SE: Brittany Chambers, Latest Wildcat to Have Jersey Retired, Continues to Carry ‘Process’ She Learned with K-State WBB in Medical School
Jan 11, 2019 | Women's Basketball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
There was a time when Brittany Chambers would lose a game and go home steaming mad.
This occurred many times during her stellar K-State basketball career and even during her three-year professional career, but it's happened even more recently. The latest example: An intramural volleyball league at ATSU in Kirksville, Missouri, where she's about halfway through medical school.
"We would lose a game, an intramural volleyball game, and I'd go home and be so mad, and then I'd be, like, 'Why are you mad? This is not serious,'" Chambers said. "It took a while to turn off the competitiveness that I'm so used to."
"I'm still not very happy about it," Chambers added of how she handles losses now, laughing, "but it doesn't ruin my entire night anymore."
Like Chambers' competitiveness, many other traits that helped pave the way to her standout basketball career have stayed with her. She picked up or strengthened a good number of them while at K-State, where on Sunday, when the Wildcats host in-state rival Kansas at noon, her No. 2 jersey will be hoisted into the rafters of Bramlage Coliseum.
The honor, which Chambers said was unexpected, made her reflect on her time (2009-13) at K-State. What she thought of had nothing to do with celebrations after wins or even the disappointment after losses.
"It's all of those times in between — the hard practices and the traveling and the friendships," she said. "They always say you're not going to remember the games you won and lost, and that's very true for me. I remember the process and feeling like the accomplishments meant more because of all the hard work it took to get there. All the ups and downs along the way that, when you do have a win or an accomplishment, it just means so much more because it was so difficult to get there."
And Chambers accomplished quite a bit at K-State.
She set numerous school records that still stand. Some examples: consecutive games scoring (133), minutes played in a season (1,379) and a career (4,738), minutes played per game (35.1), career games played (135) and started (130), total points (778) and scoring average (21.0) in a single season, and points in a game (42).
She sits in the top 10 of more than 35 categories in K-State's record books, highlighted by her 2,156 points that rank third all-time. She also ranks fifth in career rebounds (862), eighth in career assists (363) and ninth in career double-doubles (15).
Not to mention she led her team to two NCAA Tournaments (2011, 2012) and an impressive run to the WNIT semifinals her senior year when injuries decimated K-State's roster to only seven available players.
Chambers said all the accomplishments were made possible by her "selfless" teammates, as well as the coaches like Deb Patterson and Kamie Ethridge, who brought her from Jordan, Minnesota, to Manhattan, Kansas.
Both groups, Chambers said, helped her buy into a process that rapidly accelerated her improvement. It played a key role in her earning First Team All-Big 12 honors three times and even a few Honorable Mention All-America recognitions as a senior.
"I miss my teammates. They were my best friends. They became a family to me, and the coaching staff. You push each other because it's such a competitive atmosphere that it just makes you so much closer," she said. "Also, the expectations. I think when I first came in, the expectations were kind of what swallowed me up. I felt super overwhelmed by them, and you could never live up to them, but eventually that's what I loved. I loved coming in every day and being able to prove yourself. There was such a high bar and standard that was set. Every day trying to get to that, that was fun for me."
Now, as a second-year medical student, this process has continued to help Chambers.
"The biggest thing I had to learn was consistency, just being consistent every day, and showing up every day for your teammates. That's probably the biggest thing that I learned at K-State because you have practices every day and you don't really have time to take off, and if you do take time off and you don't focus every day, you're definitely exposed," she said. "I learned to, every day, wake up with the mentality that I wanted to be better and wanted to get better. Also, the work can't just be in practice, it had to be by yourself when nobody's watching.
"That work ethic has carried over and it's helped me tremendously, both when I stopped playing at K-State and I continued to play overseas, and also now in med school. It's easier to be consistent every day, work hard and know that your hard work will pay off, maybe not immediately, but eventually it will always pay off."
Chambers' hard work helped her fulfill a childhood dream to become a professional athlete.
She was picked No. 22 overall in the 2013 WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks. After a brief stint there, she spent two years playing professionally in Spain, the second of which ended with a league championship. In March of 2015, Chambers was signed by the San Antonio Stars but was released before the regular season began.
Still, it was more than she could have ever asked for.
"It was always this far-fetched dream," she said. "When you're a little girl, so many people want to be professional athletes but it's just so far out there."
After San Antonio, Chambers decided to move on from professional basketball. Medical school was always the long-term goal, she said, but she had to return to K-State to finish out her bachelor's degree first. Fortunately, she said K-State paid for her to do so.
Even more, the team she once starred for, despite being led by a completely different coaching staff under Jeff Mittie, was active in making her feel welcome.
"I got to know the new coaching staff and some of the newer players that I didn't know. They're great people, too," Chambers, K-State's sixth women's basketball player to have her jersey retired, said. "It's nice to have a relationship with them because they weren't my coaches but throughout that year, they invited me to practices and they were really inclusive. It was really nice."
Returning to Bramlage Coliseum this time, Chambers said, should be even more special. She's excited to feel the energy in the building again, especially against Kansas. She's also thrilled see some former teammates, most of whom she only gets to be with at weddings anymore.
"We've had pretty much a wedding, yearly, for the last couple years, so every year we have our weekend getaway with all of us," she said. "They'll be my friends forever."
Afterward, Chambers will return to her new life, one consumed by school and the occasional intramural outing. While she's not 100 percent sure of what medical field she wants to pursue quite yet, Chambers said she's connected with one in particular. It should not come as much of a surprise.
