Samarie Walker

[Marie Diaz]

Samarie Walkers’ recent Instagram post:

 

[UcMiami]

Thanks for posting.

 

[JordyG]

Lifelong lessons are the ones hardest learned.

 

[Kaizen]

She chose the mighty University of Connecticut program over the likes of Duke, Georgia, Maryland and Rutgers and played a semester for the Huskies before suddenly transferring to Kentucky.


She had a stellar career with the Wildcats and though she was bypassed by the WNBA, she played on seven teams across Europe and in Australia in her four-year pro career. In 2016, playing in Visby, Sweden, she was named the Eurobasket.com All-Swedish Damligan Forward of the Year.

But for all the accomplishment and fame, she said she’s wrestled with issues of mental health – self-doubt, anxiety, depression and all the things that come with them – since those early teen years.

Archdeacon: Samarie Walker happily speaks her truth

VANDALIA – She revealed one of her darkest moments.

www.daytondailynews.com

 

[hard2please]

thats quite a courageous heartfelt and inspiring message, and helps me better understand the confusing actions at that time. thank you for posting.

 

[Argonaut]

For our fan base, I hope Samarie’s message can serve as a reminder that we never know the whole story and shouldn’t be so quick to judge when their actions don’t match what we expect.

And, in the spirit of Maya, to always choose kindness.

 

[CTtoSanDiego]

And, in the spirit of Maya, to always choose kindness.

 

[Purchase1]

For our fan base, I hope Samarie’s message can serve as a reminder that we never know the whole story and shouldn’t be so quick to judge when their actions don’t match what we expect.

And, in the spirit of Maya, to always choose kindness.

Amen to this!!

 

[Carnac]

I always wondered why Samarie left the program midseason of her freshman year. Now I now. It was reported that the coaches and Geno all tried to talk to her during the holiday break, but she refused to come back. As Argonaut said: "we never know the whole story and shouldn’t be so quick to judge when their actions don’t match what we expect." These kids are under enormous pressure at UConn. Some handle it better than others. We' looking at them and their situation as grown mature adults. They're experiencing it as 18-20 year olds with little or no life experience and being away from home for the first time.

Experienced coaches know this, and are vigilant in looking for any emotional/behavioral changes in their players. If it was easy, anyone could do it. It's not easy being a student athlete at an elite program that has super high expectations of all of its athletes.

Thank you Marie Diaz for posting this.

 

[Tonyc]

God Bless you Samarie Prayers are on the way.

 

[cferraro04]

That was some soul searching post by Samarie...Whatever it is that is going on in her life now...I hope that her life is filled with Gods Grace. God Bless.

 

[JellyBean]

Powerful reflective moment by Samarie. Just powerful. Many blessings and prayers, Samarie.

 

[trb123]

Am I right in concluding that according to Samarie Walker:

1. Maya Moore apart, her coaches, teachers, parents and friends had not been kind or patient with her.
2. No one else treated her with respect, openness and understanding.

 

[ThisJustIn]

I don't think so....

 

[FormerCTrez]

Samarie Walkers’ recent Instagram post:

Thank you Marie Diaz for posting this.

 

[fireford]

Am I right in concluding that according to Samarie Walker:

1. Maya Moore apart, her coaches, teachers, parents and friends had not been kind or patient with her.
2. No one else treated her with respect, openness and understanding.

I'm not reading it that way. Sounds like what she is saying is that the level of kindness and patience that Maya treated her with was at whole level higher than any other she had experienced to a point where it still stands out in her mind. Others may have tried to be patient and kind with her but they were unable to resonate with her the same way Maya did.

 

[UConnCat]

Best wishes for Samarie.

A little misremembering on how things went down.

Here's a summary of events:

UConn: Samarie Walker’s Departure Leaves Many Astonished

Samarie Walker's departure from UConn is not as transparent as it seems. Apparently it left many baffled including Walker's own parents.

www.swishappeal.com

Sources have said that Walker approached UConn coach, Geno Auriemma, shortly after his return from the World Championships in October saying she was unhappy with basketball and wanted a change. It was said that it had nothing to do with UConn but everything to do with not liking the sport since her sophomore year in high school at Chaminade-Julienne. She accepted her scholarship to UConn because, ‘it was what she was suppose to do’. Her idol was former UConn player Tamika Williams and she should follow in her footsteps to make her parents proud.

