🎙️ Episode 11: “More French Fire: Janelle Salaün Lights Up the Valkyries”

This episode highlights Janelle Salaün, one of the Valkyries’ French stars, sporting jersey #13. She has played on the French National Team and recently in Eurobasket. Though she is a rookie in the WNBA, she is making quite the name for herself because her game is tough!

And....learn how to pronounce her last name correctly (because few are!).

Tune in to learn why she's the best.  On aime Janelle Salaün! 🏀🇫🇷💜

ALLEZ LES VIOLETTES! 

These are the headlines referenced in the episode during the “Cognate Extrapolate” game:

1. Janelle Salaün et Carla Leite brillent avec les Golden State Valkyries en WNBA 
2. Il Famila Wuber annuncia la francese Janelle Salaün. Ha chiuso la passata stagione a 14,5 punti e 5,5 rimbalzi…
3. 3 choses à savoir sur Janelle Salaün, la Française qui cartonne à l'Eurobasket 2025 
4. Lega Basket femminile:  Janelle Salaun si è aggiudicata ieri il premio di MVP delle Finali Scudetto 🏆 Il segreto? Lo spiega lei, con grandissima umiltà: PLAY SIMPLE✌️
5. “Janelle Salaün (seize points) et les Valkyries tombent sur une immense A’Ja Wilson”
6. “Janelle Salaün le da el pase perfecto a Kaila Charles para que termine la jugada… Es como si se hubiera activado un interruptor desde el último partido contra Dallas y eso ha hecho que todos jueguen mejor.”- Reddit, by JKCdue

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Valkyries.

SPEAKER_02: 0:10

Valkyries. This is Reina. And Vanessa. And this is Valkyries Say Less.

SPEAKER_00: 0:19

And by that you know we really mean we're going to say so much

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more. All

SPEAKER_00: 0:23

right.

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We're two SF moms, ex-ballers. Teachers, artists. Artists. Entrepreneurs.

SPEAKER_00: 0:33

And today we're going to talk about Janelle Salon. Before we get into it, we have to acknowledge that we're back in bunk bed studios.

SPEAKER_02: 0:40

Your kids bunk

SPEAKER_00: 0:41

beds. Yes. And by that I mean my children's bunk beds.

SPEAKER_02: 0:43

So much absorption. sound-absorbing material here. So many plushies. It's just

SPEAKER_00: 0:48

so great to be one inch from each other. It felt so awkward to be so far during the summer.

SPEAKER_02: 0:53

And you're a super fan of lavender and white checkered sheets. That's big time. Just

SPEAKER_00: 0:58

bought them at the Gross Out grocery discount outlet. Oh my goodness. I mean, I saw lavender and white checkered sheets and I was like, hello, the bunk beds will be newly decorated. Everything valks all the time. So before we get into our player today, who is our player? Oh, I can't

SPEAKER_02: 1:14

wait for that. Janelle salon. And I am so happy at you that you chose Janelle. Thank you. Because she's just been so hot. I'm

SPEAKER_00: 1:23

also happy. And also we're going to have to do a pronunciation about her last name because we are not pronouncing it correctly. Shock of all shocks. But before we get into that, we have to talk about this weekend. We ran it back to back two games in a row, Saturday and Sunday night. W-W. The quad U. The quad U. Quad squared. W squared. Here we are. Two wins. We're now in which place? Six. Woo!

SPEAKER_02: 1:53

It is unbelievable. And the magnets on full court, do you watch that on threads? Yeah. The full court Etsy person? Yeah. It's just so fun to watch. I'm a visual learner and I love it. That's how I know my standings.

SPEAKER_00: 2:04

Okay, break it down. What do you see for the people who aren't

SPEAKER_02: 2:07

watching? The bottom shuffle. It's just dizzying. And then, yeah, we knocked the fever.

SPEAKER_00: 2:13

Sorry. Bye-bye. Oh my God, so great. I mean, the Mystics, we blew them out of the water. And then the fever was pretty solid. Pretty solid wind throughout. Got a little nervous at one point because we had some technical difficulties and we're like, how is this going to impact the game? And then we lost. But then you got to enjoy

SPEAKER_02: 2:32

like Angela Davis was

SPEAKER_00: 2:34

beating the drum. Oh my God, I know. My child looked at me and she was like, are you crying? And I was like, yes.

SPEAKER_02: 2:40

If you don't know basketball, but you are into Angela Davis, that should be the sign you need to get to Baha'u'llah

SPEAKER_00: 2:45

because it was like run don't walk she was pounding the drum and then she also came out during the halftime show and it was incredible and so we had to do you know a mini lesson history lesson to my daughter also about the importance of Angela Davis okay so we had two wins but there was also something that happened on Saturday night that completely blew my mind

SPEAKER_02: 3:08

okay I was a little mad that you would not share the story of how to where you got. And I think you're saving it for this moment

SPEAKER_00: 3:19

to just do it on air. I mean, I still am in complete disbelief. But Saturday's game, I was there surrounded by the fans, the friends in 211 with my youngest daughter. And all of a sudden, I get a text from my ticket rep, Adrienne, saying, did I get the seat upgrade? Oh, hello. Hello. Excuse me, Adrienne. What are we talking about? You're someone's favorite. And so I checked. I got a Ticketmaster text that was not clear. It wasn't telling me what it was. So I just blew it off thinking. And you

SPEAKER_02: 3:55

hate Ticketmaster.

SPEAKER_00: 3:56

Oh, my God. I mean, my Wi-Fi never works. It stresses me out. I mean, this weekend I told everyone to download the tickets into their wallet and I got there and I realized that I hadn't done it. And it's like one of those things that every single time I'm like, am I not going to get let into the holla? Yeah, you

SPEAKER_02: 4:10

had a good tantrum last time I was with

SPEAKER_00: 4:12

you. Thank you. Let's not bring up that tantrum. Give me a hot seat.

