Valkyries guard Julie Vanloo is expansion team's go-to interpreter for international players
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Julie Vanloo smiled as the memory came back to her and the nursery rhyme words from her childhood became familiar again and just flowed.
A short phrase in French from her days as a schoolgirl in Belgium.
Vanloo's ability to communicate in multiple languages has been crucial as the expansion Golden State Valkyries develop chemistry and find ways to make sure everyone can understand a given play or defensive set.
Her teammates are often in awe.
Part of an international roster on the Valkyries, Vanloo's language skills have helped everybody get comfortable on a team that has been changing by the week. Vanloo, Temi Fágbénlé (Great Britain) and Janelle Salaun (France) are currently competing for their countries in the EuroBasket 2025 tournament.
That has led to much mixing and matching for coach Natalie Nakase, who has counted on players like Vanloo making key assists on and off the court.
The Valkyries (5-6) will host Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever on Thursday night in their sixth home game — all of them sellouts — at Chase Center.
Vanloo will miss the fanfare of that matchup as she plays for Belgium — and she'll certainly brush up on her language skills while away.
For Vanloo, a commitment to building her speaking skills became as important as her basketball talent as she dreamt of reaching the WNBA. She speaks English, French, Italian and Flemish, the dialect of Dutch spoken in her home country.
'Slowly you step up to the next level and when we go to high school and we're 12 years old, we really start to drill it, we start to learn it, both English and French,' she said. 'It's like six to nine hours per week we really learn English and French in Belgium. All of our series and even our cartoons are in English, we use subtitles for French so that's how we actually learned the accent and everything.
'So that's for all the kids out there, language is important, it's an advantage. I think you are rich when you know multiple languages because it's just easy to communicate and to create a bond with people.'
She didn't always love it and she's not always perfect. But Vanloo has remained vigilant about learning.
'My goal was to come play professionally, to come to the league one day. If I have a goal, nobody's going to stop me," she said. 'For basketball, I was very, very motivated to learn languages.'
Vanloo was selected by the Valkyries from Washington in the expansion draft last December.
She is one of eight non-American players on Golden State's roster representing six countries — Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Kayla Thornton played in Korea and realizes the challenges of trying to live in a place where she doesn't speak the language. She tries to use a few words with her teammates when possible.
'I do pick up on some of the stuff because we do have Italians and we do have French,' Thornton said. 'When I do hear it I kind of do catch on, I do know a few phrases. Most of the time they teach you their lingo, and that's the bad lingo.'
Vanloo's ability to share her basketball expertise and the basics takes pressure off Nakase.
'I think what's really helped is Julie can translate for all of them. Julie speaks everyone's language so that's kind of been really key, just how we can connect that way,' Nakase said. 'Imagine going to another country and you have no idea. When I played in Germany I really wasn't understanding but I made sure I paid attention. So it's been nice to have Julie because she's listening, she's doing extra for a teammate.'
Laeticia Amihere of Canada, a native French speaker who didn't make the opening game roster but has since re-signed with the team, counts on Vanloo. So does rookie guard Carla Leite, who's from France and is working to gain confidence speaking English.
'A lot of us speak French and a lot of us speak different languages so to be able to use that on the court to our advantage I think it's been great,' Amihere said. 'And she's obviously helping out the French and the French are helping us all just work cohesively and try to find a way we can communicate easily. It's been cool hearing different languages in the locker room. I'm used to it. Some people may not be used to it but I think it's dope.'
Kyara Linskens is also from Belgium. She can relate to Vanloo's drive to reach the WNBA and do all the little things — like learning multiple languages — to get there.
'I realized (the importance), because I wanted this,' Vanloo said. 'I'm telling you, when I want something I'm going to do it until I can't.'
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