As the excitement over Breanna Stewart joining the Seattle Sounders continues to grow, some facts are arising that are making her acquisition even more exciting than we had originally thought. As Storm Basketball points out, Stewart has been to the White House more times than any other athlete during President Obama’s two terms. Just let that sink in… In a nation full of talented and promising athletes both young and old, rookies and vets alike, Breanna Stewart has met the president more than any of them.

There is no doubting that Stewart is a pretty special player. According to Storm Basketball, she may be the next “once in a lifetime” player that we run across. Is that truly the case? A classmate of Stewart’s visited the Storm Facebook page to claim that when it came to Stewart playing in high school, her team had to limit her playing on the court to give the other team a shot at even winning! She has also had more awards and honors in her career than any other woman in the history of college basketball. Combined with the fact that she was the number one draft pick, the fact that she took UConn to the championships four times in four years… well, you can see why she is so beloved among fans.

Jenny Boucek, who never made it a secret that she was scouting Stewart over the past year, is obviously happy to have her on board the Storm. She says, “This is a big day for our franchise and for our city. We’ve had the good fortune of building around two once-in-a-lifetime cornerstones in Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson. What has been incredibly special about Sue and LJ is that they are not only unique talents, but they are even better teammates and women. Breanna is of the same breed: a rare combination of elite talent and character.”

But will it be different for Stewart once she is playing professionally among women older and more experienced than she is? It’s always a challenge at first for any rookie, so she will certainly have adjustments to be made; but for now, it does look as though the Storm has yet another “player of a lifetime” on their hands. Now if we could only contain our excitement about watching her play in her first game with the team! Do you have your tickets yet?

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia