🎙️ Episode 4: “Brains, Buckets, & British Vibes: It’s Temi Time”

In this episode, we’re talking about Temi Fagbenle—the seasoned vet, Olympic baller, and newest powerhouse joining the Golden State Valkyries wearing jersey #14. From London roots to Harvard halls to WNBA locker rooms (most recently with the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark), Temi’s story is global, grounded, and so inspiring.

But this convo goes beyond her resume—we’re diving into her presence, poise, and the quiet strength she brings to the game. We chat about what it means to have a leader like Temi on this young squad, and why we’re already picturing her as the soul of the Valkyries. Graceful, gritty, and wildly underrated… we see you, Temi.

Come hang as we give this queen her flowers and bask in the beauty of experience meeting opportunity. Let’s gooo, Valkyries! 💜✌️🏀

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Valkyr! 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. And by that we always mean, of course. We're going to say so much more. And we're here to talk about Temi Fagbenle. What do you have to say? What's your gut reaction? First of all, I love this show because it has us do deep dives into the players. And it's like... Peeling an onion. It's like falling in love. Every single time. I'm like, oh, could I love this player anymore? So part of what I love about Temi is she is just like a renaissance woman. She does everything. She has so many dreams. And one of her little things she did online was 10 questions with Temi. So we're going to start today with my version of this. It's called 10 questions about Temi. Okay. Okay. Okay. Diving right in. I'm just going to dive right in. What is her number and why did she choose it? Oh my God. I can't fail right away. You did a deep dive and you missed the obvious. Okay, I'll give you a clue. It's 14. Oh, yes. Okay. I don't know why she chose it. When did she start playing basketball? When she was 14. Yeah. Number two, name the sport that Temi was most passionate about before her dad encouraged her to play basketball. Oh, yes. I know this. It was in England. And that sport was something that one would play with a racket.

UNKNOWN: 1:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 1:39

Am I on the right path? It's not badminton. I'm sorry. It is tennis. You really want to do a badminton podcast. It's tennis, yes. Yes, we can talk about that. Do you want to talk? About how she pivoted from tennis to basketball? At 14. We were impressed with Carla at nine getting a start. It's true. She was very, very tall. Yeah. And... And really it was the price of tennis lessons because she has hella siblings. That's right. And it's like... she has the private tennis lessons yes okay that's right the cost okay okay questions number three it's 10 questions about temi you have seven more to go great true or false temi attended the same boarding school in new jersey as reina's ex-boyfriend and reina has only ever seen that campus in the dark because she delivered a breakup love letter in the middle of the night to her boyfriend's dorm and then drove away true true Hey, Robbie. She's the only one of her siblings born in the U.S. Yes. Fun fact. I don't know if that's a question coming up later. It's not. Can you name the boarding school? That she went to that you wrote the letter? Not to her, to Robbie. Can you? Yes, of course. Flair Academy. I can probably drive there in the dark still. It's in New Jersey. Not a place I would want to spend my teenage years in a dorm. Kind of in the middle of nowhere. Ritzy ditzy. Kind of like a movie boarding school. Yeah. But is it known for basketball or sports? She was All-American. They won states. Okay. So they're known now. Okay. Thanks, Temi.