SPEAKER_02: 4:14

okay

SPEAKER_00: 4:16

back to so

SPEAKER_02: 4:18

so your internet was working

SPEAKER_00: 4:19

my internet was working enough where I got this Ticketmaster text and I opened it up and the first thing that jumped to my eyeballs was that it said VIP and I was like wait what what am I looking at and so then my daughter had just like left to go and buy cotton candy and so she was returning in the aisle I stand up say goodbye to everybody promptly tell her turn around We're going somewhere else. She's like, what's happening? She's so confused. We get to the end of our row and the ticketmaster rep, Adrienne, is there who I'd never met before, but she's standing waiting next to Janie, our original ticketmaster rep, which is the woman who had come to the middle school where I teach during career fair day and then is the one who basically convinced me easily to buy season tickets and whom I hadn't seen like since April. And I was like, oh my God, Jamie, it's so good to see you. So they're like standing there waiting for us in 3D to come out of our row. And then we have big hugs with Jamie. She says goodbye. Adrienne takes us into the elevator. My daughter is still like, what's happening? I'm like, girl, rein it in. Be cool. We're going down. I don't know where we're going.

SPEAKER_02: 5:35

You're telling your kids. My 10 year old. It's really you.

SPEAKER_00: 5:38

It's me. It's me. And I don't understand either what's happening. We get like downstairs. She points to the JP Morgan lounge and she's like, you have lounge access, free food and drink. You can go after the game. Just show them the ticket. And I'm like, okay. And on my ticket, I had seen the number 16. So I thought she was taking us to a row 16. So I was just like, great. We're going to be 16 rows in. That's amazing. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no. She leads us out onto the floor, onto the car. into row number one seat 16 and we are literally she has to ask the camera guy to scooch over because he in his like filming frenzy had just backed up since nobody was yet sitting behind him and put us in the front row underneath the basket for the defense so we were underneath the mystics like basket and we proceeded to watch the rest of the game there and it took me a moment to gather my wits and just get into the flow because I just was in such a shock I feel like I've blacked out the entire thing it was incredible we were so close to the players I was able to like scream in French at one point I yell we love you

SPEAKER_02: 7:06

I

SPEAKER_00: 7:06

heard you

SPEAKER_02: 7:06

on the TV I heard you I do not remember but I was like that was Your moment. You were on KPIX Live. My voice. Your voice. I was basically missed the game because I was looking for you on the screen. But congratulations on manifesting, womanifesting VIP VIP stat. But well deserved. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Well deserved. Appreciate that. You've been since the beginning with Jamie recruiting on behalf of the Valkyries to get people to invest in

SPEAKER_00: 7:41

this. And we all signed up for season tickets for next year. That's awesome. Yeah, we all just had to do that by the 28th. How many people would you say

SPEAKER_02: 7:47

you recruited?

SPEAKER_00: 7:48

Probably 15. 15.

SPEAKER_02: 7:49

For season tickets. People that you brought into the Valks.

SPEAKER_00: 7:52

Yeah. And that's not kind of you. Mahala.

SPEAKER_02: 7:54

That's not me on the street half the time.

SPEAKER_00: 7:58

You're coming in next year, though. We've got to get you in next year.

SPEAKER_02: 8:00

I've got to get in that section, though. I want to be with you all. I know. It's so fun. Also, it made me appreciate our section

SPEAKER_00: 8:05

because our section is so fun.

SPEAKER_02: 8:07

It's fun, but it's also in the dark. It's a little in the dark. It's like you're living in the show. It's like playing Division III basketball. You're living all the guts, all the energy, all the investment, and none of the glory. You're never on the Jumbotron in 212.

SPEAKER_00: 8:22

I know. We still have three games left, though, to get onto that Jumbotron.

SPEAKER_02: 8:26

We need light-up hats

SPEAKER_00: 8:28

or something. It's true. Ooh, Reena, light-up hats. Okay. Let's do it. More merch. We just got our bucket hats last night. We just need to throw some...

SPEAKER_02: 8:38

Some tranquilites on there.

SPEAKER_00: 8:39

Yeah. Okay. Well, we have a plan for this week. Are you going to any of the games?

SPEAKER_02: 8:43

I'm hoping to. Yeah. I'm going to buy from Max. Max. I need your tics. So let's get into it. I feel like we should just jump into Janelle because she's been jumping out there and the highlight is Janelle and she's the focus of this

SPEAKER_00: 8:58

episode. She's amazing. And let's just talk about her name for a second. Okay. Because it really was shocking to me also as someone who's been speaking French to find out that I was mispronouncing it. So in all of the interviews where she says her own name or the French reporter's say her name it's pronounced Salah Salah

SPEAKER_02: 9:17

the N is not there

SPEAKER_00: 9:19

well it's when you see A-U-N that's not how you think you're going to say it but it's Janelle Salah

SPEAKER_02: 9:25

yeah

SPEAKER_00: 9:26

can you say it

SPEAKER_02: 9:27

Janelle Salah bravo Renna super I do I do try to figure I try to find videos of them saying their own names that's how I learned me here because I was like

SPEAKER_00: 9:41

yes

SPEAKER_02: 9:42

the announcers on TV were kind of saying it two different ways um so yeah good

SPEAKER_00: 9:47

well you just did an excellent job

SPEAKER_02: 9:49

well i i found it interesting to do research on janelle because so much of it is in other languages

SPEAKER_00: 9:56

um that's what we encountered with carla a bit too there's more on janelle actually i think because she's maybe she's been playing for a little bit longer since carla is only 21 and janelle is the ripe old age of 24 you

SPEAKER_02: 10:09

as a bilingual person you had more access to primary sources of janelle I'm just curious as a language teacher, like how does her voice differ in the two languages? Because I saw her, she spoke after the game with the Mystics the other night and was sort of like the person that they were using as a shout out to the crowd. She did an amazing job.

SPEAKER_00: 10:34

You ever hear her joke in English? Or like be loose? Or cash?

SPEAKER_02: 10:38

No, I haven't.

