This article is part of our Series Life on the other side of the gamewhich explores the lessons former athletes have learned in retirement about success, fulfillment and perspective.
Every December, Tamika Ketchings asks herself two questions: What is important to me? And what impact do I want to have?
Based on her answers, she chooses a single word that can embody it all. It becomes her “word” for the year, a way to simplify her everyday life.
Catchings, 47, developed this process only after her decorated basketball career: WNBA MVP and champion, Olympic gold medalist and 2020 inductee into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
After basketball, she said she had to learn how to do things differently. Choosing one word to guide her each year became the starting point. And that was also the starting point of our conversation about the changes she made in her second act.
(Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and length.)
You’ve started to frame all your goals around one word. What made you do that at that point in your life?
As a professional athlete, your schedule is everything. It was mostly like this: I get up at 6:30, I leave at 6:45, and I’m in the gym at 7. It’s very organized.
For me, thinking about your goals goes hand in hand with knowing your schedule. Now I’m 10 years removed, and I still have that struggle. I don’t have a consistent schedule every day. Every day is so different. So it’s a little harder to say, “Okay, I’m going to score this.”
To me, being locked into one word gives you flexibility throughout your life.
My word for this year is intentional. Maximize time, be intentional about family and friendships and things I’m engaged in. I don’t just float.
You can get into that mindset after basketball. Like, I don’t have to go to practice. I don’t want to go through this.
Focusing on one word helps me stay a little more focused.
How did that change things for you, or maybe change the way you think?
The goal of each season was always to win the championship. Get better as an individual, get better as a team, but win a championship. You are not in the team now.
When I graduated, my first role was Director of Player Programs and Franchise Development for Pacers Sports & Entertainment. I remember being sent to Fort Wayne for our junior league at that time. I remember going up there, and when I came back, they said, “Okay, did you send in the expense report?” I’m like, “What the hell is that?”
I had no idea the whole time. How do I do this? There were no instructions.
For so long, my whole life was about the things I knew. I knew the steps I needed to take to succeed on the field. Now you’re transferred to the other side and you’re thrown into a role and no one really explains what you’re supposed to do.
You study, but it’s like drinking water from a fire hose. My perspective has changed.
The first time we had a home game for the Fever, after I shot, I said, “Okay, see you at the game.” And they were like, “Where are you going?” I said, “Well, I’ll go back to the game.” Like, no, it takes a lot of work from shot to game. You can’t just show up.
As players, that’s what we do. We show up, we play, we go home, we take a nap, we get food, we get ready for the game, we go back to the gym and you don’t realize all the people that put things together so that we come back and we don’t have to worry about anything else.
I lived with blinds. Rightfully so; that was my job, that was my profession. But I had to take those blinders off and really look at it, “OK, now what?”
Alan Page’s definition of “seeking excellence”
Elise Devlin
I’m sure you learned a lot about yourself too.
The first word I framed was grace. I had to give myself some grace, honestly, because I’m such a perfectionist. I want things done the right way. I want things to be done at a high level.
On the court, you shoot 60 percent? You should be in the gym – no days off. My way of thinking has always been that you have to do the best you can.
And I think on the other hand, because there are so many things I didn’t know, I would be frustrated with myself.
I had to learn to give myself grace and say, Hey, you know what? You are learning this. Like everyone else who gets into this situation, they have to learn how to do the job. Some people have a lot more experience, so they can do things faster and get things done. You will get there.
Do you feel like your view of success has changed?
It’s funny you ask, because I need to celebrate small successes better. It’s always like, “Okay, we’ve accomplished this. Check it out. Now on to the next one.”
When we last spoke, you said that you now realize that not achieving all of your goals isn’t necessarily a sign of failure. You may grow in other areas first before you get there.
I’m in such a different season now too. I don’t know if I told you this, but now we have a son. My husband and I have a son.
Wow, congratulations!
Thank you! So it was happening and we didn’t announce it right away. We waited because at first I was like, “I just want something for us. I don’t want to share with the world.” Because I know the next question would be, “So, how are you going to do all that?”
Now we introduce him, and he goes with us to various places. My life has changed; my perspective has changed. My time has changed. What I want to do has changed.
What I find myself doing more is: wait a minute. It was always go, go, go, go, go, and my family would always be like, “You’re so busy. You always have something. You don’t have time off.”
I feel like it’s something I intended more, and part of it is with our son. I want to be in his life, and I want to be there. It’s important for me to be present, so I relax a bit and I’m fine with that.
I used to try to fit in with other people and other people’s schedules, and now I’m fine and I’m like, “Yeah, I don’t have time.”
On the other hand, is there anything else in your basketball career? Or something that never left you?
Discipline and time management. Actually, I think with basketball you get to a point where it’s: Do the main thing, the main thing.
I think it’s the same thing for me going into motherhood, and I’m still talking and commenting and all these different things.
So my main thing right now is my son and my family. Everything else comes after that. But that’s where intentionality and discipline come from. I’m not perfect, but I’ve found that, from a basketball standpoint, it’s definitely a transferable area.
I always leave it open at the end. Is there anything else that comes to mind when you think about your different careers and versions of yourself?
It was the year after I finished playing basketball that I focused on not saying no and being open to trying new things. When you’re a professional athlete, there are things you can’t do. You cannot ride scooters; there were many restrictions in your contract.
So early on, right when I retired, my first focus was to be open to new things. I think that’s really important not only as a transitioning professional athlete, but for anyone transitioning.
Sometimes we are locked in like that, I have to do this. That’s what I’m good at. I’m just going to do this. And then you don’t open your horizons. I feel it is important for all of us.
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