Valkyries, Say Less

🎙️ Episode 9: “Veteran Spark: Tiffany Hayes Lights Up the Valkyries”

• Vanessa & Raina • Season 1 • Episode 9

Share episode

Send us a text

In this episode, we’re celebrating one of the Valkyries’ most experienced leaders: Tiffany Hayes, #15. A UConn champion turned WNBA All-Star, Hayes spent over a decade dominating in Atlanta, powered through Connecticut, powered Vegas off the bench, and now brings her scoring fire and veteran wisdom to the Bay.

She’s a mentor in the locker room, and a proven sharpshooter who sets the tone with her relentless energy—on and off the court. Hayes isn’t just filling a role; she’s shaping culture.

Come hang as we dive into Tip's background and unpack why she’s a pillar of this Valks squad. We 💜 Tiffany Hayes! 🏀🔥🖤💜


Support the show

Thanks for listening to "Valkyries, Say Less"!

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and not affiliated with the WNBA, the Golden State Valkyries, or any official organization.


🎙 Co-Hosted by Raina Mast — multimedia artist, educator, musician, and of course...ex-hooper.

🎙 Co-hosted by Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely — meditation and PE teacher, writer, founder of Big Belly Breathing, and of course...ex-hooper.


Follow along for more episodes, courtside convos, and community love as we celebrate the Golden State Valkyries and everything they stand for.

💜 Follow us on Instagram & don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share if this brought some lavender joy to your day!

SPEAKER_03:

Valkyries. Valkyries. This is Raina. And

SPEAKER_02:

Vanessa.

SPEAKER_03:

And this is Valkyries Say Less. We are two moms, not currently in San Francisco. Where are you, Vanessa?

SPEAKER_02:

Ooh, so excited to say that I switched locations in the motherland and I am now in Paris.

SPEAKER_03:

Awesome. I'm in the public library parking lot in Onekama, Michigan. Oh, hey. Wi-Fi. Okay. Hey. Okay. So two moms that live in San Francisco normally, ex-ballers and artists. And

SPEAKER_02:

teachers. Getting

SPEAKER_03:

into this. And teachers, yes. It's been a second since we recorded our last episode, since we've been on the road. The Valks have been on the road as well. Oh,

SPEAKER_00:

yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

So I'm experiencing a little less FOMO than I will be on Monday. day when they play home again but they've been on the road traveling just like us um and all our euro basketeers made it back um so you were there for euro basket any highlights you want to touch upon

SPEAKER_02:

um here for euro basket and then post euro basket i mean i guess you know we need to talk about the elephant in the room was uh jvl julie van loo getting cut yes so seemed like that you know was really hard for the for the valkyries fans um she has a lot of fans and we love her there was two things there was her being cut right after Eurobasket which was unexpected and then there was how she was cut

SPEAKER_00:

at

SPEAKER_02:

least you know what we know when we see social media and so forth was that she was cut immediately upon arrival. But two things to consider with all of that is that, um, Natalina cause I said in an interview that, you know, it's important to do things face to face. So it was like a sign of respect to bring her

SPEAKER_00:

in. And

SPEAKER_02:

then the other thing had to do with the visas and that if she learned of being cut when she was back in the States, then she had 30 days, uh, to figure out her, her professional situation without having any visa issues. And then, Luckily, because that is the way that it happened, she got picked up by the Sparks, so... Yeah. Hate that Julie Van Loo felt disrespected or, you know, not loved and missed the ceremony with her Belgium team, but also happy to see that she's, uh... West Coast team.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Playing for the LA

SPEAKER_03:

Sparks. She had a tough start and then it looks like she's locking in and hitting her three. Yeah, we will miss her. She was one of my faves with her zippity-doo-dah passes.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so sending out a lot of love, a lot of continued love to Julie Van Loo and can't wait to see her play when the Sparks play against the Valks.

SPEAKER_03:

Right, and we're coming up on the mid, I think we just passed the midseason, but we have this cut down date for the 2025 season is July 13th. which is today. So as we record today, this is the last day that they can make any cuts and waive any players without a penalty. I think there's money to take on a penalty if you just want to keep a player.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, because we're below the salary cap.

SPEAKER_03:

But we're, I mean, I'm still bracing myself for a little bit more shake up in the roster because...

SPEAKER_02:

I know, that's what all the commentary is about. I

SPEAKER_03:

know, we still have Ileana Rupert, the mystery player who hasn't played in a Valkyries game yet, but they're

SPEAKER_02:

holding her spot. Yeah, okay. Ileana Rupert, who is a 6'5", very strong player in France, just got married and should be joining us in two days.