She showed up at UConn overweight and out of shape. She wasn’t interested in playing pickup with her teammates or working on her game during individuals. In that meeting it comes out that she wanted to leave UConn to study fashion in Chicago. She stated her parents did not know how she felt and she just wanted to make them happy. The coaches decided that they will try to work with her to resolve the situation because they thought she hadn’t thought it through enough.

UConn starts the season and Walker is a solid contributor for them and the coaches genuinely believe that she has taken a turn for the better even though there is some disconnect in some of her practice efforts. That apparently all changed after they returned from Christmas break. At this point it was like pulling teeth to get anything accomplished with her.

According to the source, it was during the Louisville game that everything boiled over. Disenchanted with Walker’s performance, Auriemma asked 'if she wanted to play.' Walker reportedly just stared at him. She was then benched for the remainder of the game. It was at that time that the decision was made to leave her home from the road trip to North Carolina, for some "self discovery." She reportedly tells her mother that she has injured her hamstring again and was left home because of that.

Once the team returns from North Carolina, it is assumed by many involved with the program that Walker would have a renewed focus and be ready to contribute again. Walker meets with Maya Moore on the team's return and its reported that she was unfazed about being left home and had no desire to be a part of their program.

The coaches apparently meet with Samarie again on Thursday. Samarie informs them that she does not want to play basketball at UConn. This is apparently different from her thoughts in the Fall that she just didn't like basketball, now it was that she didn't want to play at Connecticut because of the pressure and scrutiny.

It is at this time that coach Auriemma makes Samarie call her mother and inform her of her intentions so they can begin the paperwork to get her released. Samarie Walker’s mother was apparently confused as she thought Walker was going to do anything to remain at UConn and proceeds to beg her to stay. Not wanting to upset her mother Samarie states she will stay until the end of the season but the source says the UConn coaches aren’t interested in the idea after the 4 months that she had just put them through.

When asked what she wanted to do, Kentucky was on top of a couple of schools she mentioned. It seemed to surprise UConn how quickly everything developed because as of Thursday she was still enrolled in and attending classes at UConn.

Geno Auriemma was informed when returning from an event in New York on Friday that she was going to play basketball at Kentucky. Apparently in 2 days she rediscovered her love and passion for the game, after not being able to do that for the last 4 months at UConn and decided that Kentucky was the place to continue her career.

Maya Moore after UConn’s 66-46 victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday night wanted nothing to do with the conversation. "We’re done with that," she said. "That’s an old subject. We are moving on from that."

 

[Jimbo]

Very glad to see this IG post from Samarie. I was certainly disappointed when she decided to transfer, but one thing I never forgot from her time as a Husky: There was ZERO chance of the winning streak ever getting to 90 without the minutes she gave us in that Baylor game.

It sounds like she may be in a better place in life now, and I certainly hope so and wish nothing but the best for her.

 

[Carnac]

Best wishes for Samarie.

A little misremembering on how things went down.

Here's a summary of events:

UConn: Samarie Walker’s Departure Leaves Many Astonished

Samarie Walker's departure from UConn is not as transparent as it seems. Apparently it left many baffled including Walker's own parents.

www.swishappeal.com

Sources have said that Walker approached UConn coach, Geno Auriemma, shortly after his return from the World Championships in October saying she was unhappy with basketball and wanted a change. It was said that it had nothing to do with UConn but everything to do with not liking the sport since her sophomore year in high school at Chaminade-Julienne. She accepted her scholarship to UConn because, ‘it was what she was suppose to do’. Her idol was former UConn player Tamika Williams and she should follow in her footsteps to make her parents proud.

She showed up at UConn overweight and out of shape. She wasn’t interested in playing pickup with her teammates or working on her game during individuals. In that meeting it comes out that she wanted to leave UConn to study fashion in Chicago. She stated her parents did not know how she felt and she just wanted to make them happy. The coaches decided that they will try to work with her to resolve the situation because they thought she hadn’t thought it through enough.

UConn starts the season and Walker is a solid contributor for them and the coaches genuinely believe that she has taken a turn for the better even though there is some disconnect in some of her practice efforts. That apparently all changed after they returned from Christmas break. At this point it was like pulling teeth to get anything accomplished with her.

