🎙️ Episode 3: “Bonjour, Carla: The Valkyries’ French Phenomenon”

In this episode, we talk about Carla Leite—the fearless 19-year-old guard from France who’s now suiting up for the Golden State Valkyries wearing jersey #0. From dominating the court in Lyon to making her WNBA debut in the Bay, Carla brings boldness, flair, and a whole lot of promise.

But this convo isn’t just about her stats or potential—it’s about why we’re instantly obsessed. We get into her confidence, creativity, and what it means to have an international star stepping onto this brand-new stage. Come hang out as we celebrate Carla’s debut, dream about her impact, and soak in the excitement of seeing this next-gen talent help shape the Valkyries from day one. Bienvenue, Carla!

Transcript

UNKNOWN: 0:00

Valkyries!

SPEAKER_01: 0:05

Valkyries! This is Reina. And Vanessa. We are two moms, ex-ballers in San Francisco here to talk about the Valkyries. On our new podcast called Valkyries. Say less.

SPEAKER_00: 0:22

And by that we always mean, of course.

SPEAKER_01: 0:24

We're going to say so much more. Okay, it's game night and we're going to reflect on our first game first.

SPEAKER_00: 0:32

Last Friday was

SPEAKER_01: 0:33

official first game. Reina? Very, very cool. Who did you go with? Where did you sit? I arrived late. I was up in the nosebleed section. I saw some teachers there, up there with me, working class section. Hey, go educators. I didn't wear my union shirt. I actually put... immediately put on the beautiful t-shirt that was there. The beautiful, free, historic... Historic, well-designed, no cheesy advertising on it other than for the Valkyries themselves.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05

And don't call it lavender.

SPEAKER_01: 1:07

It was a light violet, Valkyries violet. And it didn't have my idea of the names on the back, didn't have the roster, but it had the schedule. Yes. Which I immediately looked at and realized tonight is the... the midweek game, their second game. I know. That you're going to be off and going to. Yay! We got to record this quickly. Yeah, quickly. So what about you? How was your experience? Who'd you go with? Where'd you sit? What'd you wear? Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 1:35

Thank you so much for asking because I

SPEAKER_01: 1:37

dyed my hair purple the night before. Yeah, we got a photo of that. We're going to put it on the

SPEAKER_00: 1:43

podcast info. So dyed it violet and then was going to maybe wear like my lavender jumpsuit. Seemed a little bit it too much um i went with a classic black jumpsuit okay and then our new founding guard jacket you

SPEAKER_01: 1:57

matched coach nakase all in black as well very you called that nailed it nailed it

SPEAKER_00: 2:04

all right she loves black it's a you

SPEAKER_01: 2:07

were cosplaying

SPEAKER_00: 2:08

as the coach it's a strong it's a power color uh-huh Um, and I took my oldest daughter this time. Nice. It wasn't a squabble because my youngest had something, but I took her and her best friend and we took the bus down there. And that was a great experience because the first time I was running late. And so we took a lift, uh, just to make sure that we got there before, you know, before the end of my time to pick up my jacket. But this time we jumped on the 22. And as soon as we entered the bus, C of 22, Violet. Sea of Valkyrie is Violet. There were so many women in there, all in their merch, and it just felt really special. I mean,

SPEAKER_01: 2:50

the last time this happened, that there was a new expansion team, was 2008. I know. It's been 15 years. Yeah. Your kid wasn't even born yet.

SPEAKER_00: 3:00

I just moved back to San Francisco in 2008. Right. From teaching in L.A., All right. So

SPEAKER_01: 3:07

those darn L.A. Sparks. Here we go. Let's not get started on that, though. Okay. That's another one.

SPEAKER_00: 3:12

All right. So first game was amazing. They lost. It didn't even matter. We stayed until the very end. This time we grabbed chicken tenders. And I'm excited because we grabbed one of the memorabilia cups. And it has free refills. But I was like, you can bring it to every game and then just go serve yourself soda. Is that true?

UNKNOWN: 3:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 3:33

that is true if she says it with confidence it is true so we're bringing it tonight we're gonna test it out test out that theory nice and then of course e40 performed

SPEAKER_01: 3:45

yes i was gonna say what's your favorite part but i i was thinking about the game that was amazing with like male dancers female dancers everyone's singing along like yes it was awesome um What was your favorite part of that game?

SPEAKER_00: 4:00

I mean, I know what you're going to say. And of course, it's in my head. So I want to talk about Van Loo's three-pointers

SPEAKER_01: 4:05

also. I watched them in slow-mo. I watched analysis on it. It was three threes in one minute. She was so pumped. I mean, I couldn't see her in the nosebleed section, but I could feel. It was like a wave of energy that flew. Yes. The wave. It was the wave. It just came up through the stadium. Yes. And she was on the Jumbotron. I just think when we're looking at this team, we don't know who's going to, like, blossom into the role player that they say. Yes. Like, she just had a moment of glory. Yes. Of, like... I am ready to be your hero. Your Valkyrie heroine.

