How Alanna Smith fought ‘an uphill battle’ through injuries and early struggles to become an impact player for the Chicago Sky

When Chicago Sky forward Alanna Smith looked to attend college and play basketball, going outside Australia wasn’t really popular. There were a few athletes from the country at U.S. colleges, but most were encouraged to stay.

Without much knowledge about the overseas college recruitment process, Smith and her family decided “to just figure it out.”

Stanford was at the top of her dream schools, so Smith emailed them “every week for like three months” before finally getting a reply. But it wasn’t a yes.

“It was basically a ‘Hey, can you stop emailing us?’” she told the Tribune with a laugh.

But the emails started a conversation between Smith and the Cardinal coaches. She became the first international recruit in Stanford women’s basketball history and finished her career 10th in school history in scoring (1,703), 11th in rebounds (842) and second in blocks (225).

For Smith, perseverance and persistence have been key to her career.

Drafted No. 8 by Phoenix in the 2019 WNBA draft, Smith logged very few minutes in three seasons with the Mercury. In 2022, she played just nine games with the Indiana Fever, averaging 4.3 points.

“I faced a lot of adversity in my career. From my beginnings, trying to get to Stanford, and then at Stanford and injuries,” Smith said. “I had surgery two years in a row. Even before I was in college, I had two surgeries. I had back problems. My career has kind of felt like an uphill battle from the start.

“I feel like I’ve been working really, really, really hard for the last 10 years. And now at this point, it’s kind of showing. I’m getting the opportunity and I’m taking that opportunity and bringing all those past experiences and putting it out there on the floor.”

With the Sky this season, Smith has seen her game improve. Through 18 games she is averaging 10.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and two assists.

“She’s gotten a lot stronger and she’s a lot faster today. I think those two go toward being a good player,” former Sky coach and general manager James Wade said last month of Smith’s improvement. “With her experience, she knows when and why and what to do.

“So that’s the big difference. When you’re coming out of college you’re just moving like a chicken with your head cut off. The enthusiasm is there and now she knows why she’s doing it.”

Smith, who found her way to basketball after playing netball and soccer, finds support and encouragement in her friends and family.

Her dad, Darren Smith, had a 12-year professional career in Australia, playing for four teams in the National Basketball League (NBL). With that experience, he’s the person she has found to be the most understanding of what she goes through as a professional athlete.

Smith says her dad would tell her “we fear being great more so than anything else,” advising her against the failure of not trying.

“He told me: ‘Quitting is doing a disservice to yourself. If you put in the work, you will get it. I know you can do great,’” she shared. “I didn’t start playing basketball until I was 14. I was old. But he even still had that belief back then when I was fumbling around and couldn’t even catch a ball.”

Since she was drafted, Smith knew she could have an impact in the WNBA. In addition to battling injuries, she also dealt with how difficult an early career in the highly competitive league is due to the number of talented players and very few roster spots. In order to persist, Smith tried not to fall in the trap of comparing herself to others.

“It’s very needs-based and niche,” Smith said of the WNBA. “If you don’t meet the specific need of the team that you’re on, they’re on to the next. You can’t imagine yourself as a Breanna Stewart or an A’ja Wilson. It’s an absolute privilege to be able to play in this league.”

After playing in the Polish league Europa Basket, in which she was named the 2022-23 MVP, Smith signed an unprotected one-year, $100,000 deal with the Sky in February. She feels she has found her footing in Chicago both on and off the court.

“It’s taken time to find my way through to get the opportunity and be in that good mental space where no matter what happens if I get out on the floor, I play my game,” she said. “I’ve found it here with Chicago. Despite wins and losses, we’ve shown that we’re a good team. Everyone’s got a lot of talent. People kind of count us out in the early days, but we’re not worried.”

Smith also is having an impact defensively, totaling at least two steals in eight of the last 11 games and averaging 2.2 over the last six games.

“She’s very underrated and she plays really, really hard,” Wade said. “A lot of times, we just saw she was on the floor a lot. So we were like, ‘Why is she on the floor a lot?’ Well, she’s on the floor because she plays so hard.”

He added coaches try to put Smith in good spots, and because of her high basketball IQ, she thinks quickly. Wade viewed her as the type of player who needed time to develop as well as people who have confidence in her.

The confidence in Smith from her team and support system has helped her continue along a path that she admits has been difficult but could yield great results.

“You can never count yourself out and there’s no timeline to when you’re going to achieve your goals,” she said. “All you can do is just put in the work and in the end, you’ll probably see the benefits of it.

“There’s been many times where I’ve been like: ‘Why am I doing this? What’s the point? I’m miserable. It’s just so hard.’ But it’s been ingrained in me since I was a kid to not give up. It’s never going to be easy. And when you go through the hard times, the good times are always going to be that much sweeter.”