UNKNOWN: 3:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 3:15

Thanks, Temi. All right. Number four. True or false. Fag Benle played at Harvard before going to the Olympics. True. It's a trick question. Oh, God. Okay. She went to the Olympics. It was false. You have to listen to the phrasing. Before. What happened at Harvard? What happened at Harvard? What happened at Harvard? Her freshman year. Yeah. Her freshman year. What happened at Harvard? Her freshman year, she had to sit out. Yes. Because she had to take... like kind of like the equivalent of a SATs in the UK before the age of 15. But then she repeated her junior year at Blair Academy at that boarding school in the United States. And so she had junior senior year and she had this, I don't know, investigation into her recruitment and the NCAA decided you have to abide by this rule that after you take that, uh, SAT, whatever the test is for... I can't find it. After you take that test in the UK, our international rules are you have to play within two years at the college level. So another, like, what? Like, she just wants to... Like, you can't take a gap year. There's, like, no room for error. So Harvard went through a whole process of appealing it four times, and the NCAA held their ground and said, nope, you have to sit out for... 12 months. Wow. Which is like, if the point is to get her to play when she's younger, right out of high school, then why would you make her play for, or sit the bench for 12 months? So she sat the bench her whole freshman year of Harvard. Okay. Focused on her studies, sounded a little bit sad and like lonely, worked on her game, worked on her moves, lifted weights, got stronger, and then came back to play her sophomore, junior, and senior year. But played in the Olympics for Great Britain that summer of 2012. Okay. Okay. Number five, Temi earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard and a master's degree from USC. Correct. Do you know what she got her degrees in? No, I don't remember. I think it was anthropology at Harvard and then a master's degree in strategic public relations. And she actually set herself... up for success by saying um sorry links i need one more year to finish my master's degree and she put them on hold and then went to the links and and then the fever well first the links then back to europe and then the fever and then the box yeah okay so we're gonna if we're gonna be specific okay absolutely the timeline is pretty intense uh it's 2016. she's like just so very Here's a fun one. Number six. What TV show is Raina obsessed with that also stars Temmie's brother? Who? I know that one. What? It's the Handmaid's Tale. Yes! Yeah! Yes! Luke is her brother. I know. Crazy. I mean, her siblings are all very impressive. I was thinking about her parents and I was like, wow, I hope they sit around whatever version of their fireplace and they just, like, smile big at how awesome their children are doing. Yeah, like dynasty. Like, just, like, creating generations of success. They're in, like, music Yeah. Liz. Her other brother did Kendrick Lamar's music video. And they really love each other. And they're in loads of communication. I know. They've played basketball with each other on the holidays. They love it. Let's talk about family values. I'm just so impressed with the family values that her parents have been able to instill. And I was like, they live on so many different continents and countries. And thank goddess for WhatsApp. Thank God. That's how they keep it down. And I saw a picture from 2018. Like, the whole crew got together. All the siblings. Yeah. Okay, what's question seven? Oh, number seven has to do with what you were saying. Connecting across the world. Name three countries that Temi calls home. Nigeria, England, and the U.S.? Yes. Correct. Yeah. Born in... The U.S. Baltimore, Maryland. And then raised in England. When she was two. Yeah. Can you imagine moving 11 kids across the pond? Yeah. No, you can't. I cannot imagine that. I just got three passwords. Can you imagine getting 11 passwords for these? Yeah. success in that parenting again family values everyone pack your own suitcases I'm not doing it I need to instill more of that into my children pack your own suitcases that's my takeaway for the summer yes mine do by the way it is possible and also like you're great at tennis but like I have 11 other kids too yeah to deal with and pay for. And so you got to choose another sport is really good. And she did that. He's 14. Great. And also, also instilling this idea that like, when you do something, you do it well. Yes. And you like, you know, emphasize practice and go back to like, when I was talking about my love of discipline or something instilled by coach Nakase. Well, it's just clear that like, yeah, that first deep dive we did of, of, I mean, you can start to see as we go through these players. Yeah. Like, they all have this thing in common of this, like... passion for the game yes love of the game yes and then just like also very hard quick learners hard working yes like you imagine being 14 and being thrown into a new sport and being like by the time you're 19 or 20 you're playing in the Olympics yeah for your country yeah before you even play one college game like that's that's pretty well very impressive and she was talking about that in one of the interviews I watched with her and Monique and um where she was talking about how she will just do whatever needs to get done for her team and she was saying with the fever and stuff at one point she she got um she did amazingly in like august of last year for the fever in terms of where she was in terms of scoring rebounds all this all the assists and part of that was that she just looked she saw gaps and she filled those gaps and i was like oh love that and she was just saying it with such Yeah, what's needed here? I'm going to fulfill that need. has been stepped up as the leader on some teams and then also played with Caitlin Clark and has just been like, what do you need from me? Like you're saying, filling the gaps or filling the needs that she observed. All right, number eight. What college did Temi's little sister go to in Reina's hometown? In my hometown. I don't know. Also, four of my siblings graduated. Okay, which one? And my mom worked there for 30 years. You might just have to say it. Lafayette College. Shockingly, I didn't remember that. Her little sister. I'm so sorry. I may have been in the same town as Temi in so many, like Blair Academy. We have like a weird connection. East of Pennsylvania. And you didn't know this before? No, before our research. Okay. Yeah, her little sister. She was going to be Venus, and her little sister that went to Lafayette College was going to be Serena. And then they switched from tennis, too. Did she also switch to basketball? She didn't play basketball in college. Her one brother did, or maybe two. I think another one's coming up. What I was reading about in her family is, like, whatever you do, you do it well. And it can be the same thing as your sister or your sibling. I just did everything. You had to do all the roles. Yeah. I was into sports. They offered three of them at the school. I was like, I'll do all three. Yeah. And I'm sure your mom was at every game. That's so cool. Maybe, maybe not. My dad came. My mom wasn't so sportive. My mom was a very, very wonderful mother, very encouraging, but she wasn't, um, her, well, her being French and stuff, the whole American sports culture was like completely foreign to her. I felt like I'd be like talking to her and explaining things and she'd be like, okay. But like, Not getting it when you're, it's like a cultural, it's a cultural difference. But your dad was American and he understood the whole scream in the bleachers for your kid. Getting in a fight with the referee. Yes, he would come and watch me play and like talk about it with pride. We miss our dads. We miss our dads. We have to do a whole other podcast on dads and basketball. Yeah. All right, where are we? Number eight. No, number nine. We're already to nine. What movie is Temi acting in and name other actors she will share the red carpet with? Viola Davis. Yes, I know. And it's called something like Blood, Bones, and Children. Something like that, right? Are those three words in there? He just butchered it. Oh, it's a book that's turned into a movie. It is, yeah. And there are wonderful actors in it, like Viola Davis. And what is the actual name? It's The Children of Blood and Bone. Oh, I wasn't that far off. I think your avid reader will like it, your eldest. So the author went to college with Temi. Oh, that's right. They went to Harvard together. And is also of Nigerian descent. and wrote it after like kind of being inspired by like other books made this sort of like jeruba nigerian mythology oh yeah

