The day Rickea Jackson decided she wanted to be great
Anyone who watches Jackson can see it. There are a lot of reasons why the Detroit native will thrive in the pros with her size and skillset. From her silky smooth jump shot to her finishing ability to her uptick in rebounding this season, it’s not hard to guess why WNBA scouts and general managers have made appearances at Tennessee’s games.
After Jackson scored a game-high 19 points against No. 1 South Carolina, coach Dawn Staley said the 6-foot-2 senior is a “top pick in the WNBA draft, without a doubt.”
It’s not just her natural talent and abilities on the court that have gotten her here, though. Jackson has become one of the best in the nation because of her relentless pursuit of becoming great, her competitive fire and her ability to meet the moment — and because when she could have quit, she didn’t.
Jackson’s first basketball practice was unforgettable.
Caryn Jackson took her daughter to a Michigan Crossover practice not long after she decided she wanted to play basketball heading into seventh grade. As the players started ball handling drills to warm up, the rhythmic thumping of dribbling echoed across the gym.
It was the only sound that filled the quiet gym besides Jackson crying.
Rickea couldn’t dribble, while the players around her did so with two balls, between their legs or behind their backs. As hard as she tried, Rickea couldn’t keep up. She felt defeated. And for the next 21⁄2 hours, she cried.
It wasn’t just sniffling here and there. It was full-blown crying, to the point that the parents, who had never seen her play before, gently encouraged her from the bleachers.
The crying continued in the car as Caryn drove her daughter home. She only made it a block before pulling over to ask Rickea a question.
“Do you want to be good? Or do you want to be great?” Caryn asked. Rickea had surely inherited some of her mother’s basketball genes. Caryn played at Kansas before she won a national championship with Lansing Community College.
Rickea could beat a lot of girls because of her natural talent, Caryn explained. But if she wanted to be great, that was another thing entirely. It meant sacrificing a lot of things in life.
“You’re going to have to put in the work when other people are sleeping,” Caryn said. “But it’s totally up to you. I would never force you to do that.”
Rickea looked straight at her, the tears still in her eyes, and said, “Ma, I want to be great.”
So they stopped and bought two basketballs on the way home, and Rickea