When basketball legend Sue Chicken determined to let a group of filmmakers seize her closing season after enjoying 21 years within the WNBA, she wasn’t totally certain what to anticipate from watching her profession be contextualized on movie, however it turned out to be great.

“You play such a very long time — so many alternative moments, so many alternative recollections — and to have it now, on this one movie is superb,” Chicken stated, visiting the Selection Studio offered by Audible on the Sundance Movie Competition. “I believe the toughest half all through the method was displaying these emotional moments.”

When she was on her personal, the feelings flowed freely. “I’d be crying like a child, like within the bathe,” Chicken admitted, laughing. “However then the minute I used to be in entrance of the cameras or in entrance of the group, the feelings didn’t at all times come,” she stated, turning to the filmmakers seated alongside her. “I really feel fortunate that for years to come back, I’ll have this. You guys did such an incredible job telling my story.”

It was “Insecure” and “Freaky Tales” star Jay Ellis who’d had the concept (alongside along with his Black Bar Mitzvah producing companion Aaron Bergman) to strategy Chicken about capturing that closing 12 months of WNBA play. Ellis had been watching Chicken’s star rise since highschool (at Christ the King, which has lengthy been a basketball powerhouse), then as a two-time NCAA champion at UCONN earlier than getting drafted into the WNBA in 2002, the place she gained 4 titles and 5 Olympic gold medals.

“Seeing this superb profession and figuring out that she had gained these titles, and all these gold medals and had turn into — if I’m not mistaken — one of many two highest gold-winning group athletes of all time within the Olympics, we additionally knew that Sue had been enjoying for 19 years at this level, and that it would come to an finish quickly,” Ellis defined.

So he and Bergman reached out to sportscaster Ryan Ruocco to see if Chicken could be considering capturing what could be her closing 12 months in a documentary.

“We couldn’t ask her, ‘Are you going to retire? It’s your time.’ We couldn’t ask her that,” Ellis recalled, laughing. “However we stated, ‘Hey, in the event you suppose you’re near that or everytime you’re shut to creating that call, we might like to be part of documenting that, and in addition telling your complete story.”

Thankfully, Chicken stated sure. That’s when producers Sarah Dowland, who additionally directed the movie, and Emily Chapman obtained on board.

“I have a look at this very a lot as a form of coming-of-age story,” Dowland stated. “Possibly that form of appears bizarre to say about somebody who’s had the profession that Sue’s had, however it form of is. And it’s a coming-of-age story for the W[NBA] too. After which whenever you preserve widening that lens, I believe that applies to the place we’re with ladies and with girls.”

Famous Chapman: “There have been so many alternative themes that we may discover by way of Sue’s story … Being a lady in sports activities and the way that’s modified within the final 20 years, being homosexual in sports activities, and being an icon for individuals who don’t have the voice and the platform that Sue has. We actually needed to work arduous to deal with these issues and form of tease out by way of that 12 months the place we may pull her life’s work into the story and tie it up.”

Within the documentary, Chicken not solely appears again on her profession accomplishments, however she additionally will get candid about her private journey, together with her resolution to publicly come out as homosexual in 2017, after being out for greater than a decade to her household, associates and teammates.

“The place I sit now, I perceive that is really going to assist individuals — like me simply saying ‘I’m homosexual’ helps individuals. It helps them stay their reality, possibly it helps them come out; possibly it helps them perceive they’re not prepared,” Chicken stated. “The perfect half was the minute I got here out, I used to be like, ‘Oh, this really helps me.’ Like, that is good for me to to simply be trustworthy, to stay my reality. … It gave me a whole lot of peace.”

Final 12 months, Chicken and her fiancé, soccer icon Megan Rapinoe launched A Contact Extra, a media firm targeted on that facilities the tales of revolutionaries who “transfer tradition ahead.” All through their careers — Chicken retired in 2022 after a stellar 21-year WNBA profession whereas Rapinoe retired from skilled soccer final 12 months as a two-time World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist — the athletes have championed for extra visibility and pay for girls, and A Contact Extra is the newest method to foster change by elevating untold tales about underrepresented communities.

“We simply perceive the significance of getting these tales instructed as a result of whether or not it’s a ‘see it, be it’ second for any individual — possibly they see one thing in themselves that they by no means would have thought attainable — or it’s simply tales that should be instructed so we are able to increase our minds as a society, it’s so essential,” Chicken defined. “[Megan and I] have had our tales instructed quite a bit and we’re actually excited to form of share that microphone. … I don’t say this flippantly, and despite the fact that it’s an enormous assertion, I believe we’re going to assist change the world by doing that.”

Watch the complete dialog above.