“Of Shane Heal?” Barkley asked. “Shane Heal, I want to congratulate you on your daughter, but you are so lucky I didn’t kill your ass at the Olympics. He wanted to fight me. You almost didn’t have no daughter.”
Shyla said that while her father hasn’t shown her the clip of the fight directly, she has seen it online and is always asked about it.
“People still talk to him about it all the time,” she said. “Dad talked all the smack, and he initiated it. I am the type of person who gets a bit feisty – if someone else initiates it, then I’ll pipe up a bit.”
Former Boomers guard Shane said he saw the clip from the broadcast and was shocked that Barkley remembered him after so many years. While Team USA won the game, the match was instrumental in Shane’s journey to the NBA stage.
“It’s nice to know Charles hasn’t forgotten me after 25 years,” he said. “It was a cool shoutout and it was he recognised Shyla too.”
Barkley’s daughter, Christiana, has forged a career away from basketball and won’t be perpetuating the family feud.
“I am also a fierce competitor and I hate losing so that competitive nature and feistiness has definitely been instilled in me since I was a little girl and it’s one of my biggest strength in the game,” Shyla said.
“Ever since I was a young girl I’ve been really into goal setting. And one of my main goals was not only to be coached by my dad in the WNBL but to win a premiership with my dad.”
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Visa problems have delayed the start of Shyla’s WNBA career, with the teenager as yet unable to travel to the States. The Chicago club has already begun their WBNA camp with Heal feeling “a bit behind the eight ball”.
“I know it’s going to be a huge step and it’s something I’ve been preparing for. It has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl,” she said. “It will probably become more realistic once I get on the plane and get my visa.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to smh.com.au
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