Heal ‘mature’ on return to WNBL, eager for fresh start
Jasper Bruce |
Shyla Heal says she returns to the WNBL a more mature person for her “tough” last season in Australia and is eager for a fresh start with Geelong United.
When she began to consider a homecoming, the 23-year-old guard said she only had eyes for the expansion franchise in the city where father Shane first established himself as a mainstay of Australian basketball almost 40 years ago.
Heal will wear the No.23 her father donned at the Geelong Supercats between 1989 and 1991 as she plots to help United rise up the ladder in their second WNBL season.
“It was a pretty easy choice for me to come play in Geelong, I really wasn’t looking for any team in Australia other than here,” said Heal.
The upcoming WNBL campaign will be her first since 2022/23, when she abruptly left the Sydney Flames mid-season amid bullying claims levelled at her father, the team’s coach at the time.
The elder Heal levelled an unfair dismissal lawsuit at the Flames and was eventually awarded $5000 over missing payslips.
Shyla Heal joined the Townsville Fire on the push to their fourth WNBL championship that season, but said the saga nevertheless left its mark.
“Last time I was here, it was pretty tough, the season I had was a very unique one,” she said.
“Not many people throughout their whole basketball careers have to go through that and it was a very unique experience so I think that really matured me.
“I learnt a lot from that experience. It’s a setback, it happens and you cop it on the chin and keep going.
“Honestly, Geelong is starting out fresh, it’s a total, different and fresh start for me.”
Heal has played mostly in Europe in two years since her last WNBL appearance, with a stint in Turkey following time with sides in France, Israel and Poland.
In March, she had another brush with the WNBA joining the Phoenix Mercury for a training camp.
Heal notably played four games for the Chicago Sky as a first-round WNBA draft pick in 2021 before being traded to Dallas and immediately cut.
A full-time deal did not eventuate at the Mercury this time, with Heal saying the team’s style of basketball called for bigger guards than her.
But Heal, who has an option for a second season in her Geelong contract, is confident she is not far off a WNBA return.
“I will be there eventually, it’s just when the timing’s right,” she said.
“The experience (in Phoenix) was all really good, camp was great, they’re a great organisation.
“Because the Chicago experience was not good at all for me, I didn’t have big expectations going into it.
“(But) I’ve just taken so much confidence and I know I belong in the WNBA now. So now it’s really just working on my game back in Australia and playing it step by step helping Geelong.”
AAP