SPEAKER_00: 10:39

So that's something that struck me a lot is that there was like a lot of footage in French where she is just more relaxed but like funny and like smiling more in a way and that's where I'm like oh it's interesting because we're always seeing interviews with her in English where it's like right after the games and she's like so focused but some of the stuff in French was kind of more on like like what are her routines and rituals or we're following you around and then she goes between being like very focused and also being like funny so yeah

SPEAKER_02: 11:14

I think humor is risky so it's easier to do in your first language when you're being interviewed

SPEAKER_00: 11:21

on national television I think people are just like more uptight who don't have English as their like complete bilingual stuff because you see that with Carla too where in like French you have a reporter asking her questions and all of a sudden it's just like relaxed and like answering in a different flow let's get into what game are we playing today to get to know more about Janelle

SPEAKER_02: 11:42

okay so I mentioned I'm a language teacher. This game is called Cognate Extrapolate. And you grew up speaking French, so you didn't have to learn it in a classroom. Do you know what a cognate is?

SPEAKER_00: 11:55

Yes. What's a cognate? Well, it's like the way a word sounds or a part of a word.

SPEAKER_02: 12:02

It's the words that look the same in two languages.

SPEAKER_00: 12:05

Got that totally wrong. No, let's not. I got that wrong. You say it again. That was great.

SPEAKER_02: 12:11

A cognate is a word. that looks the same in two languages. A false cognate, and I think

SPEAKER_00: 12:17

in French... I was completely off, so love that for us. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 12:21

My French teacher said that you call it a fake friend. So it's like the word embarassada. It looks like embarrassed, but it means pregnant. So some cognates don't work. Yeah. But cognates are your friend, usually. Yeah. Because you can trust them as a way to

SPEAKER_00: 12:36

decipher. Yeah, yeah. In French, faux ami, fake friend.

SPEAKER_02: 12:39

Yeah. Okay. So we're doing cognate extrapolate, and we're just going to use our language skills that we have in other languages to try to figure out what the heck is going on.

SPEAKER_00: 12:49

And how are we going to do that, Rainn?

SPEAKER_02: 12:50

And so we are, and I think we should post these headlines in the description so people can see what I'm seeing. I don't speak French, so you are going to give me a headline and I am going to use my cognate

SPEAKER_00: 13:02

extrapolate

SPEAKER_02: 13:03

skills and try to figure out what the headline is.

SPEAKER_00: 13:06

I love this so much for us. And then what are you going to do for me?

SPEAKER_02: 13:11

I'm going to really stretch. I'm going to really stretch both of our cognate linguist skills. about the Valks, and so I have one of those headlines from the Spanish-speaking. Okay. Los Valks. Las. Las. Oh, my gosh. Manifesting the

SPEAKER_00: 13:56

woman fest. In French, sorry. In French, it's the same. It

SPEAKER_02: 14:00

is?

SPEAKER_00: 14:00

Yeah, it's Les Valks. Oh, right, right, right. The plural isn't masculine-feminine. Okay. Okay, so you want me to go first? Okay. All right, number one. I'm really nervous. I feel like... Carla, brille avec les Golden State Valkyries en WNBA. That was real slow. So there's basically one word there that I'm making you guess. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 14:28

I heard briller.

SPEAKER_00: 14:30

Brille.

SPEAKER_02: 14:31

Brille. Brille, I'm going to say is like briller or brilliant. And they shine. Great. Yes, I did it. Bravo. You did do it. So we touched How are they shining lately? Oh

SPEAKER_00: 14:45

my God. Okay. So this was an article that was about their game against the Mystics, which was the Saturday night game.

SPEAKER_02: 14:51

Oh, a new headline. Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 14:52

The courtside game. And do

SPEAKER_02: 14:55

you remember? You were shining as well. You were brilliant. Yeah, we could put me in there.

SPEAKER_00: 14:58

Do you remember about their points for that game? How many points they scored? What was up with Janelle and Carla?

SPEAKER_02: 15:05

Janelle was like crazy on three pointers.

SPEAKER_00: 15:09

She was, I don't know. And what was her total points? Her total points was? The

SPEAKER_02: 15:13

highest game, 22? It

SPEAKER_00: 15:15

was 20. 20. She was just shy one point of her highest game.

SPEAKER_02: 15:19

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00: 15:19

But then Carla had 19. So both of them big in the points in that game and were clutched to a massive win. Yeah. Do you want me to do a second one in French or do you want to do one in Italian? In

SPEAKER_02: 15:35

Italian. Oh, I just wanted to mention that that game was special for Janelle and Carla because how many people are... Injured. Oh. And they are just like.

SPEAKER_00: 15:45

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 15:45

There's no one else can get injured. Tiffay's

SPEAKER_00: 15:49

injured.

SPEAKER_02: 15:50

Yeah. We have.

SPEAKER_00: 15:51

Monique. Monique. Billings. Kayla. And Chetty. And Carla had been out, but then she was cleared to come back. And we thought Monique was maybe going to come back, but she's not back

SPEAKER_02: 16:04

yet.

SPEAKER_00: 16:05

So we are so thankful that Carla's okay.

SPEAKER_02: 16:07

Yeah, Monique is giving me hope, and Tip is giving me hope that they did the fashion show and that they were– That they'll be back. Yeah. They're looking great.

SPEAKER_00: 16:17

Does that mean they're feeling great? I think that we're going to be– we're in sixth place right now, and the top eight go to the playoffs. And we are two and a half games up. from the LA Sparks and it feels good. Yeah. It feels good. We're definitely not in the clear at all, but it feels good.

SPEAKER_02: 16:36

And they're just stepping up and being great. Coach Nakase just recruited such diverse, versatile players that are really just, they're doing the job. And then Charles

SPEAKER_00: 16:49

being back. Oh, Charles,

SPEAKER_02: 16:51

yeah, got signed for the rest of the season. Yeah,

SPEAKER_00: 16:52

and she's really incredible.

SPEAKER_02: 16:54

Yeah. Okay, so I'm going to do... You want to go

SPEAKER_00: 16:56

Italian?

