‘I’m not who I was’: Perspective is Jackson’s greatest asset heading into World Cup

“I never expected I’d actually make the team. I think my presence lifted everyone a little bit just in the sense I am so physical. I can’t run as quickly as I used to, so obviously I have to bang a little bit more. They always say the journey is the most important part, and it’s true for me, it has been in my career. This is one of the most special rides I’ve been on, for sure.

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“[Doubts] come in every day, that’s no lie. I talk to the people closest to me, I talk to my parents like I did when I was playing. Even last night, I was talking to a sports psych who is helping me through as well. We’re all the same, we all have self-doubt, we all have to respond to that. It’s how you respond to it.”

Belgium’s Emma Meesseman has always told anybody who would listen that Jackson is the player she always wanted to play against. Serbia’s Ivana Raca grew up watching Jackson’s highlights. Team USA’s Ariel Atkins says it was an honour to stand beside Jackson to launch the World Cup.

Now it becomes real. Arguably, the greatest player the women’s game has ever seen is back. The occasion is dawning on the basketball world. But at home? Jackson’s two boys Harry and Lenny, aged five and three, are not quite aware of what is about to transpire.

“Athletes prepare their whole lives, and you know what, truly I have prepared my whole life for this, I’ve just not prepared the past eight years,” Jackson said.

“The kids are not old enough to understand, when they get near it and they see these girls out on the court, they’re going to be blown away. They love women’s basketball anyway because they’ve been around me. They’ll understand how special this is when they get near it.”

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