Olympia Scott-Richardson

Olympia Ranee Scott was born the day of the closing ceremonies of the Montreal Summer Olympics, hence the name. She is the daughter of Stephan T. Scott, M.B.A. and Jacqueline Parker Scott, Ed. D., M.B.A., sister of Tres Mali Scott and Stephen Thomas Scott and proud mother of BreAzia, her only child and engaged to Rachman Crable.

A native of Los Angeles, Olympia attended St. Bernard High School where she participated in a variety of extra-curricular activities especially student government, basketball, and track and field. She held various offices such as Class President, Commissioner of Campus Communications and Commissioner of Athletic Affairs. She was also a 4-year starter for her high school basketball team and led her team to her school’s first girl’s CIF Championship and back-to-back California State Championships her junior and senior years. She set various high school records including recording 39 rebounds in a single game and triple-jumping 37 feet. Olympia was named to the California All-State team for basketball. She was also recognized as the Division IV California State Player of the Year and named a Kodak All-American.

She also received the Cheryl Miller award for being the best player in Southern California. Olympia was the youngest player ever to play in an Olympic Festival for a team sport in 1994 where she also set the single-game shot-block record of 4 while playing for the West team.
Olympia also grew up in Jack and Jill of America, Inc., a national organization for children, empowering them to excel through leadership and service in our communities. Her mother, Jacqueline Parker Scott, Ed. D., M.B.A., is a past National Program Director and Far West Regional Director as well as the founder of Jack and Jill of America’s National Teen Leadership Development Program. In high school, Olympia held office as the Far West Regional Teen President of Jack and Jill of America, Inc.

Olympia received a full athletic scholarship to Stanford University where she was a 4 year starter for the women’s basketball team. She led her team to 4 Pac-10 Conference Championships with back-to-back undefeated in conference seasons. She also helped her team to 3 NCAA Final Four Appearances in her four years. During her tenure as a Cardinal she received various accolades including Kodak All-American, All-Pac-10 conference, and was a finalist for the Naismith Player of the Year Award.

Olympia also played on the US Women’s National Basketball Team. She competed in the R. Williams Jones Cup Tournament in Taiwan, winning the bronze medal in 1995. She also won a gold medal for the USA in the World University Games held in Sicily, Italy in 1997. In 1998, Olympia became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and graduated from Stanford with a BA in Sociology. Also in 1998, Olympia was picked 11th overall in the WNBA draft. Since then, she has played on 6 different teams over the past 10 seasons. She played her most statistically productive seasons in Indiana for the Fever. She was the first player to grab 300 rebounds in a Fever uniform along with being the previous record-holder for most rebounds in a single-game with 17. She also had a career high in points with 31 vs. the Utah Starzz in 2002.

While playing in the WNBA, Olympia served as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Women’s National Basketball Player’s Association (WNBPA) for 2 terms. She participated in the last 2 negotiations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the WNBA and the WNBPA as an executive committee member as well as a negotiating committee member.

Olympia was awarded the Community Assist award for excellence in community service and leadership by the WNBA and the Indiana Fever in 2002. She was also awarded the Lysik Ultimate Service Award for leadership and service in Los Angeles in 2007. Her most significant professional accomplishments, however, are her two WNBA World Championships she won with the Sacramento Monarchs in 2005 and again in 2007 with her current team, the Phoenix Mercury. She is the first player in WNBA history to win 2 WNBA World Championships with 2 different teams.

As a mother, 10 year WNBA veteran, and therefore, a role model in the community, Olympia recognizes her responsibility to give back. It is her goal to enlighten, educate, and inspire others through education, basketball, fitness, humor and just forward-thinking in general. Olympia is known for her charismatic and inspiring energy and she uses this as a means to connect people to her positive messages of hope and responsibility. Constantly providing motivational speeches, mentoring, or coaching to youths and adults alike, she keeps very busy in the community. She also provides basketball camps and clinics through various organizations as well as her own company Champions Clinics, a basketball camp and motivational speaking company she co-founded with Bridget Pettis, a former Indiana Fever teammate and the assistant coach of the 2007 WNBA World Champion Phoenix Mercury.

Previous to starting Champions Clinics, in 2002 Olympia and her mother (also a certified parenting instructor), provided unique events to the Indianapolis, IN community. Through Olympia’s fan club Olympia Hoops, they provided basketball camps that included a parenting seminar for the parents while their children participated in the basketball camp. The parenting seminars were specifically for parenting athletes.

The events were a success and from this partnership formed an even greater enterprise, Super Parenting. In 2003, Olympia and her mother decided to start a parenting education company to spread parenting wisdom everywhere. Today, Super Parenting LLC has evolved even further into an online company to reach parents worldwide. Specializing in premier online parenting classes they also provide services such as The Super Parenting Social Network; Super Parenting TV; parenting coaches; parenting workshops; motivational speakers; and books.

In her WNBA off-seasons (September through May), Olympia plays professional basketball overseas in various European countries. She has played in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Spain, and Russia for a total of 10 seasons. Her daughter, BreAzia has had the privilege of travelling with her mother to all of these places. She attends school in each country and learns a bit of the language, as well as the culture. It is an enlightening experience for both of them.

Although playing professional basketball worldwide is rewarding, it is not a family career. With the wisdom and insights attained from her parenting education expert mother, Dr. Jacqueline Parker Scott, however, Olympia has learned a delicate balancing act. Truly appreciating and understanding the value of the parenting knowledge gained for her own benefit, Olympia realizes the value in parenting education for parents worldwide. This has motivated her to join the pledge her mother has made 19 years ago, to educate parents. Together, the two women hope to be a force to be reckoned with, when it comes to disseminating parenting wisdom.