SPEAKER_02: 16:56

You want to ping pong? I'll go Italian. Oh, my God. I actually use a PeriKey app, which text-to-voice, which we could do for one. It takes it and puts it in Italian for you. But we can try my Italian. We might need to cut this. I might show you the computer, too, in case you can't understand my Italian. All right. This is me.

SPEAKER_00: 17:28

Just look at it. I'm looking at it. Don't worry. I am looking at it. It's a pretty long one. It's a pretty long one. You're only like a third done, girl. Okay. All right. Let's try it again. You want to read that again? Great. Read it again. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 17:44

Forget it. Do it. What did you get out of

SPEAKER_00: 17:47

that? Okay. Well, I mean, I, speaking French and a little Spanish and having taken a tiny bit of Italian, understand that the Wuber family announced to the French players Janelle is named like a stagione is like a stage she has 14.5 points and 5.5 rebounds but I'm like who's the Wuber family

SPEAKER_02: 18:09

Rimbalsi is a rebound that's a cool word Rimbalsi

SPEAKER_00: 18:14

and

SPEAKER_02: 18:15

she was a leader at the

SPEAKER_00: 18:16

yeah Villeneuve desk so this mentions where she went pro in France which is Villeneuve desk

SPEAKER_02: 18:22

okay so first she played in she played pro in France at age 17

SPEAKER_00: 18:27

yes so she Which actually is a little late to go pro. Well, she didn't start playing until she was 12. Correct. And tell us about that, Raina. What was the story behind her? I

SPEAKER_02: 18:38

saw that she was pretty like it was low key in her family. Like her parents play ball, but they never forced her to play ball is what I could understand.

SPEAKER_00: 18:48

In 2012, she was watching the London Olympics as a 12 year old saw the women play and was like I want to play that's it now

SPEAKER_02: 19:02

and now she's doing that for our girls fun

SPEAKER_00: 19:04

fact yes okay so you're gonna have to say more about that her parents did play I think both her mom and her dad played but she there was no pressure for her to play and she just decided at 12 that that's what she wanted to do and then okay what did you just say because you said something so she

SPEAKER_02: 19:22

started she started playing 12 but then she was signed professionally at 17 which for me sounds really young Because in the United States, you're not allowed to play professional until 21, 22 for women, right? Yeah. And graduate from college. So you're saying that's late, though, in France?

SPEAKER_00: 19:37

I don't know. I read somewhere that they were saying that it was a little bit late for her to go at 17. So she played the first five years for a French team. The first one was Flamme Caroleau. That was 2019, 2020. That's a pretty big year. Yeah. That school year. Pandemia. some ways for her. She kind of had a slow start in terms of how she was performing. And let's say that some of that I think she attributes also to pandemic year. So pandemic year, she started 2019, 2020 with Flamme Carolou. And then she moved over to Villeneuve Desc and played for four seasons with Villeneuve Desc, which is a French team. And then where'd she go?

SPEAKER_02: 20:18

Italy.

SPEAKER_00: 20:19

Exactly. So in 2024, 2025, she went over to Italy. And that's when she also was voted MVP

SPEAKER_02: 20:32

yes they won her team won in Italy the championship

SPEAKER_00: 20:37

so she was voted MVP and then she also signed with the W and since we're just gonna you know give all the facts when she signed with the W when she signed with the Golden State Valkyries was that her first team that she thought she was gonna sign with

SPEAKER_02: 20:52

no

SPEAKER_00: 20:53

it was not

SPEAKER_02: 20:54

what was it what was her first team

SPEAKER_00: 20:55

well she there wasn't okay there wasn't one team in mind but she wasn't it wasn't the Valkyries and then who convinced her what conversation did she have I didn't read

SPEAKER_02: 21:05

that

SPEAKER_00: 21:06

oh general manager when she spoke to our general manager basically explained that she'd have a lot of room for growth and that she'd have a lot of say and like that independence and freedom like the excitement to like shape to be part of like history yeah she went with her gut she said she had a gut feeling after that talk and she was like I'm signing with the Valks.

SPEAKER_02: 21:29

Where was she also being recruited?

SPEAKER_00: 21:32

There were a couple other ones, which I don't know offhand. But then Natalie Nakase has a great quote about her, which is just that she thanks her for having chosen. I'm

SPEAKER_02: 21:44

glad she chose us. Yeah. It's so loving.

SPEAKER_00: 21:47

Isn't that

SPEAKER_02: 21:48

just so beautiful? Just valuing your players, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 21:51

She says, this is a rookie closing out games for us. But you know, she doesn't even seem like a rookie. She doesn't talk like a rookie. She doesn't think like a rookie. So I'm just very grateful that she chose us.

SPEAKER_02: 22:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_00: 22:04

Beautiful. I

SPEAKER_02: 22:05

love this team so much. Are you in love again?

SPEAKER_00: 22:08

I'm in love

SPEAKER_02: 22:09

again.

SPEAKER_00: 22:10

Every time, it's the first time of falling in love.

SPEAKER_02: 22:13

Janelle, I liked you before, but I really, really like you now. She must have heard that we were doing an episode on her because she has really stepped up her game in the last couple weeks while we were busy

SPEAKER_00: 22:22

starting our school year. Did I send her a direct message? Maybe I did. Did she respond Not yet. No. See how I love to use the word yet.

SPEAKER_02: 22:31

Not

SPEAKER_00: 22:31

yet. Okay, so my turn. Okay. Okay, here we go.

SPEAKER_02: 22:36

Okay,

SPEAKER_00: 22:38

that one. That's a hard one. Okay, what do you see

SPEAKER_02: 22:49

there?

SPEAKER_00: 22:50

What do you hear there? I

SPEAKER_02: 22:52

feel like I'm going to run into some fake cognates here, but Savoie looks like savior, so maybe she went down south. Sur is south in Spanish. She went, she saved the, made a comeback. Okay, let's try it again. Let's

SPEAKER_00: 23:05

try it again.