SPEAKER_03:

Gorgeous wedding.

SPEAKER_02:

What did the Instagram show you,

SPEAKER_03:

Raina? I think it was on Threads, and there was someone that posted a video of Rupert's wedding, and it almost looked like... I don't know. It was like taller than her 6'5 cake.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my God. And she comes from like sports royalty also. It looked

SPEAKER_03:

like it in that video.

SPEAKER_02:

Her father is like, was a known basketball player as all of her siblings. Her younger, I think it's her younger brother who would say that oftentimes when he was introduced to people, they would be like, oh, you're Ileana's brother. Like she was the one who was known first. And I was like, okay, you go girl.

SPEAKER_03:

Very cool. And you know what I love is that, you know, you've been saying this, like, women supporting women, and I've kind of, like, been my, like, pragmatic, cynical self with that. But, like, I am noticing that the WNBA is really, like, I just love it. I love how, like, the Liberty welcomed Kayla Thornton

SPEAKER_05:

back.

SPEAKER_03:

And then last night, the Aces with Kate Martin and Tiffany Mays were just, like...

SPEAKER_02:

It's just so matriarchal like power.

SPEAKER_03:

Like I don't, I'm like, are you trying to lure them back? Like, but no, it just seems like genuine support and love and like the bonds that they made were super real and are ongoing.

SPEAKER_02:

As we also try and destroy each other while playing. Yes. But

SPEAKER_03:

I love that they can snap off from like hugging to playing hard and like, you know, blowing each other in the face.

SPEAKER_02:

Totally.

SPEAKER_03:

A foul's a foul.

SPEAKER_02:

They're fierce. They're fierce. Okay. A couple other things that we need to mention before getting into it with Tiff Hayes. Need to mention that Kayla Thornton made the All-Star team. Shout out to Kayla. That is going to

SPEAKER_03:

be fun to watch. I was hoping a few of the Valks would make it, but Kayla Thornton's going to rep present the Valks, our sole player that made it to the All-Star team, which is great for an expansion team to even have one player on there. Totally. Oh, another highlight from June. We got to give a shout out to Coach Nakase for getting the coach of the month. She's gaining a lot of respect. I mean, worldwide. International circles. So it's been cool to see people just being like, yeah, like this coach knows what she's doing. She picked her team well. She knows how to play them. We have such a deep bench. Coach Our defense is fierce. You look at every game and it's like, it's just confusing for other teams. They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This isn't the starting five that we planned for.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah. I love that we have a rep in the league and we're not even like halfway.

SPEAKER_03:

I know. Another bracing of ourselves will be the expansion draft with the two teams. And you're only allowed to protect six players. I don't even want to talk about it next year with the tempo and Portland

SPEAKER_02:

trying to grab our girls. Well, I know because the thing that... The thing that we need to look up is we are exempt from that.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh. Thank you for putting me at ease. Such mindfulness. Okay, well. Don't freak out, Raina.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm not sure, but it's been raised in the Valkyries Facebook fan club group.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, we're womanifesting. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

So we'll see.

SPEAKER_03:

That would be awesome. Okay, let's get into today. What

SPEAKER_02:

are we doing today? All

SPEAKER_03:

right, let's get into Tiffany Hayes is our player profile today.

SPEAKER_02:

Woo!

SPEAKER_03:

Tip.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, give me a couple words before we talk about how we're going to dig a little deeper. Okay. What comes to mind when you think about her i

SPEAKER_03:

mean just style i think she she's known as a fashion killer um so i can't wait to talk about her her fashion brand her

SPEAKER_02:

oh my god okay i can't wait to get more into that since i'm in the fashion capital of the world right now oh it's so appropriate

SPEAKER_03:

okay and what other things do you think of when you think of to pay

SPEAKER_02:

i feel like her experience

SPEAKER_03:

um

SPEAKER_02:

She's

SPEAKER_03:

the eldest Valk.

SPEAKER_02:

She's only 10 years, well, 11 years younger than us.

SPEAKER_03:

She's a 1989 baby, okay?

SPEAKER_02:

Which is a different vibe than Carla Leight, who's 21 and therefore 25 years younger than us. So it's exciting to see the variety on the Valks team.

SPEAKER_03:

But like old soul, young spirit. Like I look at Tip and she has her finger on the pulse of like, what is cool?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Style. I think that's a good one. A style. And then let's get, okay, then let's get more into it. What are we doing today?

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. Teacher game. Do you want to explain it?

