EAST SAN ANTONIO, Tex. — The former track star Marion Joneswas released from federal prison about 15 months ago, but her comeback officially began Monday at the Antioch Community Center when the she announced her intentions to return to competitive athletics. The 34 year old former world class sprinter and mother to three young children looks to be in great shape, something she credits, in part, to her time in prison. But this time, she isn’t returning to the track. She is aiming to sign on with an WNBA team.
Marion Jones, the former world-class sprinter, has been training with hopes of joining the WNBA.
Since October, Jones has been working on her skills and conditioning with an assistant coach and the head trainer for the WNBA’s San Antonio Silver streak. She hasn’t played competitive basketball since 1994 when she helped her North Carolina team to a 30-5 record and the National Championship as the starting point guard. Following that season, her freshman year, she quit basketball to concentrate on track.
Jones hopes to be able to play in Europe this winter and then sign with a WNBA team in time for the 2010 season.
“Back in May, when I got a call from someone in the NBA asking if I would possibly be interested in the WNBA,” she said. At the time, she was eight months pregnant with her third child. “My reaction was ‘Yeah, right.’ I got off the phone, I thought about it a little bit, talked with my husband. I thought it would be an interesting journey if I decided to do this,” she added. “It would give me an opportunity to share my message to young people on a bigger platform; it would give me an opportunity to get a second chance.I think I can be an asset to a franchise, so it comes down to ’Why Not?’ Really. Why not?”The WNBA Commissioner, Donna Orender, declined to comment on Jones’ plans but a league official confirmed Jones had reached out to the league. Any decision on whether she will be offered a free agent contract would be up to individual teams, WNBA spokesperson Ron Howard said. She is not elligible to enter the draft because early in the league’s tenure, she was drafted by the Phoenix franchise.