SPEAKER_02: 23:06

Savoir

SPEAKER_00: 23:06

is not savior. You're a basket. You got that one.

SPEAKER_02: 23:10

Right now.

SPEAKER_00: 23:13

Okay, trois choses a savoir. What's the first one? Three choices? Three things to know.

SPEAKER_02: 23:20

Three

SPEAKER_00: 23:21

things to know. Exactly. This is a fun one. You're I don't think you're going to get that one.

SPEAKER_02: 23:30

That sums her up like a cardboard box?

SPEAKER_00: 23:34

Carton? No. Carton is like a great– it's a great word in French. It's basically she's doing so well.

SPEAKER_02: 23:40

Oh,

SPEAKER_00: 23:40

okay. Du carton means you're like doing so well.

SPEAKER_02: 23:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 23:43

But it's not a cognate. Okay. I faked you out there. Okay. So what could three things be that we need to know? What are three things to know about Janelle regarding Eurobasket? Tell us about Eurobasket. Did she go back to play?

SPEAKER_02: 23:57

Yeah. she went back to play we were sad that she was

SPEAKER_00: 24:01

absent

SPEAKER_02: 24:03

absent

SPEAKER_00: 24:03

she went back and played for which team

SPEAKER_02: 24:06

France

SPEAKER_00: 24:06

yes well okay it's not always clear some of them yeah she played for yes exactly yes she played for France with another player

SPEAKER_02: 24:14

with Rupert yes so Rupert we hadn't seen yet no she was on our rosters Rupert was a mystery for me

SPEAKER_00: 24:22

what's the special like connection of when else did Rupert

SPEAKER_02: 24:27

oh

SPEAKER_00: 24:27

they played

SPEAKER_02: 24:27

in the

SPEAKER_00: 24:28

Olympics together. Yes. This is a fun game. Okay. And the Olympics, which ones?

SPEAKER_02: 24:35

In Paris. Okay. So they were in their home turf.

SPEAKER_00: 24:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_02: 24:38

They didn't win, though.

SPEAKER_00: 24:39

No, they lost by... A

SPEAKER_02: 24:41

lot.

SPEAKER_00: 24:41

No.

SPEAKER_02: 24:42

No, I

SPEAKER_00: 24:43

mean... They lost by one point to the U.S. women.

SPEAKER_02: 24:47

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm thinking of Eurobasket this summer. Oh, this summer. They didn't do well in Eurobasket this summer. In the Olympics, there was a crazy fun game that I...

SPEAKER_00: 24:54

Yeah. Well, I watched it live. But it's funny because I watched... At the

SPEAKER_02: 24:59

court or

SPEAKER_00: 25:04

on TV? Yeah. And the U.S. won both of them. But so Janelle was on that team with Ileana. Carla wasn't on the team. OK, so that's the Olympics.

SPEAKER_02: 25:42

And then, yes, Eurobasket. ancestors and then see totally americans play french it's like your whole

SPEAKER_00: 26:02

and the level of the game to be so good yeah and so exciting to watch and to think women have more access now than when we were playing yeah and therefore they play more and their game is better we got to give all the girls all the access so that like they continue to be able to like develop and shine

SPEAKER_02: 26:22

right just like my my mom's high school team and her all-girls school was playing in skirts

SPEAKER_00: 26:27

Yes. We've come a long way. Yes. I know. Again, my daughters are looking at me. They're like, are you crying? Yes. Constantly. And OK, this is also. And so now they're

SPEAKER_02: 26:37

here in SF. It's like you're now you are wrapping your head around like, oh, my gosh, these people were.

SPEAKER_00: 26:43

Totally. And one of the things making a connection. Janelle says that when she was growing up, she didn't have pro athletes come and like talk to her about really what it was like. And so she takes on that role and she goes and talks to. to the youth, to the young players so that she can, she really takes like the role model role seriously.

SPEAKER_02: 27:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 27:04

Okay. But going back to the headline.

SPEAKER_02: 27:06

Which I knew

SPEAKER_00: 27:06

one word of. Yeah. Hero basket. Hero basket. Okay. That article, because I read it, also talks about just some backstory on her. Her younger brother. Played for the Hornets. He plays for the Hornets. I can read that word. And do you know anything, you

SPEAKER_02: 27:20

read anything about him? They're just a powerhouse family. Yeah. It's just funny that their parents played ball and then didn't pressure them to play ball But then they ended up being

SPEAKER_00: 27:30

powerhouse. They're so humble also and kind. And family is important. She thinks of herself as being more passionate, I think, about basketball. Than her brother? That's funny. And then for the Eurobasket, just to say, so they got silver at the Olympics. And then for the Eurobasket, they lost to Spain, which meant that they then played in the third place game and lost.

SPEAKER_03: 27:57

to

SPEAKER_00: 27:58

Italy and then the first place game was Spain and Belgium. Belgium won which is Julie Van Loo was the winner. Okay, ping pong. Okay, your turn. I can't wait for you to speak to me in Italian more. It's really a love language if you will. Oh,

SPEAKER_02: 28:16

it's so bad. We really have to put these there. Music to my ears. This is from Lega Basket Femminile. Je ne sais pas c'est un adjudicata il I got it. Okay. MVP. Got it. You are so multilingual. Okay. All right. What else can you gather? What about premio?

SPEAKER_00: 28:44

Yeah, from the Premium Feminine Basketball League. And this was in 2025. So that is now. Oh, I'm getting premio from

SPEAKER_02: 28:51

Spanish. Premio is a prize.

SPEAKER_00: 28:53

Oh, okay. Or the

SPEAKER_02: 28:53

award. The award of MVP.

SPEAKER_00: 28:56

So she got MVP. when she was playing for Shio.

SPEAKER_02: 28:58

Yeah, we mentioned that. And the final championship is called the Scudetto.