SPEAKER_00: 4:48

It was also kind of amazing to see also the LA Sparks with Plum standing. 39 points. Unstoppable. I mean, okay, so tying last game into this game, I was also looking at... Number zero. Zero. Big, big bull. Carla. Carla late. And we were chanting for her in French from the stands because my daughter and my daughter's friends were also, they're all French speakers too. And so, allez Carla, we were watching you from section 211. Your number zero, which we have since learned, is for your love of the NBA player, the classic Russell Westbrook. Did you know that? I didn't know that. You said that really well, though. Well, thank you. I really had to pause because, you know, when I tried the first time, I just could say Russell Westbrook.

SPEAKER_01: 5:38

Do you know why she likes Russell Westbrook so much?

SPEAKER_00: 5:43

Yes. Why? It's his game. If it's similar to her, like her game. Classic energy. Okay. Karla. Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_01: 5:53

Let's get into Karla late. Yes, there's a reason you were watching her. She's our first player profile on Valkyrie Say Less. So tell us why you chose her. What's up with her? Thank you so much for these

SPEAKER_00: 6:04

questions, these opening questions. First of all, okay, her age. Yeah. Do you remember how old she is? Well, she had to be 20. She's 21. She's literally 20. She just turned 21 last month. Joyeux anniversaire, Carla. Happy birthday. Okay. I mean, she's one of the youngest players in the league, which we have since discovered is quite a thing. Raina, what did we discover about the difference between the WNBA and the NBA regarding age? age

SPEAKER_01: 6:38

well it's it's interesting this might go out to all our like labor uh rights people or antitrust people out there shout out um but it's it's very interesting one like the most uh I think like shocking to me is that within the same league you have different rules for whether if someone played in the NCAA they have to graduate or they have to like uh revoke their eligibility from the NCAA. They have to be 22. I know.

SPEAKER_00: 7:08

So

SPEAKER_01: 7:09

I... Like a totally different number. And then the Euro players can be 20 in the draft year. Like they can be drafted technically when they're 19. And then also, even more, is that the NBA... The guys have to be 19. I know. They can come out, they have one year out of high school and then play in the NBA.

SPEAKER_00: 7:27

I naively, I naively assumed that the WNBA and NBA, you know, would have the same rules regarding like age eligibility. So we'd like someone to phone in and clue us in more. Call us in. Call the radio station. Okay. Because, well, yes, that's not a radio station. Call us, text us, send us a message to help us understand why. Because what we're reading is, about is that like the women should have a college degree because the league is smaller and this like ensures their chances of like getting another job and we're like uh that's totally like paternalistic and not fair if the men can just join at 19 and also the fact that there's a different rule for the for the euros they're

SPEAKER_01: 8:13

playing nice and not competing with the ncaa It's antitrust. So, okay. And then they are competing with the Euro. This shocked us. Anyway, so that explains why we have so many young rookies from international Euro league.

SPEAKER_00: 8:29

Yes. Yeah. There were several interviews, one that got a little bit of a buzz going on because... So Carla turned towards one of her teammates and in French was like, how do you say this? And so... What is coming up that is fun to watch is that there is her demeanor when she's interviewing and she's being asked questions in English. And then there is her demeanor when you're watching her in French. Yeah. Which I only have

SPEAKER_01: 8:52

access to, like, level one English. Yes. Where she's super nervous and she's deferring to, like, Van Loo is a veteran on the team. Also the point guard who's calling all the plays in four languages. Yes. Translating questions from teammates. Translating questions. like the one in the middle of the huddles. And so for me, it looks like late Carla late is sort of like young, extra young, right? Because she's not communicating her full self. And as a language teacher and you're bilingual, right? Yep. Very, very bilingual by,

SPEAKER_00: 9:26

by national, by cultural even. I'm

SPEAKER_01: 9:29

just, I'm by and by. We're just very by. She, she, she probably comes off completely different in these interviews that I can't understand. So my question for you is like, what, what do you see in those different, those different like, uh, moments and interviews? Like how you watch her

