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Season 2, Episode 2 of Valkyries, Say Less is here, and we’re recapping the incredible preseason matchup between the Golden State Valkyries and the Seattle Storm on April 25, 2026.

This game was especially meaningful for us because it marked our first-ever media credentials. Tune in as we share what it was like navigating the Chase Center with full media access and stepping into the world of pre- and post-game press conferences.

We got the chance to hear from Gabby Williams, General Manager Ohemaa Nyanin, and Head Coach Natalie Nakase, and catch postgame reflections from Veronica Burton and Miela Sowah!

What a nail-biter, and what a way to celebrate our first W!

Special shoutouts to the Valkyries communications crew and Eric Apricot of Valkyrie Nation, Maya Goldberg-Safir of Rough Notes, and Kiki (Akilah Monifa) of Black History Everyday for being so welcoming and showing us the ropes of the media world.

We could not be happier out here doing our best Murphy Brown impression.

Support the show

Thanks for listening to "Valkyries, Say Less"!

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and not affiliated with the WNBA, the Golden State Valkyries, or any official organization.

🎙 Co-Hosted by Raina Mast — multimedia artist, educator, musician, and of course...ex-High School/D3 hooper.

🎙 Co-hosted by Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely — meditation and PE teacher, writer, founder of Big Belly Breathing, and of course...ex-High School hooper.

Follow along for more episodes and community love as we celebrate the Golden State Valkyries and everything they stand for!

💜 Follow us on Instagram & don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share if this brought some lavender joy to your day!

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Hurrah, huzzah! It’s time. It’s now!

Welcome to Season 2 of “Valkyries, Say Less.” We’re launching on the very same day that WNBA training camp begins, and you can feel it… the season is here.

In this episode, we’re diving into it all. Training camp energy, roster moves, and the EuroLeague championship game featuring not one but two of our incredible Golden State Valkyries players. We’re also rewinding a bit, talking NCAA championships, the draft, the expansion draft, and everything that’s brought us to this moment.

And of course, we’re closing with the Collective Bargaining Agreement, because that’s what this all hinges on. We love our players, they got paid, and the season is starting on time. That matters!

Before we jump in, we just want to take a moment to say thank you. This community means everything to us.

Special shoutout to Sarah Deragon, the incredibly talented photographer who brought our vision to life and inspired us to launch our website, ValkyriesSayLess.com.

Shoutout as well to Vincent Yuen, founder of Refuse Refuse, who we’ve been lucky to collaborate with. We’ve got two city cleanups coming up at the Chase Center before the April 10 and April 25 games, so check out our events page and come join us, or register here.

And a huge shoutout to our home away from home, Rikki’s, the women’s sports bar in the Castro that’s been holding it down for this community!

Tune in. We’re just getting started.

Next episode: our first player profile, featuring our newly beloved- Gabby Williams.

Until then… SAY LESS.

Support the show

Thanks for listening to "Valkyries, Say Less"!

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and not affiliated with the WNBA, the Golden State Valkyries, or any official organization.

🎙 Co-Hosted by Raina Mast — multimedia artist, educator, musician, and of course...ex-High School/D3 hooper.

🎙 Co-hosted by Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely — meditation and PE teacher, writer, founder of Big Belly Breathing, and of course...ex-High School hooper.

Follow along for more episodes and community love as we celebrate the Golden State Valkyries and everything they stand for!

💜 Follow us on Instagram & don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share if this brought some lavender joy to your day!

Send us Fan Mail

After two months of pure hanging out without hitting record, we finally reunited in our glorious Bunkbed Studios for a mid post-season check-in. It felt so good to be back together. Way overdue! And...in a twist for sesason 2, we are introducing video soooo check out this episode on our new ValkyriesSayLess YouTube channel.

We cover a lot in this episode, including the huge honor of the Valkyries naming Vanessa a "Keeper of the Realm", an award given to only five season ticket holders out of more than 11,000. We also talk about two incredible events we were lucky to be part of at Rikki’s, our beloved women’s sports bar in the Castro: the Chronicle Books reveal and an Unrivaled watch party hosted by the Valqueeries.

And finally, we check in on how we’re actually doing as well as give an update about the Collective Bargaining Agreement, because those both super matter too.

So tune in. Say less. Say more. We love our listeners, loved seeing so many familiar and new faces at Rikki’s, and we truly cannot wait for season two of the Valks to begin. 💜🖤🏀

Support the show

Thanks for listening to "Valkyries, Say Less"!

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and not affiliated with the WNBA, the Golden State Valkyries, or any official organization.

🎙 Co-Hosted by Raina Mast — multimedia artist, educator, musician, and of course...ex-High School/D3 hooper.

🎙 Co-hosted by Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely — meditation and PE teacher, writer, founder of Big Belly Breathing, and of course...ex-High School hooper.

Follow along for more episodes and community love as we celebrate the Golden State Valkyries and everything they stand for!

💜 Follow us on Instagram & don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share if this brought some lavender joy to your day!

Send us Fan Mail

Exciting news!

We’ve teamed up with Section 415, the brand-new Bay Area sports podcast from The San Francisco Standard, to share their latest episode featuring an interview with Golden State Valkyries Head Coach Natalie Nakase.

Section 415 is hosted by sports editor Kerry Crowley and offers insider interviews, sharp analysis, and fresh reporting on local teams — including the 49ers, Giants, Warriors, and of course, the Valkyries. New episodes drop every Tuesday and Friday on all major podcast platforms.