SPEAKER_00: 29:04

Oh. Finale Scudetto. No, I didn't know

SPEAKER_02: 29:06

that. But yeah, she... They praised her in Italy for having, at the bottom of that little Instagram post, it said, Il Secreto. Her secret? Her secret is play simple.

SPEAKER_03: 29:22

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 29:22

And we just had that echoed by Rupert, There was a great article the other day. Like someone else is actually she's on the ESPN top 25. That's two days ago or three days ago. My God. Top 25 under 25 to keep an

SPEAKER_00: 29:39

eye on. As are all the French players on our team. Yeah. Plus Leticia. I'm here. So like who is not French but is from one parent is Ghana. One parent is Ivory Coast born and raised in Canada. But her first language is French. So the four players out of 12 on the VELC's whose first language is French are all on the ESPN's 25 under 25 list. And they're allowed to

SPEAKER_02: 30:05

enter the league younger than American athletes.

SPEAKER_00: 30:08

I should say that. So maybe that has something to do with it. That's a sneak

SPEAKER_02: 30:12

attack of Nakase.

SPEAKER_00: 30:13

Veronica Burton missed it by like not very much. She just turned 25. The

SPEAKER_02: 30:22

quote from Rupert was she always had this killer mode, but now she's efficient with it. Yes. That's great. That's from that new article that was out August 30th. Yes. How Janelle Salon became a basketball star in 11 years. And that was by Matthew Walter. So thank you, Matthew, for doing so much research for us a few days ago. And

SPEAKER_00: 30:41

then I did read or I saw her in a video talking about her game and saying that one of the things because the W is a more physical game. And so she's had to, you know, like step up her physicality and stuff. But one of the things that she's been trying to do is to basically go to the hole more go to the basket and like muscle her way in oh muscle

SPEAKER_02: 31:02

is a word sometimes it looks like she's like trudging quicksand and it's just like you can see her muscles working and then she just finishes and you're like you have been practicing this and that takes such confidence and strength it's amazing

SPEAKER_00: 31:16

and that is something that she is increasing her confidence in but then the threes well that was already there I guess her confidence with the threes was already there and then I wonder because she plays, so Chavante Zellis, known as Z, is the ex-WNBA player who trains her and also plays for the French team Villeneuve Desc. And so I wonder if that's something that she's helping her with because she has the experience in the W.

SPEAKER_02: 31:43

Yeah. Okay. Okay, I've got one. Okay, give me.

SPEAKER_00: 31:46

Janelle Salin, 16 points. Et les Valkyries tombent sur une immense Aja Wilson.

SPEAKER_02: 31:57

You know what I know? From 12 Years of Ballet? Ooh, tombe. It's to fall. Yes. Yes. Oh, my gosh. I didn't even realize I had French in my brain. Look at you. Tombe. Tombe is when you fall forward and you bend one leg and

SPEAKER_00: 32:14

you fall forward. In ballet. In ballet. It also just means to fall.

SPEAKER_02: 32:18

And so here, Asia Wilson was taken, right?

SPEAKER_00: 32:22

Say that one more time?

SPEAKER_02: 32:25

Say more? Say less? asia wilson that janelle had six six points 16 points 16 i don't think you'd brag about six no she's 16 points because so she had 16 points but they they took a fall to yeah asia wilson

SPEAKER_00: 32:41

to the immense asia wilson who had 34 points

SPEAKER_02: 32:46

the aces are on it um so yeah asia wilson's had like four triple doubles

SPEAKER_00: 32:51

yeah

SPEAKER_02: 32:52

if you don't know what that is it's like rare it's a rare when you're explain things it means that you had double digits in three primary skills three really important skills and she's scoring she's assisting she's making passes that means to people that score and then she's also rebounding like crazy

SPEAKER_00: 33:13

so this article was about Janelle coming back from Eurobasket and finding her place because when she came back you know I'm sure there's jet lag there's also like the valx had been playing while she was gone so she had to like find her place again and then I

SPEAKER_02: 33:31

was like does she need a break is this a curse that she's in prime condition or like do we let her play because she's like coming off a championship

SPEAKER_00: 33:39

and then it went on to talk about how they couldn't like they couldn't topple the grandeur of the triple MVP Aja okay and allows us to talk about how Janelle with 16 points did very well but also coming back from Eurobasket was a big deal. And that was a risk. Players took to go play for their national country, which was great. Love that she did that. But it was a risk. She could have gotten waived as Joy Van Loo did. So we're really happy she...

SPEAKER_02: 34:13

She made it. She came back and she stepped up to prove herself.

SPEAKER_00: 34:19

And she's been incredible. What

SPEAKER_02: 34:21

are her overall stats? So she's averaging 10.8 points a game. 1.2 assists. And then her three-point percentage is really high. 35.2. The Valks are shooting more three-pointers than any other team. Yes. But her and Rupert are just like, if you study their shot, they just have a beautiful shot. Nice follow-through. And then field goal percentage, 40.9. She's on the up and up. I agree with ESPN.

SPEAKER_00: 34:55

And they wrote Salon not Salon that's how we've been pronouncing it Salon is another player whose impact and potential can be better measured by looking at her career overseas another one in the 24-25 season with Famiglia Cio in Italy she helped the team with the domestic cup and the league championship and was named finals MVP averaging 13.2 points with the Vaux she's been a staple in the starting lineup and a reliable scorer her dependability and availability have been two of her strongest attributes Aside from the three games she missed competing in Eurobasket. So only three. She has appeared in every WNBA contest this season and suited up for all 30 games with Familia Shio. And that's by Andrews for ESPN. So that's a good recap. It also mentions her height, which we hadn't said yet.

SPEAKER_02: 35:43

6'2"?

SPEAKER_00: 35:44

Yep. Yeah. So she's one of our talls.

SPEAKER_02: 35:46

She feels bigger than that, though.