According to the source, it was during the Louisville game that everything boiled over. Disenchanted with Walker’s performance, Auriemma asked 'if she wanted to play.' Walker reportedly just stared at him. She was then benched for the remainder of the game. It was at that time that the decision was made to leave her home from the road trip to North Carolina, for some "self discovery." She reportedly tells her mother that she has injured her hamstring again and was left home because of that.

Once the team returns from North Carolina, it is assumed by many involved with the program that Walker would have a renewed focus and be ready to contribute again. Walker meets with Maya Moore on the team's return and its reported that she was unfazed about being left home and had no desire to be a part of their program.

The coaches apparently meet with Samarie again on Thursday. Samarie informs them that she does not want to play basketball at UConn. This is apparently different from her thoughts in the Fall that she just didn't like basketball, now it was that she didn't want to play at Connecticut because of the pressure and scrutiny.

It is at this time that coach Auriemma makes Samarie call her mother and inform her of her intentions so they can begin the paperwork to get her released. Samarie Walker’s mother was apparently confused as she thought Walker was going to do anything to remain at UConn and proceeds to beg her to stay. Not wanting to upset her mother Samarie states she will stay until the end of the season but the source says the UConn coaches aren’t interested in the idea after the 4 months that she had just put them through.

When asked what she wanted to do, Kentucky was on top of a couple of schools she mentioned. It seemed to surprise UConn how quickly everything developed because as of Thursday she was still enrolled in and attending classes at UConn.

Geno Auriemma was informed when returning from an event in New York on Friday that she was going to play basketball at Kentucky. Apparently in 2 days she rediscovered her love and passion for the game, after not being able to do that for the last 4 months at UConn and decided that Kentucky was the place to continue her career.

Maya Moore after UConn’s 66-46 victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday night wanted nothing to do with the conversation. "We’re done with that," she said. "That’s an old subject. We are moving on from that."

Best wishes for Samarie.

A little misremembering on how things went down.

Here's a summary of events:

UConn: Samarie Walker’s Departure Leaves Many Astonished

Samarie Walker's departure from UConn is not as transparent as it seems. Apparently it left many baffled including Walker's own parents.

www.swishappeal.com

Sources have said that Walker approached UConn coach, Geno Auriemma, shortly after his return from the World Championships in October saying she was unhappy with basketball and wanted a change. It was said that it had nothing to do with UConn but everything to do with not liking the sport since her sophomore year in high school at Chaminade-Julienne. She accepted her scholarship to UConn because, ‘it was what she was suppose to do’. Her idol was former UConn player Tamika Williams and she should follow in her footsteps to make her parents proud.

She showed up at UConn overweight and out of shape. She wasn’t interested in playing pickup with her teammates or working on her game during individuals. In that meeting it comes out that she wanted to leave UConn to study fashion in Chicago. She stated her parents did not know how she felt and she just wanted to make them happy. The coaches decided that they will try to work with her to resolve the situation because they thought she hadn’t thought it through enough.

UConn starts the season and Walker is a solid contributor for them and the coaches genuinely believe that she has taken a turn for the better even though there is some disconnect in some of her practice efforts. That apparently all changed after they returned from Christmas break. At this point it was like pulling teeth to get anything accomplished with her.

According to the source, it was during the Louisville game that everything boiled over. Disenchanted with Walker’s performance, Auriemma asked 'if she wanted to play.' Walker reportedly just stared at him. She was then benched for the remainder of the game. It was at that time that the decision was made to leave her home from the road trip to North Carolina, for some "self discovery." She reportedly tells her mother that she has injured her hamstring again and was left home because of that.

Once the team returns from North Carolina, it is assumed by many involved with the program that Walker would have a renewed focus and be ready to contribute again. Walker meets with Maya Moore on the team's return and its reported that she was unfazed about being left home and had no desire to be a part of their program.

The coaches apparently meet with Samarie again on Thursday. Samarie informs them that she does not want to play basketball at UConn. This is apparently different from her thoughts in the Fall that she just didn't like basketball, now it was that she didn't want to play at Connecticut because of the pressure and scrutiny.

