When Marie Ferdinand-Harris was lighting up the court as a high school all-star, Kodak All-American at Louisiana State University and then in the WNBA, she was focused on making an impact. A first-round draft pick in the 2001 WNBA draft, she was a starter for the Utah Starzz and then the San Antonio Silver Stars. She returned to action after a serious injury—a fractured elbow—and a pregnancy.

But several years into her pro career, things started to slow down. Ferdinand-Harris signed with the Los Angeles Sparks and found herself in an unfamiliar spot, reserve player. Although she’d been playing basketball for many years at that point, that’s when she truly learned how to be a team player.

“From the very moment I signed up for basketball, it was my life,” said Ferdinand-Harris, the first player of Haitian descent to play in the WNBA. “All my life I was that franchise player. Then I went to LA and I found myself on the bench for the first time. That was difficult for me, and I didn’t know how to handle it.

“I learned how to be a team player,” she added. “I found how to be an ultimate teammate. You can still make a contribution and be productive. You can be cheering, and you can tell your teammates what you see as you’re watching and help them be more effective on the court.

“Even though I wasn’t playing, I was the first one in practice and the last one to leave. There was no way I wasn’t going to be prepared when the coach called my name.”

After drawing a close to her professional career after the 2011 WNBA season, Ferdinand-Harris launched Rise Basketball Academy and became a highly sought after teacher of basketball fundamentals and life skills. The mother of three boys that require a lot of her energy, recently she has been transitioning away from the court to motivational speaking and providing insights into how to utilize teammate mentality to be more effective in a diverse range of settings.

“People want me to come speak to their teams and teach them how to be an ultimate teammate,” said Ferdinand-Harris. “You’re prepared, you’re ready and you have a good attitude. You handle adversity. All those little things matter. You want co-workers to understand how to be ultimate teammates and rally for one another.”

Ferdinand-Harris is also writing a memoir about how she rose from a poor Haitian neighborhood and an underserved high school in Miami to the pinnacle of women’s basketball. It also details her transition to life as a wife and mother of three. Being an ultimate teammate plays into her 13-year marriage to Cedrick Harris, because it taught her about relationships.

“Ultimate teammate is that selfless teammate,” she said. “I’m going to pick my teammates up. I’m always looking for ways to help, to give, to provide and to lead.”