During the last two weeks of training camp in the WNBA that is exactly what players do. That's exactly what I've been doing in New York for the past two weeks.

Training camp began May 2 and lasts up until our first regular season game on May 31. During training camp we play three to four exhibition games. These games are to help not only the players get on top of their game, but also let the coaches see how the rookies, free agents and foreign players respond in real game situations. The exhibition games do not count against a team's overall won-loss record.

In the New York Liberty's training camp, we have had about 25 players trying to make a roster of 11. As I write this, it's down to 15 players; the other 10 have already been sent home.

To say it's been both exciting and competitive would be an understatement.

Basketball is an extremely physical and demanding sport, not only in strength and endurance, but it's also mentally challenging. Players come in with one mindset - make the team at almost any cost. You'd be both shocked and amazed what people will do or try to do in order to get a job - or to take yours. After all, being a women's professional basketball player is a great job to have. There's not a lot of those jobs around, so everyone's shooting to take yours.

I have been through three years of training camp, and I have yet to escape getting at least one black eye and a lot of bruises. This year, I caught an elbow from our point guard, Teresa Weatherspoon - of course, unintentionally. My eye is just now getting back to normal. She owes me dinner because of it.

My legs are also very bruised from running into Rebecca Lobo's knee brace while trying to get over the screens she sets.

Needless to say, everyone gets knocked around a lot, but it's those who keep getting back up that stick around to make a final cut of the roster. I know players who will hit you as hard as they can, just to see how far they can push you, and just to see if you'll keep getting back up.

During my first year, of the four hours of practice, I probably spent two hours of them getting knocked down and getting back up. I made the final roster.

Our team is extremely intense and tough to make because we do have a core group of veteran players who are both talented and experienced. All-Star players, such as Weatherspoon and Tari Phillips, bring a lot of personality and intensity.

The past two years the New York Liberty have been the WNBA Eastern Conference champions. Both seasons, we lost in the finals to the Houston Comets. You don't make it that far, at this level, without having a solid eight or nine experienced veteran players.

This year we're looking for a "three-peat" as conference champions, but we are also shooting for the world championship. I really believe this is our year to do it.

Becky Hammon, an all-state basketball player at Rapid City Stevens and an All-American at Colorado State, is in her third year of pro basketball as a member of the WNBA's New York Liberty.