"I'm definitely leaning toward emergency med or general surgery. I kind of like more of the fast-paced (atmosphere)," she said. "It probably has a lot to do with basketball and my competitiveness."
There was a time when Brittany Chambers would lose a game and go home steaming mad.
This occurred many times during her stellar K-State basketball career and even during her three-year professional career, but it's happened even more recently. The latest example: An intramural volleyball league at ATSU in Kirksville, Missouri, where she's about halfway through medical school.
"We would lose a game, an intramural volleyball game, and I'd go home and be so mad, and then I'd be, like, 'Why are you mad? This is not serious,'" Chambers said. "It took a while to turn off the competitiveness that I'm so used to."
"I'm still not very happy about it," Chambers added of how she handles losses now, laughing, "but it doesn't ruin my entire night anymore."
Like Chambers' competitiveness, many other traits that helped pave the way to her standout basketball career have stayed with her. She picked up or strengthened a good number of them while at K-State, where on Sunday, when the Wildcats host in-state rival Kansas at noon, her No. 2 jersey will be hoisted into the rafters of Bramlage Coliseum.
The honor, which Chambers said was unexpected, made her reflect on her time (2009-13) at K-State. What she thought of had nothing to do with celebrations after wins or even the disappointment after losses.
"It's all of those times in between — the hard practices and the traveling and the friendships," she said. "They always say you're not going to remember the games you won and lost, and that's very true for me. I remember the process and feeling like the accomplishments meant more because of all the hard work it took to get there. All the ups and downs along the way that, when you do have a win or an accomplishment, it just means so much more because it was so difficult to get there."
And Chambers accomplished quite a bit at K-State.
She set numerous school records that still stand. Some examples: consecutive games scoring (133), minutes played in a season (1,379) and a career (4,738), minutes played per game (35.1), career games played (135) and started (130), total points (778) and scoring average (21.0) in a single season, and points in a game (42).
She sits in the top 10 of more than 35 categories in K-State's record books, highlighted by her 2,156 points that rank third all-time. She also ranks fifth in career rebounds (862), eighth in career assists (363) and ninth in career double-doubles (15).
Not to mention she led her team to two NCAA Tournaments (2011, 2012) and an impressive run to the WNIT semifinals her senior year when injuries decimated K-State's roster to only seven available players.
Chambers said all the accomplishments were made possible by her "selfless" teammates, as well as the coaches like Deb Patterson and Kamie Ethridge, who brought her from Jordan, Minnesota, to Manhattan, Kansas.
Both groups, Chambers said, helped her buy into a process that rapidly accelerated her improvement. It played a key role in her earning First Team All-Big 12 honors three times and even a few Honorable Mention All-America recognitions as a senior.
"I miss my teammates. They were my best friends. They became a family to me, and the coaching staff. You push each other because it's such a competitive atmosphere that it just makes you so much closer," she said. "Also, the expectations. I think when I first came in, the expectations were kind of what swallowed me up. I felt super overwhelmed by them, and you could never live up to them, but eventually that's what I loved. I loved coming in every day and being able to prove yourself. There was such a high bar and standard that was set. Every day trying to get to that, that was fun for me."
Now, as a second-year medical student, this process has continued to help Chambers.
"The biggest thing I had to learn was consistency, just being consistent every day, and showing up every day for your teammates. That's probably the biggest thing that I learned at K-State because you have practices every day and you don't really have time to take off, and if you do take time off and you don't focus every day, you're definitely exposed," she said. "I learned to, every day, wake up with the mentality that I wanted to be better and wanted to get better. Also, the work can't just be in practice, it had to be by yourself when nobody's watching.
"That work ethic has carried over and it's helped me tremendously, both when I stopped playing at K-State and I continued to play overseas, and also now in med school. It's easier to be consistent every day, work hard and know that your hard work will pay off, maybe not immediately, but eventually it will always pay off."
Chambers' hard work helped her fulfill a childhood dream to become a professional athlete.
She was picked No. 22 overall in the 2013 WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks. After a brief stint there, she spent two years playing professionally in Spain, the second of which ended with a league championship. In March of 2015, Chambers was signed by the San Antonio Stars but was released before the regular season began.
Still, it was more than she could have ever asked for.
"It was always this far-fetched dream," she said. "When you're a little girl, so many people want to be professional athletes but it's just so far out there."
After San Antonio, Chambers decided to move on from professional basketball. Medical school was always the long-term goal, she said, but she had to return to K-State to finish out her bachelor's degree first. Fortunately, she said K-State paid for her to do so.
Even more, the team she once starred for, despite being led by a completely different coaching staff under Jeff Mittie, was active in making her feel welcome.
"I got to know the new coaching staff and some of the newer players that I didn't know. They're great people, too," Chambers, K-State's sixth women's basketball player to have her jersey retired, said. "It's nice to have a relationship with them because they weren't my coaches but throughout that year, they invited me to practices and they were really inclusive. It was really nice."
Returning to Bramlage Coliseum this time, Chambers said, should be even more special. She's excited to feel the energy in the building again, especially against Kansas. She's also thrilled see some former teammates, most of whom she only gets to be with at weddings anymore.
"We've had pretty much a wedding, yearly, for the last couple years, so every year we have our weekend getaway with all of us," she said. "They'll be my friends forever."
Afterward, Chambers will return to her new life, one consumed by school and the occasional intramural outing. While she's not 100 percent sure of what medical field she wants to pursue quite yet, Chambers said she's connected with one in particular. It should not come as much of a surprise.
"I'm definitely leaning toward emergency med or general surgery. I kind of like more of the fast-paced (atmosphere)," she said. "It probably has a lot to do with basketball and my competitiveness."
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