{"id":1491,"date":"2011-09-15T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2011-09-15T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/?p=1491"},"modified":"2011-09-12T16:05:40","modified_gmt":"2011-09-12T20:05:40","slug":"wnba-star-ruth-riley-prepares-for-the-2011-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/09\/wnba-star-ruth-riley-prepares-for-the-2011-playoffs.html","title":{"rendered":"WNBA star Ruth Riley prepares for the 2011 playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ruth Riley (center) huddles up with her team during a timeout (Photo by Chad Bonham)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tonight marks the start of the 2011 WNBA Playoffs. Tomorrow night will be the first game between Western Conference opponents (1) Minnesota and (4) San Antonio. Following the Silver Stars final game of the season in Tulsa, Inspiring Athletes had a chance to catch up with two-time WNBA champion and 2003 WNBA Finals MVP Ruth Riley:<\/p>\n

Chad Bonham: What does it take to do well in the WNBA Playoffs?<\/p>\n

Ruth Riley: Playoff basketball is a whole different game. It becomes more physical. It becomes more about execution. You see a little less scoring because the defense picks up. Every possession is important. You\u2019re going to find a lot of that coming into the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How important is it for you to have these opportunities that increase your platform as a Christian athlete?<\/p>\n

Riley: It\u2019s a great opportunity as an athlete to continue on and play in the playoffs and have a greater platform to use the gifts and abilities that God\u2019s given you, ultimately for His glory. That\u2019s why we go out there and play. You know I\u2019m fortunate here in San Antonio. We have a lot of believers on this team. That definitely gives us a bond beyond what we\u2019re trying to do on the court.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How much of a difference does it make when there are so many like-minded individuals on the same team?<\/p>\n

Riley: I\u2019ve definitely been on teams where you don\u2019t have that. Detroit was more of a personal journey for me. But it\u2019s exciting as an athlete to have others believers beside you that you can encourage in their game and their walk with Christ. We\u2019re all striving to be like Christ. It creates a different atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Is it fun playing against other Christians like Tamika Catchings?<\/p>\n

Riley: Tamika is the hardest player to play against. It\u2019s just amazing the heart and passion that she puts into every possession on offense and defense. She\u2019s an unbelievable example for me as another player in the league and for the fans who love watching women\u2019s basketball.<\/p>\n

Follow the WNBA Playoffs by visiting the league’s official website HERE<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends! Tonight marks the start of the 2011 WNBA Playoffs. Tomorrow night will be the first game between Western Conference opponents (1) Minnesota and (4) San Antonio. Following the Silver Stars final game of the season in Tulsa, Inspiring Athletes had a chance to catch up with two-time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[387,3,5,4],"tags":[671,585,589,344,662],"class_list":["post-1491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basketball","category-christian-athletes","category-sports-features","category-sports-news","tag-minnesota-lynx","tag-ruth-riley","tag-san-antonio-silver-stars","tag-tamika-catchings","tag-wnba-playoffs"],"yoast_head":"\nWNBA star Ruth Riley prepares for the 2011 playoffs - Inspiring Athletes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WNBA star Ruth Riley prepares for the 2011 playoffs - Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click “Like” to share this with your friends! 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Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1491"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1496,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1491\/revisions\/1496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}