SPEAKER_02:

Teacher game. I spy with my little eye. All right. We're going to talk about some pictures that we picked from the repertoire of the social medias. And we're going to describe what's going on in the picture and talk about how that connects with what we have discovered about Tiff

SPEAKER_03:

Hayes. Sounds good? Anything to add? Our first photo, I spy Tiffany Hayes. Her number is number 15. She's playing basketball in this photo. The song that she has on it is A Little Blood. What else do you spy, Vanessa?

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, well, we see her. with a mask on. She has her face mask. And that stands out because she's the only one. Say more. She's the only one who's playing with a face mask on the Valks. And we were at the game where she got hit in the face and she had a lot of blood on the court. However, she did immediately also put up her thumb to be like, thumbs up, I'm okay. But she got hit in the face and she had to exit the game. She hurt her nose. She was out for a few games she came back and she got hit in the face again uh and so she has this great face mask uh to protect to protect her beautiful nose

SPEAKER_03:

not afraid to take a charge not afraid to be physical she's taken totally making fouls uh it's a it looks like a really good mask so if you are watching the valks uh tiffany hayes has been the one that's wearing the black face mask Anything else out of that photo that you spy? I was going to add what you just

SPEAKER_02:

said in terms of her strength going to the basket. It's like you would think that maybe given her face injuries and stuff that she would be more reticent about powering through to make things happen. And what's amazing is that it doesn't seem... Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

So props to Tiff. We both had our back problems, and we know what it's like to be hesitant.

SPEAKER_02:

I had to go talk to a therapist and a hypnotist about getting over the anxiety of my back pain.

SPEAKER_03:

Just feeling trapped in your body,

SPEAKER_02:

yeah. So I don't know how she deals with it, actually. That'd be really interesting to try and find out.

SPEAKER_03:

Talking about the last few games, they... They lost on the road. Tiffany Hayes had her season high of 23 points, though, with five three-pointers. She

SPEAKER_02:

also had an amazing shot with just one shoe.

SPEAKER_03:

Tiffany Hayes. Yes, with one shoe. Was that against the Lynx? Yes, that was against the Lynx as well. That was amazing. A three-point

SPEAKER_02:

shot.

SPEAKER_03:

Commercial ad, yeah. Three-point

SPEAKER_02:

shot. With

SPEAKER_03:

one shoe. And then last night, or yesterday, she also had Kind of like a one-legged shot. It's like, are they practicing

SPEAKER_02:

on one leg? Yes, it was amazing. It was totally one-legged and then from an angle as she got fouled and she made it.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, I wish they would have won yesterday.

UNKNOWN:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, so we're sort of working backwards. We're just starting with the now. So that was a recent photo of her playing. Another recent photo we have, photo number two, this is a little more like Detective I Spy. It's a photo of her two pups. It looks like she's laying under a comforter watching TV. They look like ragamuffins. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

They're really cute.

SPEAKER_03:

I saw another day that she was on the beach with them. Yeah. So two dogs, dog lover, dog mommy. What else do you spy? She's watching.

SPEAKER_02:

I spy a couple interesting things. Tell me. Number one, she's watching TV. And so you immediately were like, what is she watching? Because there are some Asian characters on the TV. We weren't sure. I phoned a friend, phoned my mom friend, Mia, who I met at Kaiser mom group round two in San Francisco. Mia happens to be Korean American. And I was like, Mia, do you recognize this? And she immediately was like, oh, that's Chloe. It's a K-drama, which

SPEAKER_03:

is so awesome. Oh, you have a connection to that, right? What's your connection? Make the connection.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm obsessed with K-dramas right now. Are you

SPEAKER_03:

watching Chloe?

SPEAKER_02:

I'm not yet watching Chloe.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. I guess you would have recognized

SPEAKER_02:

it. No, not yet. Because my mom, my two daughters and I have been watching Crash Landing on You all like for the past two weeks, every single night. We start them also. We're on like summer hours. We started at 1030 p.m. and watch until midnight. So it's real, real, real fun. And it's an awesome show. And so there was a moment where I was like, is this Crash Landing on You? Because the heroine crashes into a forest and we're seeing a forest but apparently it's another one Mia says Chloe is great so

SPEAKER_03:

newsflash from Vanessa 4 a.m. voice memo you're

SPEAKER_01:

hopefully sleeping right now new message about something that is ridiculous my friend Mia just texted me about my show I'm watching crash landing on you except that she used the abbreviation which is Chloe So it turns out Tiffany Hayes is watching Crash Landing on You, okay? Which is the same thing that I am watching. She's not watching another K-drama called Koi, which is what I

SPEAKER_03:

would say. And now back to your regular programming.

SPEAKER_02:

That's one thing. Is there something else that you see? Because there's a couple of other interesting things.

SPEAKER_03:

I mean, this kind of is like getting into really detective. I'm zooming in and I'm trying to see what books. Of

SPEAKER_02:

course, a bookshelf is very revealing. What

SPEAKER_03:

is that? There's that great. The only one I can see is Let Them. I think I can't make out any of the other books.

SPEAKER_02:

By Mel Robbins?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I think we talked about this book at a dinner one night with buddies. Meg was saying it's kind of like an inspirational... What is Mel Robbins? I haven't read it. Do you know what Mel Robbins

SPEAKER_02:

is? Oh, yeah. She's a speaker. She has a podcast. She has millions of followers. And it's all about establishing... positive rituals, routines, like transforming, you know, negative narratives and like standing in your power. And she does have a very big following.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. And it's just like, let them think what they want or let them be whatever they, if they want to be haters, let them be haters.

SPEAKER_02:

It's like not, yeah, not controlling other people. And when other people are being lame, you know, just let them be lame without... having it impact, you know, how you think of yourself or how you react necessarily. It's like, it's on them, I think.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, it's interesting when you apply it to like a team of six women who were sort of left out there exposed and not in the safety zone of their teams. And then they're sort of figuring out who they want to be when they're not the sixth person on the bench. They're actually like the starting five. So I just I see that maybe coming into Tiff Hayes fashion. Well, that that leads us to the next photo. Let's look at the next photo.

SPEAKER_02:

Next photo. What do you spy? So the music. is Lil Baby. The title, Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone and Into Alignment. I love it here. So she wrote that about the picture where she is wearing... A mask. And not the mask that she uses to play in. She's wearing a sack with eyes cut out. It's like

SPEAKER_03:

a tie-dyed ski mask. It looks like it's made out of the same jean material as the, what is it called, barrel jeans that she has on the bottom. Yeah, she's wearing some barrel pants. Timberland boots cross her chest. It's... I mean, it's a purse, but it's giving like guerrilla warfare revolutionary vibes to me.

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, this is hard to concentrate because it's so disturbing to see someone's head covered with only their eyes showing. And like, there's no... You know, her nose, her mouth is covered. It's like, it's so wild. Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

you don't know it's her, but maybe it's a commentary on having to have worn a mask for the last half of a season.

SPEAKER_02:

And with that, with the comment also of stepping out of my comfort zone and into alignment, you're like, all right.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, you're an artist. Artsy, artsy. Yeah. This is bringing like performance art vibes. Yeah, it's just, it's really cool. And I think people were like, In the comments were just, like, fire emojis, heart emojis, just, like, really supportive of this fashion. Stunning. She's totally stunning. But, like, yeah, the tunnel walks are such a thing in the WNBA. I am just, like, I'm loving seeing this, like, self-expression, this artsiness of, like, you know, sometimes they need a day off and they'll just roll in in hoodies. But then, like, yesterday, Fagbenle was, like, Grace Jones-owed fashion. It was gorgeous. And Tiffany Hayes is just always bringing it.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, so then let's get a little bit more into talking about her line of clothing that she was inspired to start when she was in Shanghai. She's played overseas in several teams, and at one point she was playing in Shanghai.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

So what's it called?

SPEAKER_03:

It's called Saya Renara, but I think mostly it's just going to, she just calls it Saya, which is her last name backwards.

UNKNOWN:

Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

The website is beautiful, just like the clothing, the fabrics, the textures. Yeah, that's her big thing. I mean, you're in Paris. Say more about how expertise fashion this is.

SPEAKER_02:

Iconic. Timeless. I know. It's like how you wear the pieces. It's like the type of pieces, the quality of the pieces, but then how they drape on your body also. She makes a lot of beautiful pieces, a lot of really standout pieces. And

SPEAKER_03:

her teammates on the Aces are... at one point all wore her pieces um for a one-time tunnel walk and i mean the the one there's a photo of chelsea plum and it's just i mean

SPEAKER_02:

yeah yeah clothes look real good on them yeah

SPEAKER_03:

yeah the clothes fall well um yeah and they are they're comfy cozy but they're also just like gorgeous like they look like they're pressed with a very good iron um but you can like snuggle up on a bus on them and like look at the map patterns

SPEAKER_02:

oh yeah actually that's really important to say comfort that was key in her line of clothes she was really into the fabrics the colors but then she's really into comfort

SPEAKER_03:

comfort and effortless and it's sold out another valkyrie with a sold out website So yeah, it's definitely working tip. It's much success. I hope that they are restocked soon. It seems like it's something everybody can wear. Exactly. It's like the opposite of corsets and push-up bras. It's just like... It's tomboy chic, right? Can she describe it like that? Elegant, sporty, urban.

SPEAKER_02:

And colorful and comfortable. Yes. And also affordable. So it's just like so many things.

SPEAKER_03:

Win-win. Okay, let's do a next I Spy. We were slacking on our game

SPEAKER_02:

today. All right, all right. Next one.

SPEAKER_03:

This photo has a few of the Valkyries in there. So I Spy Kayla Thornton. I Spy Veronica Burton.

SPEAKER_04:

Kate

SPEAKER_03:

Martin.

SPEAKER_04:

Mm-hmm. Monique

SPEAKER_03:

Billings. Monique Billings with her top bun. Ooh. A la Vanessa.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, so, and they're in street clothes. Okay,

SPEAKER_03:

so they're

SPEAKER_02:

all standing. Kate Martin's in the middle.

SPEAKER_03:

Has a mic in her hand. This is a post from Tiffany.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, and they're facing a bunch of girls. And look at what's on the back of the t-shirts of the girls.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh! yeah good i spy so on the back of there's a girl um sitting on the court her hand is raised i'm trying to ask a question and on the back of the t-shirt it says saya so nice how do we get those t-shirts they're all sold out online tip uh-huh gotta reload the website the caption reads from tiffany quote here's a little recap from very first tip off academy a camp for young players uh court currency such as success energy was real the work was real the growth was even realer yeah if you swing through these photos you see like tiffany hayes was running with these middle schooler wouldn't that be great to bring to roosevelt middle school as a pe

SPEAKER_02:

teacher that would be amazing i'm trying to work the communication so that i can get the valkyries players to come to roosevelt they went to mlk

SPEAKER_03:

yeah oh they did

SPEAKER_02:

yes there's a precedent of them working in the district so

SPEAKER_03:

yeah i'm spying in this photo it's at a private school it's a head royce Ed Royce is over in Oakland.

SPEAKER_02:

It is? Okay. Well, okay, this also makes me think of, she started something in Atlanta with her sister, Hoop Nation.

SPEAKER_03:

It's with her sister, Letitia Jones.

SPEAKER_02:

So her passion and love for the youth is what drives her determination to give back to the community.

SPEAKER_03:

And that's still in Atlanta. Yes, that's still in Atlanta. Tiffany is also... Did a community event with Common. Yeah. Super active in our community in between games. It's like, how are they doing this between

SPEAKER_02:

games? Yeah. I mean, I think it's awesome.

SPEAKER_03:

I

SPEAKER_02:

know she's like very into community service in addition to playing, to training and to side hustles. Right. I mean, organizing classes and camps to expose kids and to provide kids with opportunities. Yeah. It's beautiful. And also just really telling of the kind of person that she is.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes. Next I spy. Okay. What you got?

SPEAKER_02:

All right. Let's look at a basketball one.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. So going back in time, let's do another photo. Oh, actually this isn't primary sources is from the aces yesterday. They honored Tiffany Hayes and Kate Martin. And so this photo I spy it's taken in Las Vegas, Nevada. So this is a team she was with before she came to the Valkyries, but, And we snatched her up in the expansion draft. She was not one of the protected players, which is kind of mind-boggling. It's like, how was Tiffany Hayes not a starter? But I guess, I mean, she was...

SPEAKER_02:

And they had won the championship two years beforehand. So you just got to think. I mean, it's like how we love the valves. It's hard to think of, you know, who we'd want to cut or unprotect.

SPEAKER_03:

So this photo, I spy a strong left hand. It's like a little jumper. She's not really... extending with her right knee towards her chest. She's got some Nikes on. She's got a nice vertical in that photo.

SPEAKER_04:

This

SPEAKER_03:

looks like a practice photo. Oh, yes. And who's in the background?

SPEAKER_02:

Looks like there's some observers and it looks like there's somebody in the background that's interesting.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, I spy Natalie Nakase when she was a coach for the Aces. Good call.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

Anything else in that photo? The practice facilities at the Aces. Yeah, they look nice. Shiny. Shiny new Someone is mopping that floor before every practice. It is buffed.

SPEAKER_02:

And the date is only June, 2024. So just a reminder of how many changes can occur in one year.

