Elena Delle Donne is from Wilmington, DE and from early on she showed signs of high-level basketball skills. In high school she once scored 50 points in a state championships game and in seventh grade she was offered a scholarship to North Carolina. She was the nations top basketball recruit and she signed with the University of Connecticut. After less than 48 hours on campus, Delle Donne left campus to go home to Delaware to be closer to her family. She took a short break from the sport and in that time she played volleyball for the University of Deleware. She eventually picked up a basketball again and started playing for the University of Deleware Blue Hen’s Women’s Basketball team.
While at the University of Delaware, Delle Donne received a number of awards. She is the #2 5th all time leading scorer in Division I History and CAA all time leading scorer. On top of that she is a two time WBCA All American, a two time John Wooden All American, a three time Capital One Academic All American, and a two time Capital One All American of the Year. She tallied an impressive 3039 points while at Delaware, and she was the Senior CLASS Award Winner awarded annually to the most outstanding senior student-athlete in Division I basketball.
Currently Delle Donne plays for the WNBA team, the Chicago Sky, and she was named the 2015 WNBA league MVP. She is the global ambassador to the Special Olympics and became the first national ambassador for the Lyme Research Alliance. Both are special place in her life; her older sister Lizzie has autism and cerebral palsy and Elena has been battling Lyme disease on a daily basis since 2008. Both are two of her constant inspiration and motivation to be the best athlete possible. She hosts the De11e Donne Academy, a basketball camp that runs throughout the year, where she mentors girls between the ages of 7-18.