🎧 Listen to the episode with Coach Nakase here.

Support the show

Thanks for listening to "Valkyries, Say Less"!

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and not affiliated with the WNBA, the Golden State Valkyries, or any official organization.

🎙 Co-Hosted by Raina Mast — multimedia artist, educator, musician, and of course...ex-High School/D3 hooper.

🎙 Co-hosted by Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely — meditation and PE teacher, writer, founder of Big Belly Breathing, and of course...ex-High School hooper.

Follow along for more episodes and community love as we celebrate the Golden State Valkyries and everything they stand for!

💜 Follow us on Instagram & don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share if this brought some lavender joy to your day!

Send us Fan Mail

This episode is our last episode of this year's historical inaugural season for the Golden State Valkyries. We're gonna talk about so many things...where the players are going in the off season, the CBA negotiations, how to watch overseas games AND we're highlighting Kaitlyn Chen, our incredible rookie who was on the team, then off and then BACK ON! She sports jersey #2.

Tune in to learn why she's the best. We love you, KC! 🖤💜🏀

Thank you to our inspiring WBB community, especially our fellow basketball nerds out there:

• Head to 30secondtimeout.com to get free daily women's basketball snippets of the most important news!
• Connect with basketball lover and natural researcher Brianna Mitchell Carter on Threads: breezym91
• Check out Amanda Wegner’s amazing research on every W player: spreadsheet and fandom wiki
• Sign up for Eric Apricot’s smart substack column Valkyrie Nation

Keep supporting the players! Read more about the WNBA’s Players Association (aka their union) and the collective bargaining agreement process: https://www.wnbpa.com/thecba

Would you like to support the work of Raina and Vanessa? Please contribute to “Valkyries, Say Less!” to help us out with the costs of running a podcast. Or check out our other projects: Vanessa’s mindfulness program www.bigbellybreathing.com and Raina’s ceramics www.rainamast.com

Support the show

Thanks for listening to "Valkyries, Say Less"!

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and not affiliated with the WNBA, the Golden State Valkyries, or any official organization.

🎙 Co-Hosted by Raina Mast — multimedia artist, educator, musician, and of course...ex-High School/D3 hooper.

🎙 Co-hosted by Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely — meditation and PE teacher, writer, founder of Big Belly Breathing, and of course...ex-High School hooper.

Follow along for more episodes and community love as we celebrate the Golden State Valkyries and everything they stand for!

💜 Follow us on Instagram & don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share if this brought some lavender joy to your day!

Send us Fan Mail

This episode highlights Kaila Charles, our dynamic guard/forward, and former Maryland standout, wearing jersey #6. She joined us mid season and has definitely left a big mark on our hearts.

Tune in to learn why she's the best. We love you, Kaila Charles! 🖤💜🏀

Support the show

Thanks for listening to "Valkyries, Say Less"!

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and not affiliated with the WNBA, the Golden State Valkyries, or any official organization.

🎙 Co-Hosted by Raina Mast — multimedia artist, educator, musician, and of course...ex-High School/D3 hooper.

🎙 Co-hosted by Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely — meditation and PE teacher, writer, founder of Big Belly Breathing, and of course...ex-High School hooper.

Follow along for more episodes and community love as we celebrate the Golden State Valkyries and everything they stand for!

💜 Follow us on Instagram & don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share if this brought some lavender joy to your day!

Send us Fan Mail

This episode highlights Iliana Rupert, our talented French center, rocking jersey #12, the same number her father wore. Not only has this player one a WNBA championship with the Las Vegas Aces, she also represented France at EuroBasket this past summer as well as in the Olympics in 2024 and 2020.

Tune in to learn why she's the best. On t'aime Iliana Rupert! 🇫🇷🏀💜

Allez Les Violettes!

Support the show

Thanks for listening to "Valkyries, Say Less"!

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and not affiliated with the WNBA, the Golden State Valkyries, or any official organization.

🎙 Co-Hosted by Raina Mast — multimedia artist, educator, musician, and of course...ex-High School/D3 hooper.

🎙 Co-hosted by Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely — meditation and PE teacher, writer, founder of Big Belly Breathing, and of course...ex-High School hooper.

Follow along for more episodes and community love as we celebrate the Golden State Valkyries and everything they stand for!

💜 Follow us on Instagram & don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share if this brought some lavender joy to your day!

Send us Fan Mail

This episode highlights Cecilia Zandalasini, our incredible Italian player, sporting jersey #24. During this season she stepped away for a few games to return to Europe where she won a bronze medal in Eurobasket with her Italian team. Though she's fought some injuries this season, she was recently reactivated just in time for our last two regular season games. We love her 3 point shot and her plus/minus keeps going up!

Tune in to learn why she's the best. Ti vogliamo bene, Cecilia Zandalasini! 🇮🇹🏀💜

FORZA LE VIOLETTE!!!!

Support the show

Thanks for listening to "Valkyries, Say Less"!

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and not affiliated with the WNBA, the Golden State Valkyries, or any official organization.

🎙 Co-Hosted by Raina Mast — multimedia artist, educator, musician, and of course...ex-High School/D3 hooper.

🎙 Co-hosted by Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely — meditation and PE teacher, writer, founder of Big Belly Breathing, and of course...ex-High School hooper.

Follow along for more episodes and community love as we celebrate the Golden State Valkyries and everything they stand for!

💜 Follow us on Instagram & don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share if this brought some lavender joy to your day!