After an awesome college career and an Olympic gold medal, Sheryl Swoopes is enjoying being a star to both WNBA fans and her two-year-old son.

Sheryl Swoopes would appear to have the Midas touch: She has been part of three teams that have won five golden championships. In 1993, Texas Tech won the NCAA Division I Championship, and Swoopes collected Final Four MVP honors after setting an NCAA championship game record with 47 points against Ohio State. In 1996, she was part of the USA Women's Basketball Olympic Team that took gold in Atlanta. Since then, she has been a dominant player for the Houston Comets, the only champions the WNBA has known, capturing titles in 1997, 1998, and 1999.

Swoopes also proved that being a new mom and a great athlete are not mutually exclusive activities. She gave birth to son, Jordan, in June, 1997, but still managed to play the last nine games of the Comets' first championship season. On February 2, however, Swoopes announced that she will NOT be playing for the U.S. Olympic Team in 2000. Citing her reluctance to bring Jordan on a three-month playing tour, culminating in the Sydney Games, she withdrew her name from consideration for the squad.

During the 1999-2000 offseason, Swoopes has been involved in an activity that honored both sides of her life. She is the national spokesperson for the RSV Public Service Campaign. What's RSV? It stands for respiratory syncytial virus, a common, but often dangerous, respiratory virus that strikes premature babies and many children under the age of two. As part of the campaign to educate people about the threat of RSV and the measures that can be taken against it, Swoopes conducted a five-city "Take a Shot Against RSV" Tour, in which she spoke to high school crowds about basketball, babies, and staying healthy.

Recently, Swoopes sat down with Gball to give us the scoop on what she's been up to lately.

Gball: Can you tell us why you chose to get involved with the RSV campaign?
Sheryl Swoopes: Well, even though my son didn't have RSV, as a mom, I can definitely empathize with other mothers that there is a virus out there that's very serious and there are ways to prevent it. To get involved with the campaign against RSV was something that I was excited about--getting an opportunity to go around to different cities and spread the word about RSV, let people become aware of what exactly it is.

Most people know that you were a star at Texas Tech, but don't know that you started your collegiate career at South Plains College, a junior college in Levelland, Texas. Can you talk about why you took this path?
I initially signed to go play basketball at the University of Texas, a Division I school. I decided I didn't like it there and transferred. I didn't want to sit out a year [because of Division I rules that require an athlete to sit out a year of play if she transfers schools] and the only way I could avoid that was to go to a Division II school or a junior college. So I chose to go to junior college for two years. If I had to do it all over again, I'd do the same thing. Junior college definitely prepared me--not only in basketball but being out on my own, as well.

Do you think that junior college is a good option for a lot of girls out there?
It depends on how mature you are or what you're looking for--if you want to go far from home or close to home. In my case, I had never really been away from home. I'd always had my mom or someone else with me, so going to Austin [where the University of Texas is located] was a very major change. I would definitely recommend junior college because it prepares you for life--being out on your own, during the first year. Junior colleges are usually smaller than Division I schools so it allows you to adjust--adjust your schedule and your lifestyle to a bigger environment.

Why did you choose Texas Tech after South Plains?
Because it was close to home. My mom has always been my number-one fan, and it was very important to me that she was able to come up and watch me play throughout my college career.

Do you think your mom has had a big impact on who you are now?
Definitely. My mom has probably had THE biggest impact on who I am today.

What parts of your game are you working on the most right now?
I try to work on all areas of my game. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about offense because I'm the kind of player who feels that's going to happen when I get in the game. Right now, I'm focusing on my conditioning and weights--I'm trying to get stronger in my legs and my arms, and just be in really good shape. That's the most important part for me. When I get out on the court to play, I want to feel that I can go for 40 minutes non-stop and still feel that I'll be ready to play in overtime. When I get more into my serious workouts, then I'll start doing more drills with the basketball as far as dribbling, ball-handling, shooting, working on my defense, and stuff like that.

Do you think it's important for girls to spend a lot of time working on their fundamentals?
I think it's the most important part of the game. To me, it's very important to be a complete player. I don't want people to look at me and say, 'Well, all Sheryl can do is shoot the ball. She can't play good defense.' Or I don't want them to say, 'Sheryl's a good defensive player but she can't score.' I think working on your fundamentals is the way that you become a complete player--you become an overall player. I think every young girl and young boy out there should focus more on the fundamentals. Players should be able to dribble, if they're right handed, just as good with their left hand as with their right. And that's the part of my game that I still want to work on.

Four years ago, why did you decide to join the WNBA and not the ABL?
At the time the ABL started, we were just coming off of a long tour with the national team and the Olympics, and I just wanted a break. The ABL wanted us to make a commitment to join them a month after the Olympics were over and I just wasn't ready for that. I wanted to take a little break.

When did you start playing basketball?
When I was seven years old, I played in a youth league called 'Little Dribblers.' I was not very good when we played, but I would recommend that any little girl out there who wants to become a basketball player should start at a young age. I did it for fun, it wasn't anything more than that. It was fun and I enjoyed it.

You've had lots of experiences winning: three WNBA titles, an Olympic gold medal, and an NCAA title. Of all of those, which is the most special to you?
All of them were very special to me, obviously. Winning a national championship in college was, I thought, the ultimate--the highest thing you could accomplish. So that was very special to me. Playing in the WNBA and winning three championships was also incredible. The first one, because I was out with my son, I didn't feel that I contributed as much. But to come back the next year, and again last year to three-peat and win three world championships was phenomenal. Words can't describe how excited I am about that. But I would probably have to say the Olympics meant a little bit more to me. Not only was I doing it for myself, my town, and my team, but I was doing it for my country. You've got everybody in the United States, hopefully, pulling for you and rooting for you and wanting to see you do well--wanting to see the U.S. win. So, it meant just a little bit more to me.

Do you hang out with the other Comets players?
I go shopping every now and again with a couple of team members. But usually, once the season starts and we're in the gym, we're working out--working hard--and when practice is over with, we're all ready to go home, do our own thing, and go our separate ways. But, we all get along very well. We're a very close-knit team.

Did the news about Kim Perrot break you down or make you a stronger person?
If it's possible, I think it did both. Any time you lose a teammate, a friend, obviously that's going to be very devastating and hard to deal with. I think if there's one good thing that came out of that it was Kim. Kim was a great person, a great friend, a great athlete, but I think with Kim's illness and her death, it brought the team a lot closer. We were like a family. It made me slow down a little bit and look at life and not take things for granted. One day you're perfectly healthy and everything's fine and the next day you're diagnosed with some type of an illness. And you never know what's going to happen, so you've got to make the most of every day.

Sheryl Swoopes will be back in action with the Houston Comets this spring, as the team goes after its fourth straight WNBA crown. The Comets open their season May 29 against the New York Liberty.

Interview conducted December, 1999, by Gball Assistant Editor Lorraine Berry