By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

SINCE getting drafted by the Minnesota Lynx in the Women’s National Basketball Association, Waltiea Rolle said she has been on such a whirlwind spin that she had to take some time off to relax with her family.

Selected in the third round with the last of the 36 picks in the WNBA Draft in April, Rolle said she will not make her appearance with the Lynx until the 2014 season. The University of North Carolina Tar Heels center has opted to take her game overseas before she settles in as the first Bahamian to play in the women’s professional league.

In the meantime, she is home enjoying some time with her family. “I’ve been having a lot of meetings and other stuff trying to get all of my endorsements sorted out,” said Rolle in an exclusive interview with The Tribune on Sunday.

“It’s just good to be back home. I got in last Friday, but I decided to take at least a week off to spend some time with my one-year-old daughter Carlisa and my family before I did anything in the public.”

Rolle, 22, will be leaving on August 12 for a two-week training camp in North Carolina before she returns for a big appearance day at the Mall at Marathon on August 31 where she will be formally introduced to the public and will be signing autographs for those interested.

Once that is done, Rolle will be heading to Europe to play for the remainder of the year before she gets ready for her debut in the WNBA in 2014. She’s still working with her agents on exactly where she will suit up in Europe. But she’s looking forward to the experience she will gain.

“I made the decision to not play (in the WNBA) this year because I wanted to finish my school,” Rolle said. “When I talked with my WNBA coach, she said it was a good idea to go ahead and pursue that. She told me that going overseas and gaining some experience will definitely help my game when I come back next season. I should definitely be ready to go when I go to the WNBA next year.”

Uncertain as to where she will end up, Rolle said she’s looking forward to the language barrier that she will encounter. But if there’s anything that she’s still getting adjusted to, it’s being drafted to play in the WNBA.

“Just to think about where I came from and where I am now and how everything is happening so quickly, I don’t think it has sunk in yet,” Rolle said. “I still don’t believe that I am going to play in the WNBA. But it’s a great feeling knowing that I will. It’s starting to sink in.”

From the time she left home to enrol in Frank Rutherford’s Elite Programme in Houston, Texas, Rolle said she was contemplating what it would be like to play in the WNBA. Once she got there and she began playing, Rolle said the focus was on getting to the next level.

But if you would have asked her from the time she began playing sports at HO Nash under coach Patricia ‘Patti’ Johnson as a member of the Lion’s volleyball team, the goal was to play volleyball.

“When I got to Houston and I started playing AAU basketball, it all changed,” Rolle said. “When I started working out, I realised that this is what I really wanted to do.”

During her remainder of her high school career in Houston at Westbury Christian School, Rolle said once the offers started to pour in from all the big time colleges and universities, she realised that she was heading for something big.

“I don’t have any regrets. Look where it has brought me,” she said. “I still like volleyball, but I’m not interested in it as I do with basketball.”

And as she gears up for the WNBA, Rolle said she has to concentrate on getting a lot stronger and improve on her footwork, post moves and agility.

“I’m not intimidated,” said Rolle about fitting in with the superstars from around the world. “I played with and against a lot of the girls, so to me, it’s just like the same game, but I just have to do a little more because everybody would have improved. But skill wise, I think it’s the same for me.”

Before she got drafted, Rolle said she was a big fan of the Los Angeles Sparks and an idol of players Lisa Leslie, Candice Parker and LeBron James of the Miami Heat. But when she gets into the league, Rolle said she will be quite content if she can accomplish one goal

and that is to win a championship title.

“I know the Lynx recently won the championship, but right now they really need a big center and so I think that is where I can fit in,” said the six-foot, six-inche Rolle. “So I’m eager to get in there next year. But if they were to call me right now and say they need, I would be like ‘let’s go.’ I got what I need, so I’m prepared to go. I only have about two more classes to finish and I am doing them on line, so I could be available.”

Rolle, however, would prefer to complete her studies so she can graduate from the University of North Carolina in December with her degree in sports administration and exercise sports science.

“When I first started, I didn’t want to go to UNC. My first choice was Maryland. But after my dad laid it on the table and because I wanted to study nursing and they had a really ood hospital, I decided to go to UNC,” she said.

“When I got there, the coaches and the players were all so very nice to know, so I was happy that I ended up going there. Had I gone to Maryland, I don’t know if things would have worked out the way they did at UNC. My coach gave me a lot of playing time in my freshman year, so it worked out for me.”

Rolle admitted that there were a lot of people who played a significant role in her success, including her parents Donna and Maxwell Rolle, Rutherford, her AAU coach Phyllis Dallas-Morris, her UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell and Chuck and Kerry Olson, whom she lived

with at one point.

Coming from a family of tall persons, Rolle said she’s thankful for everything that everybody has done for her. Her father, Maxwell, expressed thanks to God for what his daughter has achieved.

“It’s been a marvelous experience,” he said. “I’m a proud father, even though she came a long way from high school to the University of North Carolina. It’s just unexplainable, but I thank God for her achievement. And I thank God for allowing her to make history as the first Bahamian and maybe the first from the Caribbean to be drafted into the WNBA.”

When he got the news that she was drafted, Rolle said he was speechless. But he’s elated because he always knew that she had the potential to do and he’s now just waiting for her to make her Lynx debut next year.