SPEAKER_03:

Players are all over the place. I was thinking about like people getting drafted to Toronto next year. You're in a whole new country. Yeah. Okay. Let's go to another photo. Okay. Another photo. Let's go down to... There's some blue uniforms. This is a post by Tiffany Hayes. It says, poetic justice, heart, I love my teammates. And they look like they're celebrating in a huddle. Who do you see there? Who do you spy? Number 25. Okay,

SPEAKER_02:

hold on. I'm looking. Oh, Billings, Monique

SPEAKER_03:

Billings. Yes, they play together too. So a bunch of these Valks have played together before. This is with the Atlanta Dream.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, so also just to give a little bit more context and background, because we've mentioned that she is 35 and she has played in the wnba for 10

SPEAKER_03:

she gets drafted by the dream in 2012 she's with the dream for yeah 10 seasons and then she got did she get traded to the suns how'd she end up on the sun oh i remember okay she's with the dream her final season atlanta was 2022 And it was, like, quote, a tough season for both the player and the organization. So she had been with the Dream for 10 years. That's right. And she missed 19 games of the season as a result of... That's right. But she took

SPEAKER_02:

a pause and she took a pause from the WNBA. She did a full retirement. Yes, she came back. So we'll talk about that. But why did she take that pause, Raina?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, she needed more time to work on her projects. I can relate to that. Exactly. So she had been playing not only in the WNBA for The Dream, but she had also been playing overseas. She got her Azerbaijan scholarship. citizenship and played in the olympics for them for the three-on-three tournament

SPEAKER_02:

yeah and she said she was like i'm i'm gonna choose to take a break to retire from the wnba because it's less money than overseas which we've mentioned a few times and

SPEAKER_03:

yes the so-called off-season i'm just finding is like such a misnomer it's like they're on they're on season all year if yeah if you're making a living as a woman basketball player

SPEAKER_02:

which she decided to follow her her side hustles her passions

SPEAKER_03:

yes And so she just needed a break, it sounded like.

SPEAKER_02:

And why? Why did she come back?

SPEAKER_03:

Why did she come back? Well, didn't the Aces just offer her like a perfectly supportive contract of like, we will work with you. We want you and like whatever you need to do, like do you. And

SPEAKER_02:

the facilities also. The facilities were great. And they were going to also work with her schedule and work with the fact that she wanted to continue her line.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_02:

And then the facilities being great made me also think of the way that the VALX facilities have been described. So it's like top women athletes receiving the treatment that they have not, like, you know, it's not been the norm to be in awesome facilities. And still today, I don't think all of our WNBA teams have. are in the same kind of facilities that the Aces and the Bucks have. So hopefully that's all going to change in the next few years.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, there's some healthy competition going on on how to woo the players to these cities. What else? We should talk about her career at Atlanta. I mean, she ended sourly, but she was one of the best players in the franchise's history.

SPEAKER_02:

What are some stats that we have about her?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, Tiffany Hayes had the record... As the seventh fastest player to achieve at least 4,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 750 assists, 300 steals, and 353 point field goals in WNBA history. Accomplishing those feats in just seconds. 307 games. Yeah. Um, so yeah, she's all around defense with the steals and then she's getting rebounds, but also hitting three pointers.

SPEAKER_02:

She's made the all-star team

SPEAKER_03:

in the past. She's made the all-star team. She has trained with our national team, the United States. She played in the Olympics for Azerbaijan. Yeah. Yeah. She's played overseas

SPEAKER_02:

in several countries,

SPEAKER_03:

Israel, Turkey, Brazil, Spain, China, Azerbaijan, obviously.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And going backwards, oof, bleedin' blue. So before she was with Atlanta, she was drafted in 2012. Where'd she play college ball? She played at Connecticut.

SPEAKER_02:

Connecticut Huskies. Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

she was a Husky.

SPEAKER_02:

With the infamous coach. Gino. I think he's been there

SPEAKER_03:

for 40 years. She speaks highly of him. In her off time, she went back for his 40th anniversary and got to watch the Huskies play since she wasn't over in Europe. So she was up there for that, rocking her fashion on the sideline.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. Well, she also, she has a pretty impressive career when she was a Connecticut Husky. Because in 2009 and 2010, she was the NCAA national champion.

