Sparks' Alana Beard knows to 'hold on loosely' to dreams and goals

— -- With a chance to win the WNBA championship Sunday at home in front of a supportive crowd at Staples Center, Los Angeles lost 85-79. Now the Sparks have to go on the road for a winner-take-all Game 5 at Minnesota.

That's a pretty tough spot -- but the Sparks are a pretty positive-minded group, and one of their veterans has her own personal mantra to help. Alana Beard is in her 13th year as a pro, and she's been through some trials, for sure.

Yet Beard has been a constant source of good vibes and uplifting support for her Sparks teammates. A win Thursday (ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET) would be the first WNBA title for all the current Sparks players. Even if they don't win, Beard will find solace in having given it her all, and in her belief in advice she got in 2001 but didn't fully grasp until a decade later.

Beard had finished an outstanding freshman year at Duke and was playing for USA Basketball in the junior world championship in July 2001 in the Czech Republic. Oklahoma's Sherri Coale was an assistant coach to UConn's Geno Auriemma for that U.S. team.

Duke and Oklahoma had been the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the same NCAA regional that March, but both were upset in the semifinals and didn't meet. Beard and Coale were still processing how their seasons had ended. And Coale recognized in Beard something of a kindred spirit.

"I remember relating so much to Alana because her desire to do well and to be good and make everybody proud was so intense," Coale said. "I told her, 'You've never heard of this group called .38 Special, but they have this great song called 'Hold On Loosely.' It's a good thing to keep in mind.'"

Beard, then 19, indeed was not familiar with the band nor the song; it was released in 1981 and she was born in 1982. Still, Coale's message stuck as a seed, but one that would take awhile to germinate.

"She said, 'Do you understand what that means?' " Beard said. "I was like, 'Yeah, sure. Hold on loosely. I get it.' But I really didn't understand what it meant until I was 29 years old."

At Duke from 2000-2004, Beard went to the Final Four twice, but didn't get a championship. In her first six WNBA seasons with the Washington Mystics, she was often the leading scorer, but at times struggled to truly lead. Then she was out for two WNBA consecutive seasons with serious ankle and foot issues.

Her second missed season was 2011, when she turned 29. That was the year Beard said she had an epiphany. Coale's advice from so long again found its way to the surface.

"I was going through my injury, and I realized basketball alone didn't define me," Beard said. "When you go through tough times, you start to understand more about yourself. Basketball was my everything. There were times I was so focused on basketball, I didn't have time for relationships, or my family. And I never wanted to get to that point again.

"It's weird how it came back to me. It hit me like an 'aha' moment. In my mind, 'hold on loosely' means sometimes you can want something so badly that it slips right out of your grasp. That's where I've been at the college level, and at points in my WNBA career. I've wanted it so badly that it slips away. Now, I know how to hold on loosely."

Beard moved on from Washington as a free agent to Los Angeles in 2012, a team that has had its ups but also some downs, including a mid-season coaching change in 2014, and another coach in 2015. Beard, now 34, missed the first part of last season with plantar fasciitis.

Earlier this season after a loss, Beard said Los Angeles coach Brian Agler wanted to remind the Sparks about who they were and what they were trying to accomplish.

"Coach posed the question, 'If you were an outsider looking in, what would you say about this team?'" Beard said. "We were going through a rough patch. And I said, 'This team needs to understand what 'holding on loosely' means.' And when I explained it, they all understood it."

Did they know the song? No. Beard didn't even recall that part. But the message is what mattered. The lyrics are about relationships between people, but it's not a stretch to extend it to how you feel about anything that you really love.

When Coale was asked about it recently, her first thought was on her profession in general.

"As coaches, we must be so aware of what we say, how we say it and when we say it," Coale said. "Because it is impactful, for good or ill. These young players in our care are so malleable.

"We hope that's the cornerstone of everything we do as high school and college coaches -- that we're giving people tools with which to successfully navigate not just basketball, but their lives."

It also was particularly meaningful to her that Beard recalled this advice and benefited from it. That 2001 junior world championship team didn't win the gold; the Americans were upset by the host Czech Republic in the semifinals and then took bronze. However, it was a group of several future WNBA standouts, including Beard, Diana Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter, Monique Currie, Nicole Powell and Shameka Christon.

"I actually have a picture of that team in a frame on my shelf in my living room," Coale said. "Of all the teams -- and I wasn't even the head coach! It's not like I have pictures of all the teams I've coached; I don't have enough walls. But I have a picture of that team.

"It was a really neat connection with that group of kids. And my daughter, who was little then, just loved Alana Beard. So did my son."

In fact, Colton Coale, who now works with his mom at Oklahoma, texted her after Beard's game-winning basket in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals.

"He was like, 'Mom, did you see Alana's shot?'" Coale said. "If you get a chance, tell Alana that Sherri and Colton Coale are watching, and we are really proud of her."

Even after an emotionally difficult loss like Game 4, Beard still spoke positively about the Sparks having another chance. About staying in the moment.

Hold on loosely ... but don't let go.