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Former Duke Women’s Basketball Star Alana Beard Describes Busy Summer

By Chris Brown

Oct 11, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; A close up of a WNBA basketball sitting on the floor in time out as the Minnesota Lynx play against the Indiana Fever during game four of the WNBA Finals at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeats Minnesota 75-69. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 11, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; A close up of a WNBA basketball sitting on the floor in time out as the Minnesota Lynx play against the Indiana Fever during game four of the WNBA Finals at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeats Minnesota 75-69. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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Duke Women’s Basketball great Alana Beard recently opened up about her very busy summer learning new skills and volunteering around the country.

Former Blue Devil Alana Beard wasn’t selected to join the women’s national team in Rio for the Olympics, but she is using her time off to help make a difference in the U.S. Beard recently described her busy summer in “What I did on my Summer Olympics Break“.

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Every four years the WNBA takes a break in the middle of their season for the Olympic games. Duke Women’s Basketball star Alana Beard has had an extremely busy summer during her time off. First, the former Blue Devil learned how to write code for computer programs. She started learning last fall had this to say about why she decided to pick it up:

"“Coding is something I have always been intrigued by. I would always come up with app ideas, but knew I would have to depend on someone else to build it for me. So, I decided to teach myself. From the moment I sat down at the computer, I was in love. I was in love with how simple, yet complex it is. In love with the idea of building something out of nothing. This is the way of our future, so why not teach myself something that could be useful years from now!”"

Beard also spent time this summer volunteering at various places. She went back to her hometown in Shreveport, LA to teach children how to swim at the local YMCA and educate them about water safety. Alana Beard also helped build a house in Los Angeles volunteering with Habitat for Humanity.

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Alana Beard was an all-time great for Duke Women’s Basketball and one of the best players in NCAA history. She won the National Player of the Year award her junior and senior seasons, was a three-time First Team All-American. Beard was the first men’s or women’s player ever to compile more than 2,600 points, 500 assists, and 400 steals in the NCAA. She is Duke’s all-time leading scorer and was the first women’s player to have her jersey retired in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The 6-1 wing is currently playing in the WNBA with the Los Angeles Sparks in her 12th season.

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Beard still has even more things she wants to do this summer, and is working to open her own Mellow Mushroom in Roanoke, Virginia this fall. When she retires from basketball, she hopes to continue her swimming outreach and her goal will be to “build a business portfolio that’s very similar to the great Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson”. Be sure to check out the full piece on Alana Beard here and we can’t wait to see what she’s going to do next!

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