Injury Will Delay Beard's Debut

Mystics Star Expects to Miss 2 Games With Strained Hamstring

The last thing Alana Beard wanted was to wait to play basketball again. She waited during the six months of recovery from shoulder surgery, and now it seems like a cruel twist of fate that a different injury will force the Washington Mystics' star guard to postpone her 2008 debut.

Beard said yesterday that she expects to miss Washington's first two regular season games because of a strained hamstring suffered three weeks ago while playing in Poland. She hopes to return for the team's home opener May 25 against Houston.

"If this was a playoff game, or a championship game, right now I could get it going and be out there," Beard said. "But the management, our trainer and I have come to the decision that it's better to take care of it now."

When the injury occurred, Beard continued to play on it. "That's part of growing and knowing when you're hurt and when to shut it down," she said. "I didn't do that."

While the hamstring frustrates her, it's the continued rehabilitation and gradual improvement of her shoulder that tests Beard's patience the most. After undergoing surgery in September to repair the torn labrum in her shooting shoulder, Beard is still working to regain its full range of motion, a tedious process that she often wishes she could do more to speed up.

"I'm not me yet. I'm not Alana, yet," Beard said. "That's the hardest thing. I'm not 100 percent and when you have certain nagging injuries you get frustrated. But I'll be ready to play."

Beard also signed a four-year contract with the Mystics in the offseason, one she jokes was probably the easiest negotiation General Manager Linda Hargrove has ever dealt with. When the team approached her with a new contract of either three or four years, she instantly chose the latter, knowing that Washington is where she wants to play, despite the team's struggles.

The Mystics have made the playoffs twice in the four years since Beard's arrival in 2004 -- exiting in the first round both times. She has played for three head coaches, seen several players ask to be traded and had a winning season only once, which, Beard admits, was a hard adjustment coming from her college career at Duke, where she lost just 14 games in four years.

"There was no decision, no thought process, never ever was there a doubt that this is where I want to be," Beard said. "This is home. I love being here and I love the people in this organization. We've made a few changes in the past that people don't agree with, but I have full confidence in our staff and that we're moving in the right direction."

Beard, who turned 26 yesterday, has embraced her role as the face of the franchise. She has averaged 19 points per game over the past two years combined, injuries or not, as she hits what should be the prime of her career. And her dedication to the team that drafted her is a comfort to Hargrove. "She's really committed to Washington and to the Mystics," Hargrove said. "It's so refreshing to have someone who's your best player and to have that person want to be here and want to try and help you build."

Beard wants to foster a new attitude and work ethic that will help create a winning team.

She likes the way her young new teammates hustle in practice, how they never seem to give up. And Beard said she won't mind if opponents overlook Washington because of the new faces or relative lack of experience, so long as those are the only reasons why league observers expect the team to struggle.

"It's not even a matter of them underestimating us because we have youth," Beard said. "They're underestimating us because we're the Mystics, and we've got to change that."