SPEAKER_03:

That worked out.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, what about before college? Where did she play ball in high school? And what was that like? Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

that was Winter Haven High School in Winter Haven, Florida. Did they make it to States? Yeah, they won States 2004 and 2007. And the team had a 117-9 record. During her career. So 117 wins and only nine losses

SPEAKER_02:

during her career. That's impressive. That's super impressive. And she was the leading scorer on her team, scoring an average of 18.3 points per game.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's sweet.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. It's a lot. It's a lot to have as an

SPEAKER_03:

average. A lot of points and a lot of winning. so she's bringing that victorious vibe to the valks um and then i guess what we should mention is like where'd she we'd mentioned that she's from florida uh let's do an eye spy of which family photo do you want to do the last one sure so that's a throwback thursday remember when that was a thing um when we would post old photos on thursday it's funny and instagram so this she posted this 2015 oh yeah i love that so this looks like a Like a film camera. And they all have their arms crossed. and

SPEAKER_02:

they're wearing shorts and the dudes aren't wearing tops

SPEAKER_03:

looks like it's hot except for one looks like it's nice and Florida hot the lots of like 90s like the golf shirt the short sleeve golf shirt that was like fitted for women remember that

SPEAKER_02:

yep

SPEAKER_03:

that vibe

SPEAKER_02:

totally short shorts and a golf shirt yep

SPEAKER_03:

so I'm just I don't know who all the people are in the photo but I do recognize her brothers from a Thanksgiving Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02:

And one of her brothers also, he was interviewed when she was playing for the Olympics for the three on three with Azerbaijan. And he was so proud of her. He was talking about how seeing her float down the river in Paris on the boat with all the athletes and he just got emotional. So just a lot of love and a lot of pride from her family for how well she has done. The

SPEAKER_03:

last photo I'm seeing is the Thanksgiving day with family and they're all gathered around an island, like a kitchen island with food on it. It looks like they're praying. They're all holding hands and they're in champion shorts.

SPEAKER_02:

That's cute. The photo is also liked by Kelsey Plum, which in terms of iSpy, if you look at their photos, their social media, you can see either the Valkyries teammates or ones from other teams are oftentimes liking and commenting.

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And that's cool.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, so that's about all we have. Oh, you had one rando photo of...

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Tip is wearing a Bethel. Like, this was super detective. I was like, why is Vanessa sending this to me?

SPEAKER_02:

Dude, this is during the All-Star Game where she's not playing. She went to go watch the All-Star Game in 2022, August 1st. And she's wearing a jersey that says Bethel. along with some cool cargo pants and like military-esque boots. So I was like, oh, what is that? And I found a couple other shots from different angles. And so it says Iverson. So Allen Iverson. Wait. Well, Allen Iverson went to Bethel High School. And as someone from Philadelphia, Raina, can you tell us about the importance of Allen Iverson for many people in Philadelphia?

SPEAKER_03:

Allen Iverson like broke the mold. He did not give a hoot. I mean, he really challenged conservative viewpoints of what the NBA was supposed to be as far as like you wear a suit before the game. You do not show your tattoos. He was...

SPEAKER_02:

It's a great description of him. It makes sense because she said that Allen Iverson and her mom are two of her role models. Oh, really? Yeah. Yes. And so I thought that was pretty cool. He

SPEAKER_03:

had a funny quote about like... Were we going to talk about missing practice? Like when I'd play so well in games, like he was very nonchalant. Like I'm a great athlete. Like leave me alone. I'm just scrolling down on my notes. Yeah. Anything else? Okay. Let's do a little recap.

SPEAKER_02:

Also, why do people call her tip?

SPEAKER_03:

Who called her that? Why is she called tip instead of tiff?

SPEAKER_02:

No, no. Two things. One thing that several people said was that it came from her time with the Huskies, that it was a college thing.

SPEAKER_03:

But

SPEAKER_02:

then I found another thing that was earlier than that. And it was like her friends in high school called her that.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02:

So,

SPEAKER_03:

but

SPEAKER_02:

we don't know why. We don't know why.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. Like

SPEAKER_02:

Tiffany.

SPEAKER_03:

Or maybe it remains a mystery part of her. Oh,

SPEAKER_02:

well, she, you know, she does keep, she puts a lot out there, but she's pretty specific and choosy selective about what she puts out there. She's also pretty private.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, she seems like she's got some healthy boundaries. She seems very intentional, very mature. She's building her brand. Also, like, super building her brand, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And she is her brand.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, Saya, and putting your mom on your brand is 1963. You're putting your heart in that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I hope this takes off. I think it's just, like, a very universal look.

SPEAKER_02:

I bet it is. I bet she's going to be wildly successful with this. It's going to sell out, like, all the time. Why wouldn't it? It's cool. It's really cool. And she markets it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It's great.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm going to start looking in the thrift stores for those Saya t-shirts.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Ooh, eBay. We should look on eBay.

SPEAKER_03:

No, I looked on eBay. There's nothing.

SPEAKER_02:

Ugh.

SPEAKER_03:

Everyone that has a SIA piece is holding on to it.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, well then, this is going to be another, like, it's going to be motivation for me in contacting, trying to get the Vox to come to Roosevelt, then part of it will also be like...

