“I Inspire So Many Different People”: Angel Reese Addresses Stressful Environment for Women Athletes

The Chi Barbie is no stranger to the stress that every aspect of her life has brought to her. Whether you talk about getting tagged as the villain after being on the receiving end of the threats or being criticized for trash-talking to her opponents, Angel Reese has been at the epicenter of it all. Now that she is in the WNBA, the defensive hooper shared how she stays collected through such situations and how she wants other women athletes to follow suit.

In her recent introductory press conference with the Chicago media, Reese answered on the harsh environments for women athletes. Reflecting on her personal experience with the situations, she addressed how she stays unapologetically herself. She said, “I have a great support system. I think I’m really strong. I think I inspire so many different people.”

The new No. 5 of the Sky also mentioned how it is a challenging time for athletes today with the involvement of social media platforms. She said, “Crazy things happen and transpire. I just try to be inspirational and just try to stand strong with everything. Hopefully, I can inspire other girls, even girls that are older than me or younger than me. It’s tough days but just being able to push through every day, just being able to just stand strong.”

Angel Reese has previously been in the spotlight for crying at her Elite Eight press conference after LSU lost to the Hawkeyes. However, the trolling did not end there. While she has been a driving force for women’s basketball and has seen many good days, her end of bad ones was also quite full. She also gave another example of how being competitive on the floor has nothing to do with how the girls are outside the lines.

“We’re just competitors”: Angel Reese on her relationships with other 2024 draftees

The Baltimore native is definitely one of those athletes today who had to continuously defend and define her relationship with her peers. Especially when Caitlin Clark comes into focus. The same thing happened when Sky paired Reese with the 2024 NCAA champion Kamilla Cardoso. She took it to her X account, saying that the best part of New York was getting to know all the athletes that she had been competing hard against over the years.

Reese shared her thoughts on this, “I met so many of the great girls, and being able to talk to them and being able to understand that it’s literally just basketball. We’re just here to compete. Like me and Kamilla competed hard all year as everybody’s known, but we’re just competitors. That’s just what we do.” Seems like after being labeled as the villain on the Tigers’ roster, Reese is on duty to ensure a calm mindset.

It is great to see that despite so many black clouds hovering over her, Reese has always focused on the silver lining. As she begins a new journey, it will be interesting to see how she dodges the curveballs that the world throws her way.