By: Mechelle Voepel – espnW.com – Original Article
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The vest and the ball are a bit worn and don’t look all that intimidating. Yet A’ja Wilson has a visceral reaction to them.
“When I was younger, I just thought he was torturing me,” A’ja said of her father, Roscoe Wilson Jr. “When he’d pull that vest out of his car, I’d practically be in tears. It’s after practice, and I’m still there with the weight vest on, shooting layups. That was the hell part of the relationship.
“But the heaven part was that as I grew, I started to see my game change. I realized my dad was just being my coach. As I got older and basketball got more serious, I saw that, ‘This man may know some things, A’ja, so I suggest you listen to him.’”
She laughs about it now. A 6-foot-5 junior for sixth-ranked South Carolina, she’s one of the top players in women’s college basketball, an athletic hero who plays for her hometown university. But she once was a tall, skinny girl not sure she wanted anything to do with basketball — especially not the 20-pound vest and the 5-pound ball with which Roscoe would have her do the Mikan drill.
“Left hand, right hand, left hand, right hand,” Roscoe said, seeing it in his mind. “I’d tell her to always know where her feet should be, don’t bring her hands down below her shoulders. Now, it’s second nature.”