Meet the Mountaineers’ Despena Dickerson
Despena joined the Mountaineers as a junior player and started representing her side in the Queensland Basketball League when she was about 16 years old.
Having mostly played in the Point Guard position, she now fills the position of Shooting Guard.
“I have found this is the perfect place for me, as I love to shoot the ball,” Despena said.
Her father is former professional basketball player and Mountaineers legend, Clarence ‘Pop’ Dickerson, which explains Despena’s love for the game.
“I was born into basketball and it has been my life for as long as I can remember,” she said.
Despena admires Damian Martin (Perth Wildcats, NBL) and often watches videos of him to emulate the way he plays.
“Defence is my favourite part of the game and he is best at it.”
In a sport of stereotypically tall players, Despena stands at just under 1.65 metres (five foot, four inches), but said this doesn’t really matter.
“Honestly, I think it’s all about how hard you work and that ultimately determines how great you’ll be and what advantages you’ll have — what you lack in height, you make up in speed, shiftiness, agility, and heart.”
With equal pay and opportunity being the biggest issue in women’s sport at the moment, Despena believes women should be making more noise about the discrepancies.
“The most valuable player in the WNBA made a mere $56,000 for her season, compared to a bench player in the NBA who makes a minimum of $4 million a year.
“In order to play an elite sport, you must be talented and you must work hard — something both men and women do.”