Reiseplan » he ball-control offense sets the tempo, and keeps a big-play

This is an online exclusive story from ESPN The Magazines Body Issue 2016. Subscribe today!?And for more from the 2016 Body Issue, check out espn.com/bodyissue,?and pick up a copy on newsstands starting July 8.Three-time WNBA All-Star Elena Della Donna has faced her share of body challenges -- from being teased for her height as a kid to her ongoing battle with Lyme disease. For this summers Body Issue, she talked to ESPNs Morty Ain about how shes coped and what serves as her inspiration.We play an amazing caliber and brand of basketball, and people try to cut that down because they are just comparing it to the mens game. Oh well, she didnt dunk in that game! Whatever, theyre just girls, nobody wants to watch that. Thats pretty frustrating. We are the most elite players in the world. This is my life, and its what Ive put in 22 years of my life doing.I support lowering the rim. When you think about it, there probably isnt a guy in the NBA who cant dunk, so it should be the same way for the females. If we lowered it to 9 feet, maybe even lower, we can have our point guards getting up there and dunking the ball. I think that would make our game extremely fun to watch.I have a pack of game gum. I go to the store and stare at the gum until I pick out the right one -- somehow one will pop out to me. Once I buy it, no one is allowed to touch the packet or its ruined. Ill take a piece and chew it in the first half, and if things arent going well and we arent playing well, I have to change the piece of gum. Because obviously its the gums fault; its not our fault that were playing bad [laughs]!My biggest challenge is trying to stay healthy with Lyme disease. At my worst, I have muscle aches and fatigue and various symptoms, like you get when you have the flu. Then there are days Ill wake up a little bit tired or my muscles arent recovering as well, but I keep that in mind and will alter my training. I also have to eat really well and stay away from foods that will make my inflammatory system go crazy.I take around 50 supplements a day to battle it. I think its always surprising to people that I have a chronic illness and I play a professional sport.It took the doctors two months to figure out what was going on with me. I had my first relapse my sophomore year in college. A lot of tests cant detect it, especially when its gone chronic and reappears. I was sleeping probably 18 hours a day, not eating much, and I lost probably about 35 pounds. I had literally told my parents, I think Im dying.I said I wanted to be the best female basketball player in the world when I was 4. Ive always had really lofty goals.Ive worked with the same personal trainer since second grade. My brother, who was three years ahead of me in school, played basketball, and I always would tag along to his workouts or games. He was doing a workout one time and I just asked, Hey, can I hop in? The trainer was in shock. But he let me continue to work with my brother and come along. I still work with him today. Hes like family now.My entire day revolves around stressing my body, putting it through rigorous workouts and then giving back to it. It can be up to four and a half hours a day. This sport takes so many years and hours of training.When I first got to the WNBA, I felt like throughout a game I was losing my endurance. I wasnt performing nearly as well in the third and fourth quarter as I was in the first half. So I got a new strength coach back in Delaware, and we really worked on core stability and endurance, doing circuit training. People wrote that I put on 12 pounds of muscle. That might have been a bit of an exaggeration. But I definitely put on muscle and lost body fat.I used to tell my mom all the time that I wished I were shorter. Shes 6-2 and my dad is 6-6, so she understood. She was like, Im telling you, one day you are going to realize how beautiful your height is. She would always tell me how unique I am and say, Why try to be like the rest of the pack? Be your own person.It used to be annoying when kids would make fun of me for my height. Its funny because height is an attribute where people feel like they can call it out. Like, if Im at a grocery store, someone will be like, Youre so tall! Kids would be like, Oh my god, youre taller than my dad. Oh, you look like a monster! I dont look like a monster, Im just tall. Those would be hurtful things that kids would say, but I dont think kids even understand that that comes off as rude.My dogs huge. Hes a Great Dane, so I knew he was going to be huge, and its something that I absolutely adore. When he stands up on his hind legs, he is my height. And when hes on four legs, his head comes up to a little above my hip. He also thinks hes a lapdog, which is comical at times.His name is Wrigley. I got him my first year in Chicago for my rookie season, so I figured a Chicago name would work well. But when I would take him to the dog beach in Chicago, everyone else had a dog named Wrigley too.When Im practicing on the court, I always try to play mind games with myself. Ill tell myself, Im going to miss this shot, and then I force myself to push through that. Or Ill say, Theres no way youre going to make 11 in a row. Then I have to try to challenge myself to do it. When Im on the court, everything is positive. I tell myself, Its going in. So if I can train the opposite way, Ill be even more prepared when its game time.In high school, I made 81 free throws in a row. I remember when I missed, it was kind of like, Thank god this is over! Literally everybody in the gym was holding their breath every time I shot a free throw. I was just so relieved for it to finally be over.My sister, Lizzie, has always been my biggest inspiration, even though shes never spoken a word to me. Shes deaf and blind, and she has intellectual disabilities as well. Shes probably functioning