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June 22, 2001
CHARLOTTESVILLE-In her last weeks as a student at the University of Virginia, former women’s basketball player Elena Kravchenko found herslf packing for a trip that took her across the country to Phoenix, Arizona for pre-season training camp. Although not drafted in the 2001 WNBA draft, Kravchenko received an invitation to pre-season training camp with the Phoenix Mercury to compete for a position on the team.
“I wasn’t nervous, I didn’t expect to make the team but I just went out and tried my hardest,” said the Minsk, Belarus native. “I had nothing to lose.”
In comparison to college level, Kravchenko admitted that weekly practice is different.
“We have four games a week and we practice between games, so basically we practice three days a week,” she said. “The level of pressure is the same but you’re more responsible as a pro player.”
Thrown together from a variety of backgrounds, much of the training time was spent developing team chemistry.
“We spent a lot of time with the assistant coaches learning the plays and adjusting to playing together,” she said.
Besides basketball, Kravchenko found herself hanging out with players Pat Luckey (Houston ’96) and Nicole Kubik. In addition, she watched her favorite shows–Friends, the Cosby Show, Mad About You, and Golden Girls–and ate ice cream in her two bedroom apartment which was provided by the WNBA.
Pre-season training only lasted a month at Phoenix and Kravchenko is back in Charlottesville for the summer. She was given the option to stay but chose to return to Charlottesville to work. She maintains contact with both the Phoenix Mercury and the WNBA, and hopes to return next summer.
“I would like to play overseas then return to the WNBA and continue to play for several years,” she said.
For the time being, Kravchenko is working at the University’s Religious Studies Department. She hopes to earn her Ph.D. in religious studies someday and teach at a college level. Near future plans include going home to Russia in August, and enlisting in a professional basketball league either in France, Spain or Italy by September.