Sheryl Swoopes, the 6' - 0", 145 lb. WNBA Forward, came to UB's Alumni Arena in order to make an appearance before the UB Bulls Women's Basketball team's defeat of the W. Michigan Broncos 85-56, last Wednesday night. Swoopes, who came to speak in honor of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, is a member of the three time WNBA champion Houston Comets, an olympic gold medal winner, and a mother.

Patterning her game after his, Swoopes was not insulted when she was dubbed the "Michal Jordan of the WNBA." She was voted the 2000 WNBA Most Valuable Player as well as the 2000 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. She is also probably the most high profile athlete in the country that has returned to dominate her sport after giving birth to a child. Her son, Jordan, was born on June 25, 1997.

Swoopes has dominated women's basketball since her days at Texas Tech where her jersey was retired after she graduated in '93. Generation was able to sit down with her for a few minutes and found that she is a candid, down to earth athlete who has not let stardom go to her head. She is very concerned with the future of women's sports, especially basketball, and loves her career as a WNBA player. Here is what she had to say.

Generation: You visited UB for National Girls and Women in Sports Day. After your playing career is over, how involved do you see yourself being in women's basketball and events like this one?

Swoopes: I'm not to sure what I'm going to do after basketball. I want to saty involved (with basketball) in some kind of way because it has done so much for me and it has allowed me so may opportunities, that I want to be able to give something back to it. Obviuosly, I think that I would either go into the coaching field, or go into broadcasting. Just to be able to do stuff like this, to get women's sports out there, to get more people interested in women's sports is something that I want to be a part of.

G: How important is National Girls and Women in Sports Day?

S: I think it's very important to have days like this. Even though things have changed, I still think we have a long way to go. Just because your good (at sports) it doesn't mean that you're a tomboy or you're going to have that label. Little girls struggle with the idea that 'if I'm a great athlete, then people are going to think that I'm a tomboy.' They believe they have to make sacrifices; either be a great athlete and not be very feminine, or be very feminine and be terrible at the sport you play. I think it's very important for little girls to know that it's okay to do both. You can be a great athlete, and once you're off the court, you can go and get your nails done, and wear your high heels, and wear your makeup. I think it's important for them to know it's okay to do that, and the parents should encourage them to do it.

G: Do you consider yourself a role model?

S: Definitely. I think that's good. Growing up, I didn't have that female role model to look up to and say, 'someday I'm going to be like her,' because I didn't have the opportunity to watch women play. I heard about the Cheryl Millers, but I never had the opportunity to see her play.Today, little girls can watch (basketball) and they don't have to watch the NBA. They don't have to be like a player in the NBA, they have the WNBA, and they can look up to players in the WNBA, and I think that's important.

G: Can you dunk?

S: I might break a nail. No, I can't dunk.

G: Growing up, who was your biggest role model in sports?

S: Michael Jordan

G: Ive heard that you played Michael Jordan one on one before, what was the score?

S: It was 7 to 4.

G: That's not bad.

S: I won.

G: You did?

S: No, but you assume he just won.

G: Maybe you could take Kobe or something like that, but come on that's Jordan.

S: I could beat anyone on the Lakers right now.

G: How has your son changed your life and carreer?

G: The thing with being a parent now is that. Basketball has been wonderful for me, and I love it, and I wouldn't want to trade it for the world. But if someone said, 'Sheryl, you can't play basketball anymore' I would be hurt and devestated, but my son is evertything to me. He made me, not necessarily change my priorities, but change my whole outlook on life. Things that I thought were just so important and I just couldn't live without, they don't mean as much to me as they used to, being a parent. Being a single parent, there's not enough time in the day for me to spend with him, and do things that I want to do with him. My biggest concern is being a good parent and raising a good child. As much as I love basketball, if I had to stop doing that in order to be the best mom I can be, then I would do that.

G: What do you enjoy doing in your spare time and the offseason?

S: Shopping, pampering myself, getting my nails done, getting massages., going to the movies, I like to shoot pool, going on vacation and just spending time with my child.

G:You were the first woman to have a Nike shoe named after you. How did that feel?

S: It still feels good, I don't want to say it used to feel good because it still feels good. When I first found out that Nike was going to name a shoe after me. I was speechless, because I couldn't believe that, not just me, but that they were going to name a basketball shoe after a female athlete. For that athlete to be me, that obviously made it that much more special. I think that the thing that excited me the most about that was that I think it kind of opened up doors for a lot of other up and coming female athletes. It showed a lot of people that Nike really felt that women's sports were up and coming. That was a huge step for them to say, 'you know what? We're going to name a show after a female basketball player, not knowing how good or bad the shoe would do, it was a chance they took, and it's opened up so many opportunities for so many other female athletes out there today.

G: Do you feel that WNBA stars have gotten the support from corporate America in terms of endrsements and such?

G: No. I think...there are so many more opportunites out there for female basketball players. Obviously, the WNBA is still very young and I think we have a long way to go. I think that there's some great athletes and great female basketball players that just haven't been given an opportunity to market certain products or to get the type of endorsements that I feel we deserve...I think Venus Williams deal that she got is saying a lot for where women's sports are going as far as endorsements.