Heather, Breanna and Brian Stewart in Mexico City for Breanna’s first international tournament with Team USA.
(Provided photo)
Syracuse, N.Y. – Brian Stewart was wary of Rio. News reports of the virulent Zika virus, the “super bacteria” lurking in offshore waters, the dubious infrastructure, the security concerns. All of it worried him.
But when his daughter “kind of got a little upset” at the thought of her parents missing her Olympic debut, when his wife, after careful consideration, suggested the Rio hype might outweigh the Rio reality, Stewart relented.
He remembered the time his 14-year-old daughter, after her first USA Basketball team tryout, called him to announce that she’d made the U16 team. He remembered how she called this time to announce she would be an Olympian.
Brian Stewart cried both times, the only moments in his daughter’s long, illustrious basketball career that triggered his own tears.
So, he relented. He and his wife, Heather, and their son, Conor, will board a flight from Syracuse to Rio probably on Aug. 11, to watch Breanna represent her country in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
“A couple of things made it easier,” Brian Stewart said in a cell phone conversation. “We have to pay for it, but we’re staying on a cruise ship for guests and athletes. Breanna and the athletes are on one cruise ship, we’re on another one. And USA Basketball is arranging airfare for us. They’re getting that all settled up.”
Breanna Stewart has played for USA Basketball since she made her first team at age 14. She is the youngest player on the women’s national team roster. She has spoken for years of her desire to be an Olympian. The four national titles at Connecticut represent a goal realized. The Seattle Storm made her the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft and Stewart is already having a rookie-of-the-year kind of season.
“She’s hopefully got a long career ahead of her,” Brian Stewart said, “but this is the creme de la creme.”
“She’s going to be playing with all these players she respects so much,” Heather Stewart said.
Conor recently made a two-week visit to his big sister in Seattle. The family has traveled to other international venues to see Breanna play. They followed Team USA to Mexico City, to France, to Puerto Rico, Istanbul and Toronto. To miss Rio, the crowning moment in a career already adorned with so many jewels, seemed unimaginable.
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So the Stewarts will go. They have balanced any concerns about Rio with the immense desire to see Breanna play in the Olympic Games.
“It’s kind of an overwhelming thought,” Heather Stewart said. “Every time we see her play for the USA, we got choked up. I’m just very excited at this level to be able to go down and watch. To see your daughter play for the USA is really an awesome sight.”
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