SPEAKER_00: 9:48

French interviews. It was great because after seeing that one, I was like, wait a second, I need to go and check out all the stuff, all the media on her in like the French, um, YouTube channels and, uh, various newspapers and found it was great. Cause I found lots of interviews and, And you could just see how she's very grounded. She's very chill. She's very sweet. And she plays hard. She plays with a lot of like spunk and a lot of. She just seems to be making, she's like a quick decision maker and stuff. But when she was interviewing, what was cool is there was one, it was like a 48 hours and they were following her around and she was kept talking about like the different food that she was eating and the meals that she was preparing. And then at one point she was like having the interviewer chop mushrooms and she was chopping zucchini and she's like making rice and giving tips on how to make rice. And I was like, oh, also she was 19 at the time and like very adept at taking care of herself. And just she just seems so mature. So I think that one of the things that's interesting and like Van Liu brought brought this up in like the interview is that her she has a mature game. And I think that has to do with the fact that she's been playing pro since she was 19. And then also like she went to seems fairly intense, like sport training center, like boarding school for her entire high school experience. And so she was away from her family. And she acknowledged, but in a pretty like calm way that there were like sacrifices involved in order for her to do that, but that she, she loves the game. Like when we were like gushing about coach Natalie Nakase and now about Carla, I think what just keeps coming up is that these people involved, like they love what they're doing. They're very passionate about basketball.

SPEAKER_01: 11:47

Yeah. And she got to it a little later. Like I have a seven-year-old and I'm like, oh, she could be in the WNBA. She hasn't had to figure out what she wants to do with her life yet. Because Carla decided when she was nine that she liked basketball. Like that's pretty old.

SPEAKER_00: 12:04

Yeah. She was like on the playground. I know. I think about that as a PE teacher.

SPEAKER_01: 12:08

Right. Like you don't know what you're going to fall in love with when you're a little guy.

SPEAKER_00: 12:12

I know. She's like on the schoolyard and then– And then started playing then and her talents were spotted.

SPEAKER_02: 12:20

And

SPEAKER_00: 12:21

then she was encouraged to go to the Tony Parker Institute so that she could really fully train. But she did that at 13. So also it's like from 13 and then she became pro at like 19?

SPEAKER_01: 12:34

Right. So there's no... The difference for... for me that I'm learning about is that Europe doesn't have the NCAA equivalent. There's no college, like giant college games. There's no university team league. Yeah. That's, it's all like your club and then you're a professional.

SPEAKER_02: 12:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 12:52

And, and some people are training to be in the professional Euroleague and some people are like, have their eye on the W and it's,

SPEAKER_00: 13:01

and for her, I mean, she also was MVP. Yeah. Right. Last year. She was MVP in the Euro Cup.

SPEAKER_01: 13:08

Mm-hmm. But she stands out as, like, also, like, people assume that the WNBA is just much stronger than the EuroLeague. But, like, were you at the Olympics last year?

SPEAKER_00: 13:20

Yes. Yes, thank you. Did

SPEAKER_01: 13:21

you go to that game?

SPEAKER_00: 13:22

I did not. I really wanted to. We tried. You couldn't foresee we were going to do a podcast? I know. We went to badminton. We saw the men's singles

SPEAKER_01: 13:31

gold and bronze medal badminton match. All right, that's a different pod. Okay. But what I listened to Cheryl Swoops talk about that game in August and how she was just like, That's the closest the U.S. has come to not winning a gold. Yes. And the American team was desperately nervous.

SPEAKER_00: 13:55

Yes. Well, also, and the French team had a couple excellent WNBA players like Gabby Wu.

SPEAKER_01: 14:01

Well, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, they don't have the college, but their level of play is something. It's at par because we're taking two people from the national team of France.

UNKNOWN: 14:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 14:13

Like, Carla didn't play in the Olympics. She's not even the best on the French team.

UNKNOWN: 14:17

I know. She really wanted to.

SPEAKER_00: 14:18

She may have been passed over. On the national team. Yeah.

UNKNOWN: 14:21

She was little, though.

SPEAKER_01: 14:21

She was only

SPEAKER_00: 14:23

5'9". And also, we're, like, freaking out about 18,000 people at the chase. And then we hear Van Loo talk about how she loves that because she's also used to, like, playing in front of 20,000 people and not, like, playoff games. And so I was like, oh, okay, this is great. It's great to learn more about how women's women's basketball in other countries is is a very popular.

SPEAKER_01: 14:47

Right. And even in our country, like in the 1950s and 60s, when it was like, you know, just coming out when it was like you had an all girls school in Philly. It's like all these high school girls screaming at the at the high school games. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 15:03

So what do you think is Carla? Do you think she's having a culture shock for being here?

SPEAKER_01: 15:08

I do. I think it's really nice when the reporters cut our little break and our teammates are sort of there to lend her a hand. But I'm wondering how the Valkyries can kind of support this international team a little better so that we get to see the full, you know... the full persona of each of the the full story because i think as fans that's something that's really important with wmba is that you get the the story of who each person is and well lucky luckily we have

SPEAKER_00: 15:39

this podcast

SPEAKER_01: 15:40

yeah i mean i just like let them speak their first language they're the language they're most comfortable in Into it. I need subtitles.

