Babies a Fact of Life in WNBA

UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- Maia Simone Franklin is the tiny center of attention in the Connecticut Sun training room.

Clad in bib overalls, the 6-month-old daughter of Sun forward Taj McWilliams-Franklin settles happily in the lap of guard Nykesha Sales, while several other players are iced and taped on tables surrounding her.

All the while, they coo and call to the newest member of the Sun family as her proud mother beams.

In less than two hours, Maia’s mom would block five shots and score 12 points -- including the game-winning bucket with 3.3 seconds left -- in the Sun’s 69-67 victory over Sacramento.

McWilliams-Franklin, 32, is one of 14 mothers in the 170-player WNBA.

The league’s framers anticipated some players would have to sit out part or all of a season during their career to start a family.

“We did go in recognizing we had a league of women of child-bearing age,” league President Val Ackerman said.

Ackerman just wasn’t prepared for how soon. In a phone call on Dec. 31, 1996, six months before the WNBA’s first game, she learned that Sheryl Swoopes of the Houston Comets -- the standard-bearer of the fledgling league -- was pregnant.

“She said, ‘Are you sitting down?’ After I recovered, I asked how (Swoopes) was feeling. I’ve been through it myself,” said Ackerman, a mother of two.

Swoopes returned about six weeks after giving birth to her son, Jordan. The Comets won the title that year and went on to win the next three.

“I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of losing high-profile players. We just accept it now as a fact of life,” Ackerman said. “The most important thing is that our players have healthy pregnancies and in turn have healthy children.”

The league, now in its seventh year, doesn’t provide formal child care, and players rely on various support systems. Some say it’s worth considering in future collective bargaining agreements.

“We focused more on basketball-related issues,” said McWilliams-Franklin, a former player representative. “Maybe down the line, when it’s time for a new breed of women to come in, that will be something that’s brought up.”

McWilliams-Franklin, whose husband, Reggie, is stationed in Italy with the U.S. Army, has a nanny.

But Helen Darling, the starting point guard for the Cleveland Rockers, and Astou-Diatta Ndiaye of Detroit have had to bolster their sitter list. Both are mothers of triplets.

Ndiaye delivered two boys and a girl in April. A 6-foot-3, 180-pound center, Ndiaye plans to rejoin the team by August.