The New York Liberty 2002 season started with a bang today, when all the players and coaching staff gathered together at Madison Square Garden for the first time since last September. While the day gave the players a chance to get caught up with each other and share stories of the off season, it also provided the first media availability of the year. Every major New York newspaper sent journalists and photographers to chronicle the day, capturing the team's excitement on paper and film.

Vickie Johnson talked about spending her offseason playing basketball in Israel, while Crystal and Sue swapped stories of being teammates in Italy. Recent acquisitions Linda Fröhlich, Shondra Johnson and Korie Hlede got to know the New York media, while Spoon got all the players to sign the new 2002 Media Guide for her collection. A long day of interviews, photographs and fun finished with lunch during which Sue, Crystal and Becky kept everybody entertained with some new dance steps they learned in Europe.

The team will begin practices on Monday afternoon and will practice every day until the Liberty's first preseason game in Washington on Friday, May 10. Your first chance to get a glimpse of the 2002 team is on Saturday, May 18 at 4 PM when the Liberty take on the Houston Comets in a preseason match up. For tickets call 877-WNBA-TIX. For updates on the 2002 Liberty Training Camp stay tuned to nyliberty.com.

All captions and photos courtesy of the Liberty

 

Page 1 | Page 2

Liberty Veterans gather for the cameras.

	Camille Cooper catches some extra zzzz's in the locker room.

The Liberty equipment manager, Anthony Doran, getting everything ready to go.

GO TO PAGE TWO