" What They Don’t Tell You About Playing Overseas." Meet EX Professional Basketball Player

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

My name is Dana Jones. I was born and raised in Gulfport, MS. Im 24 years old and I'm the youngest of six kids.

Did you go to college? What did you get your degrees in? After graduating high school in 2011, I attended East Carolina University in Greenville, NC on a full basketball scholarship. I studied business administration. After two years, I transferred to play ball at Texas Southern University in Houston, TX. I had to red shirt my first season there but luckily I was still on track to graduate on time. After two years, I graduated with a degree in Business Administration. I still had one year of eligibility left to play basketball so I decided to go to grad school at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ. I was able to play my last season and start earning my MBA in Sports Business which I just completed this past March.

What do you DREAM of doing for a living? I always dreamed of being a coach. I have other hobbies and things I enjoy doing but coaching is really my true dream job. Preferably at the college level. I feel like I can have more of an impact on my players’ lives off the court in a college setting. Growing up I would see coaches like Dawn Staley and Pat Summitt have players who would finish playing ball and have so much respect for their coaches and cherish the relationships they had while playing for them. That's what I dream of. How long have you played basketball? I started playing ball when I was four years old. I've been on a basketball team every season since then up until this past season after coming home from playing in Finland.

What do you love MOST about the game?

Well obviously I love the competitive aspect of it but what's most important to me is the relationships and connections you get to make while being apart of the basketball world. I've always had great relationships with my teammates at every school I've played at. I've been able to make so many friends and meet so many coaches/players even from other schools as well. I guess it's the family aspect that I appreciated the most. But playing ball comes with so many cool opportunities. I got to visit so many cool places that I probably would've never even gone to if it weren't for basketball. What made you want to play overseas? Playing professionally has always been a goal of mine. Honestly, after transferring schools so many times I just wanted to enjoy the game again. I wanted my last year to just be fun more than anything else bc the 4 years before didn't go anything like I had planned. I went to GCU just to play ball. I was mostly playing for my own personally satisfaction but I also wanted to prove that I was good enough to be playing Division I basketball. It wasn't until about half way through the season when I realized I might actually be able to go play professionally. My coaches were letting me and I was having fun and were having a decent season. I really wanted to try and get a coaching job/GA position after I finished playing but since I didn't I decided I would go play. I knew I wanted to stay close to the game so I kept training and waiting on my phone call.

Tell me what the experience was like. Well everybody has a totally different experience. Overseas life isn't for everybody. It takes a whole lot of sacrifice. You literally give up everything to go to another country just to play basketball. Each country is different, though. Some places will speak English and some won't. Some countries also have way more money than others. Luckily for me, people in Finland spoke English. The culture there was way different. It was super cold there. The sun wasn't out all the time. The people were really nice, though. Whenever I would be out grocery shopping or something someone would always come up to me and start talking. Sometimes I would have no clue what they were saying but they understood I was there to play ball so they would be excited about it.. There weren't many black people there so people would be amazed sometimes.

The time difference was probably the worst part though. I was 8 hours ahead of all of my family back home. When I would be waking up, they would still be sleep and by the time they would be getting home from work, I would be sleep. I had a very small window of time to make calls back home for the most part. So it gets lonely depending on how many other Americans might be on the team too and if you all are cool or not. I was living with another American but we mainly stayed to ourselves. There wasn't much for us to do in the city we were in. It was super small and the closest thing to it was about 45 mins away. We also didn't have a car so we weren't just out and about going places. I can say that they did pay us on time which isn't always the case for most players going overseas. Some countries will promise Americans things just to get them there like wifi, money, certain living arrangements, etc. It's common for players to get to countries and then find out they either aren't getting paid the amount they were promised or they get paid late or even not at all.

Some countries also don't take basketball as serious as we do here in America.

We workout multiple times a day and are very particular about our training but it wasn't like that where I was. It was way less structured. I would have to workout on my own most days because I felt like like I wasn't getting much out of practice. I ran and lifted weights on my own and would get shots up in the gym whenever it would be free. I spent all summer training thinking it would be super intense when I got there and it was nothing like that. Practices were chill, nothing like college. But I know it's not like that everywhere.

Was the experience worth the sacrifice? Honestly, for me, no. I would rather stay in the states, close to my family, but that's just me. I'm grateful to have had the experience for sure though because now I know. I wasn't always sure if I wanted to go overseas but now I can say that I at least tried it. I won't have to live with the regret of not giving it a shot. I'm still not sure if I'll go back or not but at least now I'll know what to expect. It would be different if I was a guy and was making way more money but for women the pay isn't as high so we have to go about it a different way when it comes to deciding whether or not we want to continue playing or not.

What have you learned from playing overseas?

One thing I learned was just how risky the business side of basketball can be. I always liked to play ball bc I genuinely loved the game. But once it became my job(playing in college and overseas) I realized that most of the time the business side is what matters most and that can be hard to adjust to at first. You have to separate your personal feelings just like you would in any other profession. Would you do it again? Under what conditions? I would do it again depending on the money and the country. And maybe if I could bring someone with me, like a significant other, close friend, family member, etc. My dad actually played in Finland back in the day and he took my mama with him. If I would've had somebody there with me I may have had a slightly better experience. I would've rather shared the experience with someone important to me than to be over there totally by myself.

What advice would you give to a high school girl who wants to play overseas one day? Focus on going to college first. Stay in the gym so you can put up the best numbers to give yourself a better chance to end up playing in a country where you can be paid more and have a more fun experience off the court as well. I would encourage them all to try it if they have the opportunity. Like I said, everyone has had a different experience.

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