Who helped the Mercury veterans when they were rookies?
By Alex Simon
Sandy Brondello (First pro playing experience: 1988 Australian national team)
Player: Michele Timms
“I got to play with her on the Australian team from the age of 18, and she’s three years older than me. Just the way that she came to practice, she always practiced hard, 100%,” Brondello said. “She just taught me it’s hard work. Not just playing with her with the Opals, but overseas in Germany, too, and that was more like, ‘Wow, okay, this is a whole other level.’ She was the biggest one. And with Tom Maher, the Australian coach, we practiced really hard. It was a grind, it was a grind, but it made you mentally tough and physically strong.”