Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon got emotional this Mother’s Day as she opened up about the hard parts of being a working mom in professional sports.
With the WNBA season starting soon, Hammon admitted she feels “mommy guilt” when time with her two sons becomes limited.
“It’s heavy because a mother’s heart is different,” Hammon said, per the Las Vegas Review Journal. “But at the end of the day, you’ve got to do what you have to do to provide for your family, and hope to God they understand when they get older.”
Hammon and her wife, Brenda Milano, are raising two boys — Cayden, age 9, and Samuel, age 7. As the Aces prepare to open their season on Saturday against the New York Liberty, the family is trying to enjoy what Hammon called their “last weekend to just be together” before the schedule gets busy.
Hammon said she’s talked with star point guard Chelsea Gray about the challenges of being a mom while coaching or playing. Watching Gray care for her son while excelling on the court reminds Hammon of something she never got to do — play in front of her own kids.
“I didn’t have that,” she said. “Man, I wish my kids could have seen me play.”
For Hammon, Mother’s Day is a reminder of the balance she tries to keep. The coach once worked under Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs, and many thought she might be picked as his replacement when he stepped down.
But Hammon says she’s right where she wants to be — coaching women, raising her boys and doing her best to juggle both.
“I carry the guilt,” she said. “But I also carry the love — and the hope that my kids will see that.”
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