It is at this time that coach Auriemma makes Samarie call her mother and inform her of her intentions so they can begin the paperwork to get her released. Samarie Walker’s mother was apparently confused as she thought Walker was going to do anything to remain at UConn and proceeds to beg her to stay. Not wanting to upset her mother Samarie states she will stay until the end of the season but the source says the UConn coaches aren’t interested in the idea after the 4 months that she had just put them through.

When asked what she wanted to do, Kentucky was on top of a couple of schools she mentioned. It seemed to surprise UConn how quickly everything developed because as of Thursday she was still enrolled in and attending classes at UConn.

Geno Auriemma was informed when returning from an event in New York on Friday that she was going to play basketball at Kentucky. Apparently in 2 days she rediscovered her love and passion for the game, after not being able to do that for the last 4 months at UConn and decided that Kentucky was the place to continue her career.

Maya Moore after UConn’s 66-46 victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday night wanted nothing to do with the conversation. "We’re done with that," she said. "That’s an old subject. We are moving on from that."

While I was an avid UConn WBB fan, I was not a member of the boneyard in 2011, nor did I have access to this article. As I stated in a previous post, I always wondered why Walker left the program. This article that I saw for the first time 10 minutes ago fills in ALL the gaps. Now I know the rest of the story. It sounds like she may be in a better place in life now, and I certainly hope so and wish nothing but the best for her. Thanks for posting this UConnCat.

 

[trb123]

I have sometimes compared Samarie Walker's departure from UCONN with the departure of scientists from the Manhattan project.
E.U Condon is the best known example who resigned after spending six weeks in NM. In his resignation letter, he explained:

The thing which upsets me the most is the extraordinary close security policy....I do not feel qualified to question the wisdom of this since I am totally unaware of the extent of enemy espionage and sabotage activities. I only want to say that in my case I found that the extreme concern with security was morbidly depressing--especially the discussion about censoring mail and telephone calls.

Manhattan Project did quite well without Condon. Few scientists bothered then and fewer still (if any) are concerned today. Condon was already one of the America's leading scientists before he arrived at Los Alamos and in this he had an advantage over Walker.

 

[eebmg]

I have sometimes compared Samarie Walker's departure from UCONN with the departure of scientists from the Manhattan project.
E.U Condon is the best known example who resigned after spending six weeks in NM. In his resignation letter, he explained:



Manhattan Project did quite well without Condon. Few scientists bothered then and fewer still (if any) are concerned today. Condon was already one of the America's leading scientists before he arrived at Los Alamos and in this he had an advantage over Walker.

We had Feynman , Bethe , Oppenheimer and Ulam and they didn't and if you are really smart enough, you get around security restrictions

 

[RoyDodger]

I'd like to thank Marie Diaz for posting Samarie Walker's comments about her mental health and about Maya Moore. Significantly, more and more is coming out (think Naomi Osaka) about the fact that athletes are human and subject to mental health problems as well as physical injuries and ailments. When Samarie Walker was playing (briefly) for UConn, I remember thinking that she looked miserable almost every time she was on the court. At the time, I thought it was simply a dislike for her situation at UConn and I admit that it never occurred to me that she was going through mental distress of whatever sort. I'm glad that Samarie Walker has opened up about her health and her life and appears to be doing so much better now. And I'm also glad to see that the exceptional Maya Moore tried to be there for her.

 

[HuskyNan]

Am I right in concluding that according to Samarie Walker:

1. Maya Moore apart, her coaches, teachers, parents and friends had not been kind or patient with her.
2. No one else treated her with respect, openness and understanding.

 

[trb123]

View attachment 69656

I wrote the sentence "I find this very hard to believe" and then I deleted it not knowing which way the wind was blowing. I did not want the mental health supporters to pile up on me. Now my deletion have landed me in a different kind of soup.

 

[Carnac]

I wrote the sentence "I find this very hard to believe" and then I deleted it not knowing which way the wind was blowing. I did not want the mental health supporters to pile up on me. Now my deletion have landed me in a different kind of soup.

Fear not. I’ve posted several comments I began to have second thoughts about as soon as I pressed the post reply button. I’ve never had any remorse about doing so. It’s called “having good judgment.” Second thoughts are seldom wrong.

Sometimes a comment seems prudent and a good idea when you begin to write it, but looses something but the time you finish, and in your heart, you know you should not post it. You’re OK, it happens.