Los Angeles Sparks forward Cameron Brink is speaking out about the reaction to her team’s recent announcement regarding open tryouts for male practice players.
Brink addressed the issue on a recent episode of “Straight to Cam”, her podcast with Sydel Curry-Lee — sister of Golden State Warrior Steph Curry — expressing discomfort over the nature of replies on social media to the Sparks’ March 9 announcement. The tryout flyer, which featured photos of Brink, Dearica Hamby, Rickea Jackson and Kelsey Plum, drew a large amount of attention online — and some inappropriate comments.
“I’m like embarrassed for all these mean … All of the comments are just completely out of pocket. I guess my confession is I’m really icked out by the potential new practice players,” Brink said on the March 17 episode. “All the comments are like, ‘Let Cameron Brink back me down,’ or something about Rickea or something about Kelsey.”
While WNBA teams often practice against male players, Brink said the Sparks have typically scrimmaged with male athletes from the University of Southern California. Those players also help USC women’s basketball team during practices.
The public tryout format — and the online reactions that followed — raised concerns for Brink.
“Who are we trusting coming into this gym” she said. “I’m not boxing anyone out. Lynne (Roberts), our new coach, is gonna be screaming at me for not rebounding. But I’m not boxing out anyone.”
Curry-Lee responded by noting, “They need to go through heavy HR training,” referencing the need for proper vetting before any new practice players join team activities.
“Just the nerve to sit there on their phones,” and make inappropriate comments, Curry-Lee said.
Brink added, somewhat jokingly, that she would prefer the players be gay if it meant creating a more comfortable environment.
The Sparks’ post has since generated more than 43 million views.
The tryouts are scheduled for April 12 in Torrance, California.
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