Former WNBA guard Stiles passes on lessons

Jackie Stiles swears she is trying to relax.

As she explains life post-basketball, her right leg betrays her.

"I have to learn," she said as her leg bounced up and down, evidence of her boundless energy. "That's what ended my career. I was kind of out of balance."

Stiles crafted herself into the career points leader in NCAA women's basketball history with 3,393 and led unheralded Southwest Missouri State to the 2001 Final Four. That year, Stiles was named the nation's top player and was drafted fourth in the WNBA, where she earned Rookie of the Year honors.

Not bad for a 5-foot-8, 140-pound guard from Claflin, Kan., a town of 600 where Stiles' graduating class had 24 members.

The last WNBA game of her first season proved to be her curtain call. Thirteen surgeries and five years later, a pile of overuse injuries forced Stiles to choose a new direction. That path brought her to Evangelical Christian Academy on Thursday to coach a clinic held in Sabin Middle School's gym.

"She's the hardest-working athlete I've ever worked with," said ECA boys coach Don Bost, who works as an athletic trainer and met Stiles while she recovered from one of her surgeries. "I had to hold her back. She never thought she'd done enough."

With his thumb and index finger an inch apart, Bost said, "If the kids take away this much of her work ethic, it'll be worth it."

Though Stiles is unable to run the floor as she used to - her body can't tolerate much impact - most of the 50 boys and girls in attendance got the message.

"She took 1,000 shots a day and she stayed until she made them all," sophomore Sydney Bost said.

Added freshman Chelsea Kohl: "That took 4 hours. Every day."

The very example that sums up Stiles' all-or-nothing attitude also partially explains her body's surrender. A right-handed shooter, her recurring injuries were to her right ankle, shoulder and wrist.

"I was like an old car," she said. "I'd put in a lot of work, but the parts just weren't working."

So at 26, Stiles moved to Wichita, Kan., where she finally met a challenge she couldn't beat with 1,000 shots.

Two hours from home, Stiles didn't have an instant network of teammates or family nearby. And jobs required interviews and resumes, not tryouts or fitness tests.

"It was kind of intimidating," said Stiles, who encountered depression. "It was tough to adjust. I'm so driven, it was hard not knowing what to do."

Now 29, Stiles has built a business around basketball - giving lessons, running camps and personal training. She has started broadcasting sports and also gives motivational speeches.

Not surprisingly, she's no slouch.

In the past six days, Stiles attended a wedding in Dodge City, Kan., ran clinics in Scott City, Kan., coached clients in Wichita and drove to Colorado Springs and back. She also manages to fit in at least 250 miles per week cycling, a sport she considered pursuing full-time.

"I can't do anything halfway," she said.

Looking back, Stiles said she would change small things, such as getting more sleep and taking one day off per week, but she doesn't waste much - if any - of that energy springing through her foot on regret.

"I didn't want to look back and say, ‘I wish I worked a little bit harder,'" she said.