A quick scroll through Shoni Schimmel’s Twitter timeline and a reader will stumble across song lyrics, Red Lobster craving confessions and inspirational quotes. But for the past two weeks and until July 2, the Dream guard’s social-media presence is instrumental in her chances of making the WNBA All-Star game.
Although fan bases have catapulted rookies to the game in the past — the Chicago Sky’s Elena Delle Donne landed a spot on last year’s Eastern Conference roster by leading all players in total votes — players who are active on Twitter and Facebook may have an advantage given the league’s latest voting option. In addition to the online ballot, fans can use the hashtag #WNBABALLOT to cast votes on their favorite social-media sites.
“It would be cool to be in the All Star game as a rookie especially,” Schimmel said.
When it comes to Twitter followers, Schimmel has the fourth-most of her Dream teammates. Schimmel’s 5.4 assists rank fifth in the league, and the rookie clocks in an average of 25.4 minutes of court time for the Dream. All are important numbers, but the more than 20,000 Twitter users who see Schimmel’s daily voting reminders can help make the stats she puts up in her rookie season all the more worth it.
She’s certainly in good company to make that goal a reality. Dream teammates Swin Cash, Erika de Souza, Sancho Lyttle and Angel McCoughtry have been selected to either All-Star game starting or reserve rosters during their careers. Celine Dumerc, who joined the WNBA and the Dream earlier this month, said that if she can be of any help to Schimmel in improving her game, it will be a way to immediately contribute to her new team.
“Even if I’ve never played in this league I’ve played a lot of games in Europe on the high level, so I hope that I can help with my experience because we have a really young player,” Dumerc said. “Schimmel, she’s amazing in what she does. The more she will play, the better she will be.”
Schimmel said she does not have a Facebook account and tried to downplay her Twitter petitioning over the past few weeks. As modest as she may be about her voting pursuits, a click of the #WNBABALLOT hashtag shows the fans are listening and her efforts likely are not in vain.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Schimmel said.
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