Zoe Camby, Candice Ford and Shelby Francis
"WIPS Unscripted Chronicles"
Women Inside Professional Sports
By Jazette Lane-English
What if he gets traded? What if he gets hurt? What happens when retirement comes? What if his career span is short? What if he remarries? The vicissitudes of life that occur with WIPS (Women Inside Professional Sports) would put a strain on their relationships with each other were it not for the bonds that they share. Unfortunately, there are some who can be shallow and dismissive of the efforts of the WIPS who “arrived” before them have done for the culture but overall WIPS as a whole understand that at any given time there can be a shift and you never know the position one might find herself in life. It’s important to treat each other with respect and develop respect founded in “roll out the bed ish”...no contract, no coins, no Chanel involved. |
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Bonnie Bryant
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I called my big sister, Bonnie Bryant (NBA Wife of the Legend Emmette Bryant) to get her take on the sacred bond that should be shared among women inside professional sports (WIPS)...sister to sister, she shared her wisdom with me.
“...But I always had a handle on the type of girlfriends I was looking for. You know...I had a code that I maintained and the kind of girlfriends that I liked around me were those who were secure within themselves...who played by the rules and the rules that I’m talking about are the girlfriend rules.” - Bonnie Bryant WIPS: Zoe, Shelby and Candace, my sisters too had a lot to say about the unspoken and spoken understanding about their bond.
“We don’t have a code per say but when we started hanging out we promised to make our friendship about “us” not out husbands’ jobs. That doesn’t mean if you needed to vent we wouldn’t be there but unless you needed to vent, we wanted the convos to be us related.” - Zoe Camby Shelby Francis shared - “I know I haven’t and I doubt my girls have felt any pressure from the changes of sports...Because sports never defined us! Basketball bought us together but our bond kept us together! I couldn’t ask for a better group of women to call my friends and sisters! One thing I’ve learned about life is nothing is promised, but if you stay true to you and the people that got your back, you will stay grounded and never sway!”
“The criteria for being in my circle is one in which we are supportive, nonjudgmental, and where we can be ourselves. So many times we meet people who are not in pro sports who have no “idea" of what our friendships look like, but with these ladies we can be just who we are. We are similar in a lot of ways so the friendship is easy. The friendship that I have with Shelby and Zoe has turned more into a sisterhood. The changes in professional sports have not changed us but actually have made our friendship more stronger. It forces us to level up and that's why I love them.” - Candace Ford It’s really important to have people near you with not only commonalities of interest and who are worthy of your loyalty but also people who just “get it”. Sometimes the only place WIPS feel we really fit in is with each other. WIPS come from all walks of life and can move in all kinds of circles successfully, but we feel most at home with each other. You have to live it to truly get it. |
Jazette & AJe’ English SpeakEnglish5, SCG “WIPS Unscripted Chronicles” |
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~Copa