| Olajuwon Living Her Dream |
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Olajuwon living her dream in the WNBA
The former Sooner beats out Courtney Paris for the final roster spot.
Abi Olajuwon, playing for the Sky in a preseason game, said she and Courtney Paris decided to support each other.
 As a three-year understudy of Courtney Paris, Abi Olajuwon admits she learned a thing or two from her mentor.
"She taught me so much," Olajuwon said in a phone interview on Sunday. "I got the chance to see what both Courtney and Ashley (Paris) liked about playing overseas. Their likes and dislikes. Courtney also played in the WNBA last year and sort of told me what to expect."
What the mentor and pupil didn't expect was that a final roster spot with the Chicago Sky would come down to the two former Oklahoma teammates.
"It's definitely been a whirlwind," said Olajuwon in a telephone interview from Connecticut, where she made her WNBA debut, scoring two points in seven minutes. "Just over a month ago, we were in San Antonio for the Final Four. At the beginning of the year, I wasn't on (any WNBA) radar. Then I get drafted. And not only getting drafted, but making a team; it's been a remarkable year."
Olajuwon shed 30 pounds last summer, hoping to make the most of her senior year at Oklahoma. She averaged 10.6 points and 7.3 rebounds in 2009-10 to help lead the Sooners to back-to-back Final Four appearances for the first time in school history.
"I dreamed big, which was getting our team back to the Final Four," she said. "For me, that was just such a huge concept in itself. The fact that now I'm in the WNBA, I couldn't even imagine. No one was even considering me at the beginning of the year."
She said she has endured her share of hazing already.
"I went from being
a senior and mentor to our younger players to the bottom of the totem pole with veterans calling me rookie and telling me to carry their bags," she said with a laugh. "Sure, you are excited to be there but you are starting over all over again. But it's all been fun."
Olajuwon has also seen the cut-throat side of the WNBA.
"I saw with Ashley last year and this year just how much a business this can be," Olajuwon said, referring to Ashley Paris being let go by Phoenix and Los Angeles. "I feel fortunate to get to this point of making a roster especially after getting drafted in the third round. But it makes me appreciate every day in practice."
It also brought its share of stress. Olajuwon and Courtney Paris were expected to learn their fate on May 10, but it was 48 hours later before the Sky made a decision on which ex-Sooner to keep.
"Courtney and I talked, and we decided that whatever happened we would support one another," Olajuwon said. "When I finally found out I had made the team, I just exhaled. And then I slept. I hadn't been sleeping much before then."
Making the roster meant Olajuwon would miss graduation, which was last week in Norman.
"I guess if I had to miss, this was a pretty good reason," she said. "I called my mom (Lita Richardson) and dad (former NBA great Hakeem Olajuwon) and told them to change their tickets, they wouldn't be going to Norman.
"Mom was a little disappointed at first that I was missing graduation, but both mom and dad know how happy I am to be on a WNBA team. I still have my cap and gown. Mom said I have to have pictures taken."
She also signed a two-year contract that will send her to Hungary once the WNBA season is over.
"That's very exciting," she said. "I mean, I'm living out my dream and I get paid to do it."
Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=413&articleid=20100519_29_B1_Chicag935245
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