SPEAKER_00: 15:49

All right.

SPEAKER_01: 15:49

Well,

SPEAKER_00: 15:50

that's going to be the next podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 15:51

I know. I need subtitles, people. Breaking down barriers. Everyone's used to, like, my students watch English TV with subtitles. People can handle subtitles. Like, why aren't we putting subtitles on... Press conferences. Yeah. Or giving them, there's like, they're kind of cyborg, those little translators for

SPEAKER_00: 16:10

a year so that you can. I know we had Van Loo who was translating last time for Carla and then also. But she's not getting paid for that. For Cecilia because Cecilia speaks Italian and Van Loo's like, well, I speak to Italian with Chechi and French with, and we're like, okay, well, this is awesome. I mean, international team. Yeah. Okay. So what do you think? Like Carla's new to SF. Like, do we have some recs for her? So that she deep dives into the awesomeness

SPEAKER_01: 16:37

of this city. Yes, yes. I mean, I'm sure she could come over your house for some raclette. Oh, Cala, choose Cala down here. Some French comfort food. Anytime. But yeah, I mean, we're such an international city. This is a perfect place for an international team like this. And so I think they should just do field trips. Yes, yes. Do funny videos. They need to create who they are. And I think they can do that in the city in a way that's like really unique of like trying different burritos and different dumpling places. And like, you know, Carla hosting everyone at like a French restaurant and ordering for them. I just dropped it. Okay. That's my favorite French restaurant. Have you been? No, Galinette, we need a sponsorship, a free meal

SPEAKER_00: 17:28

with Carla. It's in the Outer Sunset. It's run by very cool people who have another restaurant that's a little bit fancier. This one's like bistro style, but they have gorgeous murals also on the outside and a communal table that could host the entire team.

SPEAKER_01: 17:40

The entire team. Do it. Come on, Valkyries. Okay, here we go. So what's Carla bringing to the team? Like, what do you see her as?

SPEAKER_00: 17:49

I see her as like an instrumental player with a mature game and like she's scrappy and she's like so down to learn. She's looking at the WNBA as like a place where she needs to step up her athleticism or toughness because there's like maybe a higher level of play in that sense compared to what she was used to,

SPEAKER_01: 18:12

which is interesting. And so I... That's what she meant by physical. Yeah. She's like, I need to improve my physical. And I was like, okay, as a language teacher, circumlocution. Is she saying physicality? Is she saying her physical play? Is she saying, like, the actual strength of her body? Yeah. I think she's saying all those things.

SPEAKER_00: 18:30

All those things. I think she's saying strength of her body and, like, the type of play. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it's just more intense. Not a sportscaster.

SPEAKER_01: 18:44

All right. So let's talk next episode. Who should we focus on next? I'm leaning towards a forward, a big person. Because that's where we're getting the critique. Is that we don't have a big enough team. We're going to really rely on our guards. So let's give some support to our big girls. Okay. All right. I'm going to go with my gut. I'm curious about Temi... Fagbenle, maybe we could get into how she's from the UK, but went through the NCAA system. All right. Well, that's going to be the next one. Before we get to the game, we got to do our cheers. So what was the cheer you were doing for... We're going to end every episode with a little brainstorm of cheers.

SPEAKER_00: 19:23

Oh, yes. This one, it's whenever... But how about when Carla hits a three? Instead of aller les bleus, which is go blue, which is the French national team, we say... Ale, viole. Ale, ale, ale, ale, ale, viole. Okay. It just really rolls off of the tongue.

SPEAKER_01: 19:49

Yeah, I mean, ale, viole. Ale, viole. You're saying...

SPEAKER_00: 19:52

Let's go violet. Let's go violet. Yeah. I

SPEAKER_01: 19:54

like that, actually. Right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 19:56

Allez, viole. Allez, allez, allez,

SPEAKER_01: 20:00

allez, allez, viole. Okay, I'm still going to be on the lavender side of that argument, but I like the way it rhymes in French. Every artist I talk to. Well, that's it for now. I've got to get on Muni. Get on the Muni and get to your game, and I'll be listening on... 95.7. They got a media deal to be live on the radio. So 95.7. If you can't make to the game on a school night, that's where we're going to be listening. Yeah. See you there. Well, thanks for listening, everyone. And see you at the next episode for Tammy. This is Raina.

SPEAKER_00: 20:38

This

SPEAKER_01: 20:39

is Vanessa. This is Valkyries. Say less. Less. Valkyries. Valkyries. Valkyries.