She's 25 and feels as if she's 125.

"I've had seven surgeries since Sept. 11, 2001," Stiles said. "Eight if you count lasik eye surgery. It's like I'm the Bionic Woman, all metal. But now I know I'm done with them, knock on wood. Now I'm learning to work with what I have left."

Stiles has had bad feet. Her back hurts. She recently had surgery to repair a rotator cuff injury in her right shoulder. Her right wrist is a mess.

Most athletes would give up. Enough is enough.

Not Stiles, the WNBA's Rookie of the Year in 2001.

She is pouring herself into recovery the way she poured herself into practice.

Stiles is re-habbing in Colorado Springs and hopes to be ready to join the Los Angeles Sparks in time for the 2004 WNBA season.

"I've learned that the only way to approach this process is to take things one day at a time," Stiles said. "You have the good days and the bad days.

"I just don't have control of whether my body is going to work right or not."

Stiles has spent much of her time recuperating in Claflin and in Derby, where her former WNBA coach, Linda Hargrove, lives. Stiles is dating Hargrove's son, Brian.

"All of this has driven Jackie crazy," Hargrove said. "She can't sit still for anything."

Shortly after surgery on an Achilles tendon, Stiles became so antsy that she would ride a bike 26 miles from her house in Claflin to her grandfather's residence in Wilson.

It was, in her mind, a way to keep in shape and to see her grandpa.

"I was really never into biking, but I'm really big on fitness and that was basically all I could do," Stiles said. "The first time I tried it, I made it about five miles. When I was resting on the side of the road, a guy drove by in a truck and asked if I wanted him to take me the rest of the way. I was like, 'Sure."'

Eventually, Stiles gained the stamina to make it all the way, and back. Even with a clumsy protective boot covering her healing foot.

"My grandpa couldn't believe it the first time I showed up on a bike," Stiles said. "I got off and hopped into his house on one leg."

Stiles realizes it's her amazing drive and ambition that has led to her current state. It's the ultimate Catch-22.

No way would she have become the player she is without all the hours of practice inside the Claflin High gym, where she made it a habit to make 1,000 shots a day.

Didn't matter how long it took.

She ran for miles, pounding her legs. What worked then stopped working. Her body protested.

"I had no way of knowing at the time," Stiles said. "I kept getting rewarded by all the hard work. So, to take my game to the next level I would put in even more hard work. That's where I gained my edge."

It wasn't because Stiles was 5-feet-8. It wasn't because she could shoot, or that she was quick.

It was because she never stopped.

"Now I look back and I say, 'Wow, I really put my body through a lot,"' Stiles said. "I played every summer. After my senior year at Southwest Missouri, I started my WNBA career less than a month later. I can't remember ever not playing year around."

Now Stiles can barely remember playing. It's been that long.

When she does return, there will be no guarantees. She'll have to earn her place.

"I have to be smarter," Stiles said. "With my training, it has to be quality over quantity. It's going to be hard, because I've always been the one who spent three hours a day shooting the basketball. I don't know how to not work hard. I just have to be smarter."