at the level of a 1- to 2-year-old. Not only that, but shes had over 30 surgeries in her life. Shes overcome every single thing thats been thrown her way. So many times doctors said she wouldnt be able to walk, or she wouldnt live to this age, and shes surpassed all of those expectations. Shes just amazing.On my 20th birthday, I got a tattoo of my sisters name inside of angel wings. I wanted to put it somewhere its not seen every day, but I know its there. And before every game I pat it, or if I need to channel my sister in any way throughout a game, Ill pat my side.Anything I endure in a day will never be able to compete with what she has to endure each day of her life. Joey Bosa Youth Jersey . Calgary scored on the first shift, and Michael Cammalleri scored twice as the Flames cruised to a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday. Drue Tranquill Womens Jersey . Burke is expected to miss two to three months after breaking a finger in the teams third preseason game. Tinsley, a 10-year veteran, spent the last two seasons in Utah, where the point guard averaged 3. http://www.prochargersteamstore.com/Youth-Derwin-James-Elite-Jersey/ . A statement from the worlds top-ranked player says all checks "were satisfactory and showed positive evolution" regarding the injury, which contributed to his loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the final in Melbourne. Derwin James Jersey . Deulofeu injured a muscle in his right leg in Evertons 4-1 win over Fulham in the English Premier League on Saturday. Barcelona says that its team doctors will "co-ordinate" with Evertons medical staff as Deulofeu recovers. Keenan Allen Womens Jersey .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. MADISON, Wis. -- The first key to executing a successful jet sweep at No. 6 Wisconsin can be summarized in two words by receivers coach Ted Gilmore.Run scared, Gilmore said Wednesday.Speed to beat defenders to the edge and vision to find the right hole help, too. The eighth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions (10-2, No. 7 CFP) will be watching for the sweep when they face the Badgers (10-2, No. 6 CFP) on Saturday night in Indianapolis in the Big Ten Championship game.The first thing that goes through my head is get up field and get whatever you can, Wisconsin receiver Jazz Peavy said. When you see a lot of green grass like that its just run, run, run.Just like last week in the 31-17 win over Minnesota .Peavy went 71 yards down the right sideline to the Gophers 11. Two plays later, tailback Corey Clement barreled into the end zone from 2 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 6:42 left.It happens so fast you cant really think about it, Peavy said.The jet sweep has been a tool at Wisconsin in the past, spanning coaching staffs. But it was really dusted off this year on Oct. 15 in the 30-23 loss in overtime to No. 2 Ohio State. Peavy, a junior who has emerged as a key offensive weapon, gashed the Buckeyes for 70 yards rushing on six carries.Peavy has reached a point where he belongs and he can make those plays, Gilmore said. I tell him all the time to trust himself.The receiver has left such an impression that the play has a new nickname: the Jazz sweep.Whatever its called, the Nittany Lions want to put a stop to it.A defense reinforced by the midseason returns of linebackers Brandon Bell and Jason Cabinda from injuries has helped hold opponents to less than 47 yards rushing in three of the last five games. But the Nittany Lions got gashed by sweeps, shovel passes and play-action in a 42-39 loss to Pittsburgh in September. Cabinda, the starting middle linebacker, didnt play in that game.Its something we kind of plan on happening, cornerback John Reid said Wednesday when asked if Penn State would be brushing up on defending the sweep.The sweep is just one of a series of tweaks that coach Paul Chryst -- a former Wisconsin offensive coordinator -- has made since middseason, when the running game became more productive.ddddddddddddWith Wisconsin coming off a bye week, Ohio State didnt look prepared for Peavy running the sweep. The next week, Chryst started using senior Bart Houston again at quarterback. The former starter began taking a few series each game, alternating with Alex Hornibrook, the redshirt freshman who took his job.Houston has embraced his role, often giving the offense a spark. A former option quarterback in high school, the right-handed senior has more mobility and presents defenses a different look from Hornibrook, a left-handed pocket passer.With Hornibrook listed as questionable with a head injury, Houston may get the call again to start against Penn State.After rotating offensive linemen for much of the first half of the season, Wisconsins front five has more stability. Clement remains Wisconsins go-to back and best breakaway threat, though speedy freshman Bradrick Shaw has taken more carries later in the season.The Badgers lead the FBS in time of possession (35:12). The ball-control offense sets the tempo, and keeps a big-play defense fresh.What you cant allow this type of offense to do is ball control, eat up the clock, just grind you down with three- and four-yard plays down the field, Penn State coach James Franklin said.Its all part of the coaching chess match that will play out on Saturday.The jet sweep isnt necessarily an integral part of the playbook each week, but just the act of Peavy running from his wideout position toward the quarterback before the snap could cause a distraction to the defense -- enough so that a handoff up the middle to Clement inflicts just as much damage.It really opens up and spreads out the offense, Clement said. Whether its a phony or its going to be given to Jazz, it keeps defenses on their toes.---AP freelance writer Travis Johnson in State College, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25---Follow Genaro Armas at: https://twitter.com/GArmasAP ' ' '