SPEAKER_03:

Can I at least have a t-shirt?

SPEAKER_02:

I would like some pieces from SIA. Yeah,

SPEAKER_03:

you're not going to get the cool overalls or, like, the SIA zip-up. No. But you might get a t-shirt in, like, a middle school size.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's fine. We're going to start with that.

UNKNOWN:

Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

sounds good all right Tiffany we love you awesome

SPEAKER_02:

amazing okay so yeah awesome show my goodness every single time uh-huh dig into these players it's so revealing of how complex they are and how much more they have going on than just what you see and it's such a reminder of like the importance of like learning about that

SPEAKER_03:

right like I saw a rude comment of like, let's waive some of these veterans to make space for the rookies. And it's like, what? It's great to

SPEAKER_02:

have a

SPEAKER_03:

combo. They just bring

SPEAKER_02:

different things.

SPEAKER_03:

It's great to have a combo. Yeah. And Tiffany Hayes, maybe we haven't seen Tiffany Hayes as everything.

SPEAKER_02:

She's another Renaissance woman, it seems like.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't know. I remember dating someone and they were like, you have to have like your breakout partner. project by the time you're 30 like Stevie Wonder and it's just like maybe we're there's some late bloomers in the world right oh yeah I feel like she's like blossoming yes another renaissance woman and also we talked about the new collective bargaining agreement and we saw Kayla Thorne and Tiffany Hayes do this as veterans in a press conference the other day they were saying like we are negotiating

SPEAKER_02:

yeah and like that a rookie's not going to be able to do that so

SPEAKER_03:

right

SPEAKER_02:

right it's really I mean very Logical then that we need a combo of them all. All right. We've got two more things. Two more things we do? Well, the first thing is we have to count off and then say who we're going to focus on next.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. Have you thought of someone yet?

SPEAKER_02:

I have someone in my head right now.

SPEAKER_03:

We're not running out of players. Okay. I have mine. All right. Are you ready? Okay. All right. Ready? Yeah. One, two, three. A me here. A me here. oh we're in agreement again yes okay we're gonna do the queen next episode

SPEAKER_02:

um well the other thing is our jingle

SPEAKER_03:

our jingle we're calling it a jingle they're called like chance okay in the sports world

SPEAKER_02:

yeah a few people have commented that um they love dare i say the insane jingles or chants that we do but uh they get a kick out of them

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, they're definitely taking on like a motif of like 90s high school music that we listen to. Like I'm not, I'm going to try to listen to more of my kids' music so that we can bring more of the next generation into our audience. But let's go with it. So Tiffany Hayes' Jingles. I have one that has to do with the CBA. Andy and I worked this out last night. And this is what we came up with was ODB, Old Dirty Bastard song. Which one? Probably the most known song.

SPEAKER_04:

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03:

So this is what we came up with. Haze. Tiff Hayes. Baby, I got your money. Don't you worry. But then we added Hayes. Tiff Hayes. CBA got your money. Don't you worry. It's like a CBA negotiation

SPEAKER_02:

song. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_03:

Ready? One, two, three. Hayes. Tiff Hayes. CBA got your money. Don't you worry. Say Hayes. Tiff Hayes. KT. CBA got your money,

SPEAKER_04:

don't

SPEAKER_03:

you worry. Tip face. Okay. Okay. All right. WNBA, get their money.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. All right. First of all, thank you, listeners. You fuel our fire and we appreciate the comments, which, or the likes, by the way, just going to end on this note, but Monique Billings' sister liked a comment I made about Monique. Mic dropped.

SPEAKER_03:

Engagement. Very cool. Very awesome. I think that's the closest we've gotten to actually talking to a player.

SPEAKER_02:

Just felt so good. So

SPEAKER_03:

I'm going to get out of this. Andrea Billings. Andy Stead's borrowed prison. Yeah, I got to go into Paris right now. I'm going to go to the lake and jump in. And you're going to go walk the streets of Paris. You could take a photo in the streets of Paris where Tip took a photo, like reenact that photo. Really do an iSpy. There's a parrot, right? She did a little parish

SPEAKER_02:

photo shoot. Thank you for giving me something to do. She did. Yes, when she was

SPEAKER_03:

here. When she was playing the Olympics in 2024, she had a great photo shoot. Take a look at that and have that as inspiration in your Paris day, your walk around. Okay. Sounds great. All right. Well, let's sign off. Thanks for listening. This is Reina. And Vanessa. And this is Valkyrie's Say

SPEAKER_02:

Less.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Raina Mast

Co-host
Head Shot

Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely

Co-host