Storm
No Games, plenty of fun for Vodichkova

By Jayda Evans
Seattle Times staff reporter

THOMAS JAMES HURST / THE SEATTLE TIMES Kamila Vodichkova, right, (playing against New York Liberty's Tari Phillips) will not play in the Olympics for her country, Czech Republic, a decision she calls "stupid."

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Often after games, Storm center Kamila Vodichkova slouches in her locker-room chair and watches as reporters whiz around her. The repetitive bustling in every city is around the same two players — Olympians Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson.

For Vodichkova, a 6-foot-4 virtual no-name in the WNBA, the spectacle is a welcome break from her star role with teams in Russia or her native Czech Republic.

"Sometimes it's nice to watch somebody who has all the attention and know in a way that you're a part of that," she said. "I don't need all the highlights."

Then Vodichkova sits upright to release a big sigh.

"Now I'm a highlight person as well because I'm not going to the Olympics; everyone keeps asking about it," she said.

Since news broke in July that Vodichkova wasn't added to the Czech Republic national team because she chose to return to the states for her fifth WNBA season, an outcry has come from her hometown of Litomerice to Seattle.

Many couldn't believe the omission of Vodichkova, who is regarded as her country's top player and was an Olympian in the Barcelona Games and leader of the Russian team that won the league championship in the spring.

But she said she knew it was coming because she injured her foot last summer, which caused her to miss games with the national team. According to Vodichkova, the one-person Olympic committee called the injury intentional and blamed Storm coach Anne Donovan.

Instead of flying to Athens, Vodichkova is headed to Prague, then Litomerice to visit family for the WNBA's 10-day break for non-Olympians. But she won't escape the Games. According to her mother, Vodichkova is the biggest news in Litomerice, an old city situated along two rivers. The player built like a rower is featured on television and in pre-Olympic magazines.

"It was a stupid decision," said Vodichkova, who is averaging 8.5 points and 5.2 rebounds this WNBA season. "But it's a closed issue for me. I don't want to go. I want to spend time with my family."
 
Hearing how American women can't wait for the Athens Games, Vodichkova's statement reads like propaganda to soothe hurt feelings. It's not.

"She's looking forward to her vacation," said center Simone Edwards, Vodichkova's best friend on the Storm. "She was saying that, if she went, she'd have to practice and all that. She figures she'd have more fun here. She loves Seattle and the whole experience here."

Vodichkova, 31, was just 19 when she played in her only Olympics, in 1992. Czechoslovakia finished sixth with a 1-4 record, including a 111-55 opening loss to Team USA.

Her memories are of the men's debut of the Dream Team, however. A fan of Olympian Charles Barkley, Vodichkova said she was in the stands when the Americans captured the gold medal. But the pictures are a little blurry.

"It was a big distance, and the flash blinked everything," she said, "but it was a lot of fun."

After going home, Vodichkova will return to practice with Storm teammates. And she'll have to acclimate herself again to all the things that have stunned her since arriving as the franchise's first draft pick in 2000.

First was how big everything is. Then all of the food that seemingly overflowed into the streets in the form of fast-food restaurants, coffee stands and fine dining everywhere she looked. Coming from a country that finally wrestled itself from communist rule in 1989, it could have been overwhelming if Edwards weren't around.

"We were sitting next to each other for the very first meeting, and (former coach) Lin Dunn said something, and I said, 'Well, I speak Jamaican and she speaks Czech, and we're doing pretty well communicating,' " Edwards said with a laugh. "We're two foreigners and have been roommates since the beginning. We know each other well."

Aside from Edwards liking the hotel rooms hot like her island homeland and Vodichkova liking it colder, the only Storm originals are a self-made support group.

When Vodichkova is frustrated from fouling out in a game, Edwards is there to order the late-night chicken wings and Caesar salad to eat while dissecting what happened. Or to recall a funny moment, like the time when they were watching a movie and two blonde characters from the Czech Republic were named Simone and Kamila.

And no hug is tighter than Vodichkova's when Edwards plays well in her place, such as the Minnesota game in which the latter scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds after Vodichkova had fouled out.

"The fouls frustrated the heck out of her. She said, 'They put a foul tag on me,' " Edwards said of Vodichkova, who's averaging three fouls. "Kamila is not one to argue or even show it until we get back to the room, though. That's why it's so important for me to go in and play well so there's no pressure on her, so that she doesn't feel like it's her fault."

As far as basketball goes, nothing is. Whether it's the Olympics or fouls, Vodichkova finds a way to find peace with other's decisions and walks away smiling at the chance to even have had the experience at all.

"She gets overlooked a lot, which is kind of sad because she does so much for us," Bird said. "She's our glue. But she never shows emotion on the court. She just does her job."

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com