SPEAKER_03: 35:49

She really does. I

SPEAKER_02: 35:50

mean, like when she shoots a three and like gives a ball fake and then pulls up, it feels like she's like 6'7". Feels like. It feels like. Agreed. All right. She's so strong. All right. I'm going to do the one from the Valkyria's Reddit for you. See how your Spanish is. Thank you. You speak Spanish, though, huh? A little bit? Un poquito. Let's see. Okay. Janelle Salon le da el pase perfecto a Kyla Charles. Okay, so I understand

SPEAKER_00: 36:42

some stuff, but also let's look at cognates since that's our game. Um... Termine.

SPEAKER_02: 36:50

Termine,

SPEAKER_00: 36:51

muy bien. So I see, like, I hear terminar, terminate, end. Okay, la jugada. I don't think jugada is a cognate, but I see jugada and I think of je, which is game. Yes, good. Okay. Es como si se hubiera activado un interruptor. Okay, so interrupter is a cognate. It's a weird cognate, though. It's an

SPEAKER_02: 37:15

interrupter of, like, light. What would you call that?

SPEAKER_00: 37:19

a switch yes good oh my god oh okay so the last game against Dallas that's like a switch has gone off activated like a switch has gone off in her and she's been playing better

SPEAKER_02: 37:35

and that's made everybody play better

SPEAKER_00: 37:37

that's oh good okay okay I feel like the cognates then I'm using are like from France yeah Spanish to French okay so everyone's been playing better because she's a switch has gone off in her God, I agree. I agree, right? I agree. What was the– you were talking earlier about when you saw her being interviewed and somebody asked her about being named.

SPEAKER_02: 38:00

Oh, right. I posted that to Kelsey yesterday. Kelsey, who interviewed us as part of the Valks fandom. Thank you, K-V-A-X, Kelsey. I know. I love Kelsey. Was interviewing Janelle. Post Mystics on Saturday. Post Mystics, yeah. And so she was asking her, well, how do you feel about– being potential rookie of the year. Oh,

SPEAKER_00: 38:21

yeah. And

SPEAKER_02: 38:23

Janelle was like, it's not important. What's important is we play playoffs and we make the playoffs.

SPEAKER_00: 38:28

I feel like that's so Janelle.

SPEAKER_02: 38:29

Yeah, like, why are you asking me this question? And the Valks are very consistent in that belief of it's not about the individual. It's about the whole team.

SPEAKER_00: 38:40

Yeah, they're always giving each other

SPEAKER_02: 38:41

props. Yeah. Another reason I love the Valks is there's not that one-star player that everyone else is supporting. It's like they're all supporting. all the time all the time on and off the court and like I love like just the the fact that they did the runway show and not all of them participated but they were

SPEAKER_00: 38:59

there to like tell us about that just because some people don't know what you're talking

SPEAKER_02: 39:02

about nobody knew that that was happening I got an invitation to it the WNBA reddit or not reddit the threads yeah was just like when did this happen who didn't tell

SPEAKER_00: 39:12

us yep

SPEAKER_02: 39:12

I know there was no I

SPEAKER_00: 39:13

got an invitation and I immediately clicked and it was closed and it was happening like that night so I was like what yeah give us some give us a heads up I want to go pay them

SPEAKER_02: 39:22

for that pay the players

SPEAKER_00: 39:24

pay the players that's our motto always we love our players play them they were very professional models and that just happened this weekend right

SPEAKER_02: 39:32

it was on their week off over the week off so it was like a yeah it just seemed like it popped up out of nowhere but they were they were definitely they had the stylist and I don't know what brand it was it was with Sephora right

SPEAKER_00: 39:46

it was Thursday yeah

SPEAKER_02: 39:46

Sephora did it I

SPEAKER_00: 39:48

was going going out I went to Bimbo's that night to see French 79 I suddenly found myself in like an electro like like rave situation unexpectedly so that was fun on a school night yep yep okay so let's let's wrap it up a bit and I would say do we have anything else that we want to talk about that we haven't been able to mention because I think there are a couple fun facts that I was like just going to throw out quickly can I say one thing okay so in French watching the videos there were some great ones where she's like doing a full workout and like you can do a workout with Janelle oh cool exactly I was like again is

SPEAKER_02: 40:35

her side project like a yoga

SPEAKER_00: 40:39

great question I don't see a side project yet and this made me think a lot of our American players who are maybe a little older because of like having gone to college and stuff too but they all have side projects and she's also like really trying to help shape the younger generations and do that kind of like giving back work but not yet a side project but what we did see in so her exercise videos and then her also like day in the life with Janelle there was some fun questions found out what her favorite meal is what is it pasta sauteed with veggies and chicken okay yeah but in like What do we recommend in San Francisco? With, like, ginger. Like, it was, like, an Asian twist because it was, like, ginger, soy sauce. That's what she makes for herself? Well, this is what she likes to have, like, as one of her favorite, like, pre-game meals.

SPEAKER_02: 41:33

Can you recommend any? If

SPEAKER_00: 41:36

she's into a Korean one, Han Il Kwan on 19th and Balboa, their japchae, which is delicious. It is sauteed, like, clear yam noodles with veggies. She mentioned chicken. They also have a delicious like barbecue chicken. And then the other one that I would recommend is Dumpling Kingdom on Terraval Street. And that is a tiny, wonderful establishment that has like a mountain of delicious dumplings as well as the classics like chow mein, like chicken chow mein, which would be like chicken, veggies and noodles or yeah, beef chow fun. Anyways, so I would recommend both of those places. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 42:18

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00: 42:18

Okay. You can get out more than me, so

SPEAKER_02: 42:19

I haven't had either of those. Maybe I'll run into Janelle there after

SPEAKER_00: 42:25

she listens to this podcast. Okay, just Google, translate that. And then some other things about her, her pregame rituals. So, involve, what do you think? I

SPEAKER_02: 42:44

came across that fitness video. I didn't understand. I don't understand it because it was in French, but I didn't see a ritual. I'm going to guess from that fitness video that she does a lot of stretching. I was surprised at how much of that video was stretching. What else things?

