Best of both worlds

Houston Comets point guard Ukari Figgs is literally living out two of her dreams simultaneously.

Figgs, 26, enjoyed life as a professional athlete during summer. When the season ended, she put her engineering degree from Purdue to good use as an engineering specialist with Toyota.

"When the dispersal draft was happening, I found out the morning of the draft I had gotten the job at Toyota," said Figgs, who played for the Portland Fire in 2002. "I wasn't sure how that was going to work out. I told Houston I would have to wait a couple days to figure out if Toyota could work around my schedule. If not, I would have to make a pretty tough decision in my life."

If Toyota hadn't accommodated her schedule, which job would she have chosen?

"That would've been a really tough decision," said Figgs. "Coming to a club like Houston was a great opportunity, but you don't get the opportunity to work with Toyota every day. I'm glad I didn't have to make that decision."

Figgs, who won a WNBA Championship with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001, focused her attention on playing point guard for the Comets.

"I'm learning on the job," she said. "Hopefully I can continue to grow and learn the system and learn to play with these players."

Figgs credited her father for instilling in her the importance of an education. Basketball paid for her education, which led to a dream job.

"As you grow older, your priorities change in life, no matter what you're doing," she noted. "Basketball gave me a great opportunity to get a great education, travel the world and have great experiences. But at some point you know your career has to come to an end.

"You have to look for things outside of basketball," she continued. "I don't think my love for the game has changed, but my perspective has changed as I've gotten older and had different experiences."

- Tony Burns

Copyright Ashton International Media, Inc. Oct 2003
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