a very somber time. We took pictures, but no goofing around.  We visited the museum and as a team, we left a wreath and had a moment of silence. It was really cool to learn about it. It says so much about the Japanese people as a whole.  I think the way we approached it was being respectful. There's a wall in the museum that is letters of protest. Every time a country sets off a test of a nuclear bomb, they send a letter to the president or the leader saying, "Please don't do this. Look what it's done." 

On the crowds: It was more people than I had ever played soccer in front of. There were probably a couple thousand in our group games. They love the U.S. team. Once we got to Tokyo to the stadium for the final, Japan played before us, so that game was packed and our game was packed as well.

A learning experience: I learned so much while I was over there. My biggest takeaway was I learned how to be a better teammate because that role was a different role on a team than I have ever had. I learned how to come up alongside one of my teammates who was maybe tired at halftime or was having a bad day at practice. That was really important for me.

And obviously, playing against the best players in the country in practice. ... I loved going to practice every day because I knew I was going to be playing against the top backs in the country, and I knew they would push me. I honestly feel like after the camps and after this month, I came back a completely different player.

Where's the gold? It's in my backpack because I have teammates and coaches who want to see it. Its permanent home is going to be with one of my jerseys signed by the whole team. I'm going to get all of it framed and put the gold medal in it. 

Your favorite moment? Other than winning gold?

OK, second favorite? My second favorite part was the team and being with the girls. I was pleasantly surprised at how welcoming they were to me. They had been together for a year and half. They had players come in and out of camps. Overall, they looked at 70 players for the team. But there was 18 who had been together for a year and a half. From my first camp, they were so welcoming. They treated me like a member of the team. I absolutely loved hanging out with them on the field and off the field. I definitely made some great friendships that I have today and will have in the future.

Thought about hoops? I have been going to our team workouts. I put on some basketball shorts for the first time in about six months and went in and shot the basketball. My shoulder was a little sore afterward, nothing big, but it was nice to be back on the hardwood. I'm focused on soccer right now, but I'm really excited for how our basketball team looks as well. I'm excited to jump back into that once soccer is over.