SPEAKER_00: 42:59

Okay. Stretching. She does. She was like rolling out her wrists and her neck and I was like, oh, this is good as a PE teacher. Actually, we need to do those two things. So thank you, Janelle, for reminders about those two things. She always listens to music. Okay. So music is really important. She also said YouTube. And I was like, oh, that's funny. What are you like looking at YouTube on? I was

SPEAKER_02: 43:20

just talking to my athletic director about the different ways to enter into a game, like the pregame rituals and like how some people pray and some people meditate and

SPEAKER_00: 43:30

some people

SPEAKER_02: 43:31

watch YouTube.

SPEAKER_00: 43:32

Well, she didn't mention like praying or meditating, but she mentioned like finding her calm, finding her chill. So it was like music, YouTube, and then making sure that she's like

SPEAKER_02: 43:44

calm. Maybe music's the most universal.

SPEAKER_00: 43:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 43:46

You have like your pregame mixtape. remember that absolutely

SPEAKER_00: 43:50

oh my god we should make mixtapes for each other let's do it yes okay another fun fact about her if she could play anyone one-on-one in history

SPEAKER_02: 44:05

this is very Janelle Salon I know I love it Michael Jordan yep that's funny um interesting

SPEAKER_00: 44:11

okay what's uh Janelle's nickname

SPEAKER_02: 44:13

Janelle's nickname Ja

SPEAKER_00: 44:14

yeah

SPEAKER_02: 44:14

anything else

SPEAKER_00: 44:15

Ja Ja

SPEAKER_02: 44:16

Ja Ja which we found out means Dude.

SPEAKER_00: 44:20

No, not spelled that way. Oh, okay. No, there's the song by Ayanna Camila. I did a spoiler. And she was saying ja-ja, but that means dude, but it's not spelled like J-A-H-O. It's just pronounced. Arja spells it. Okay, well, you know, I think that we've covered a lot. We've covered her stats, really close to her family. Brother plays for Hornets. She's incredible. She's

SPEAKER_02: 44:41

very humble. But she's humble, but she's proud to be of Guadalupean descent. Yes, she is. So I learned a little geography. Born and raised in Paris. Having taught geography, I did not know that Guadalupe is still. Like Guadaloupe. Guadaloupe. Yeah. Okay, sorry.

SPEAKER_00: 45:00

That's fine. You know, I have to correct you. All French people are like, shh, Reyna will want to know. Colonize my brain. Reyna will want to know how to pronounce this

SPEAKER_02: 45:08

correctly. Guadalupe is still a territory of France. So kind of like Puerto Rico, like if you're born there, you get automatic citizenship. It's a colony. I just take it for granted that Americans know that Puerto Ricans are Americans. Oh, yeah,

SPEAKER_00: 45:22

no, it's good. They have automatic

SPEAKER_02: 45:24

citizenship. And so Guadalupe, her parents were both from Guadalupe. And so have automatic French citizenship. And then they just moved here. No, she's born in Paris. Oh, the parents. And then Janelle was born in Paris. But she's very proud of her Guadalupean

SPEAKER_00: 45:42

culture. Background. She is humble, as we mentioned earlier, but also wants to be the best. And so I say we end with a quote from her about herself, who she draws inspiration from. Was

SPEAKER_02: 45:59

this in French? Or did she say this in English?

SPEAKER_00: 46:02

That's great. I doubt I She must have said this in English because I can't believe I didn't translate it. Actually, you know what? It was probably in an article that just translated it. She says, I do draw inspiration from watching NBA players like Kevin Durant and Anthony Edwards. There's a picture of him right behind us, by the way. Their skills, versatility, and determination on the court are something I admire and try to learn from. Ultimately, I strive to develop my own unique identity as a player while taking cues from the greats of the game okay so all right who are we doing our next episode on next

SPEAKER_02: 46:42

episode is on Chechi oh my god I hope she's better I know but we have a lot of material from when she was she was healthy and playing she's been out and so it will be good to pay her homage

SPEAKER_00: 46:58

absolutely you can practice your Italian again oh

SPEAKER_02: 47:01

gosh don't make me

SPEAKER_00: 47:02

do it it's fine you know I'll do I

SPEAKER_02: 47:04

love it. All right. And then we have our song. Do you have anything in mind? I was thinking of like Janelle Monae.

SPEAKER_00: 47:13

Yeah. I thought about her.

SPEAKER_02: 47:14

Does she have any autobiographical or do they have any autobiographical songs?

SPEAKER_00: 47:19

I didn't see it. I saw Janelle Monae once perform at the symphony, the San Francisco symphony. That was incredible. Wow. Okay. Just dropping that. I went with a classic old school French rapper. Okay. Known by everybody in France or the islands connected to France. M.C. Solar. Solar Sun. M.C. Solar. Anyways, he has a song called Bouge de là, which means like move from here. And I feel like it just makes me think of how Janelle plays where she's just like, get out of my

SPEAKER_02: 48:02

way. Get out of my way. Get out

SPEAKER_00: 48:03

of my way. All right. We'll move you.

SPEAKER_02: 48:05

I am a plow. It goes

SPEAKER_00: 48:07

bouge de la. Bouge de la. Bouge de la. OK. If you want to listen.

UNKNOWN: 48:19

Bouge de la.

SPEAKER_00: 48:19

Bouge de la. Bouge de la. Bouge de la. That's it. All right. That's bouge de la. Get out of Janelle's

SPEAKER_02: 48:29

way. I actually am going to do. This song, because I think we could do the English version for... Is this a safe one?

SPEAKER_01: 48:41

get out the way get out

SPEAKER_00: 48:45

the way get out of the way yes oh my god take me to a dance floor well on that note i guess we gotta wrap it up okay all right how do we say goodbye i don't remember well this is valkyrie say less we are here to hype up our fan community so that you get to know these players more and share spread that love and ultimately also we always want I want to bring it back to pay those players more. Pay the players. Pay the

SPEAKER_02: 49:15

players. All right. This is Vanessa. This is Raina. Thank you. This is Valkyries. Say less.

SPEAKER_01: 49:24

Valkyries.