Stopping trouble in WNBA bubble
nounced no positive tests for the third week in a row.
In the WNBA “wubble” (a word the league plans to trademark), the only positive tests came at the beginning, from players who arrived positive and were quarantined. There have been no announced positive tests since.
When Chang originally was contacted about the position, she was going to decline. Being sequestered in Florida didn’t sound great. But her daughter Carlin, a former professional soccer player, urged her to go, saying, “You’ve got to work with these elite female athletes.”
Chang, whose background is in family medicine with a specialty in sports medicine, was a good fit. Of the more than 300 people inside the wubble, the ages range from toddlers — several players have brought their children — to coaches in their 70s.
The director of UCSF’s sports medicine fellowship program, Chang also brought her fellow, Dr. Ginger Cupit, to Bradenton with her — allowing an opportunity for handson sports medicine in a year with precious few sports. The two of them worked with a nurse practitioner and two RNs to handle everything from sports injuries (like rookie Sabrina Ionescu’s ankle injury) to driving players in “clean” cars to local hospitals for MRIs and other tests.
Chang was struck by the disparity between the care the WNBA players were receiving and what NBA players get, based on what she learned from colleagues inside the Orlando bubble.
“The resources are just so much different,” Chang said. “That was the challenging part. There was such a discrepancy between the two leagues. I was working 1618 hours a day, up until 2 a.m. every night. Some of the other staff had never worked in that kind of environment, where you’ve got to be on all the time, and get players ready to play.”
Chang had experienced that kind of urgency, both during her years at Cal and as chief medical officer for both the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing and the 2012 London Olympics. This summer she reconnected with people she’d previously worked with, including former Cal basketball coach Marianne Stanley, now the head coach of the Indiana Fever, as well as former Cal players Reshanda Gray (L.A. Sparks) and Layshia Clarendon (New York Liberty).
Chang was particularly impressed with the WNBA players’ committed stance on social justice. The players have dedicated the season to Breonna Taylor, the Louisville EMT who was killed by police inside her own apartment last spring. They have held a 26second moment of silence (for Taylor’s age) before games. They have united against one of the league’s part owners, U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, RGa., who has tried to silence them. The league has been on the forefront of the fight for social justice for years.
“It is such a united message,” Chang said. “And the WNBA supports them. They have really sent a message. And I absolutely think it is energizing them.”
The players’ messaging has been strong. They’ve been selling “Put women’s sports on TV” and “Say Her Name” Tshirts. Their orange logo hoodie became the hottest attire in the NBA bubble, as the male players showed their support of their WNBA counterparts.
After a month in the wubble, Chang left with a new appreciation for the league and its players. She is enthusiastic about the prospect of the Bay Area getting a WNBA team, which Warriors owner Joe Lacob has said he is committed to in the future.
Until then, the dedicated sports fan and physician will be watching the players she cared for on television. The regular season lasts through Sept. 12, followed by the playoffs.
So far, the wubble is working.