SPEAKER_01: 13:16

also

SPEAKER_00: 13:17

like political i think it's i think it's under the like afro fantasy genre

SPEAKER_01: 13:22

um so

SPEAKER_00: 13:23

yeah there's three books to

SPEAKER_01: 13:25

the trilogy

SPEAKER_00: 13:25

and then another um

SPEAKER_01: 13:27

but hugely when's

SPEAKER_00: 13:29

it coming out the movie like in a year or two Oh yeah. Okay. January, 2027. And put it on your calendar. Put it on your calendar. And, um, I think this is a final question I have for you. Question 10. Question 10. Name three body parts that Temi injured on the fever and has since healed to play on the Valkyries. Ooh, I don't know. Come on, Vanessa. Take some guesses. I did my research and my research led me to some other info. So I wouldn't, you know what I mean? Give them a body part that you think. Oh, my God. That she got injured? Like, her hand? Her thumb. Good. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Her ankle? Foot. Yes. And? Okay. And her shoulder? Her shoulder. So, she injured all three of those things just last year? For the fever. So, she only got to play 22 games. Okay. Yeah. Like, half of them. So, an interesting... Like, also, maybe why she was on the unprotected list, whatever you call that, that she got to be part of the expansion draft. Because... she was super close with like, Caitlin Clark they were making great plays well there was a change in the coach at the fever and so that also maybe had something to do with it what do you mean well they changed coaches for the fever and so the new coach I think wanted to focus on some other things than the previous coach which also might have to do with who was captain who was put on the unprotected list yeah okay let me ask you a question then what is you know one of the skills that coach Nakase wanted her to increase expand upon oh I don't know this answer. In terms of her play. Her 18-footer. I mean, by that, her 18-footer, her three-point shot? I mean, all the way up to the three-point shot? Yes. Is that right? Yes. I only saw her take one three-point shot, and it was kind of like a dunker, like a bunkity-bunkity-goes-in kind of thing. But I was like, okay, she's going to pull it for three. She's made a couple. She's made a few. But that's the thing that they are encouraged to shoot a lot. And then that was part of the interview with Monique. And that one of the things is also anytime they have an open shot, shoot. And then just shrug it off if you miss. But that she is also very much encouraged to shoot three-pointers. That's cool. Yeah. area of growth for us to focus on as we watch her dance. Yes, yes. I haven't thought of tears yet for today, but maybe we could come up with something else to do with that. So that's all I have. Okay, well, that's great. Well, I feel like we just, we went through a lot. So, okay, well, I'm just going to ask you, when you think of Temmie, like, what outside, I mean, thinking of everything we just said, like, what, how would you describe her as a player, as part of this team? Like, what is she bringing to the Valkyrie? I think she's going to blend in well with, like, the scrappiness that we we love like quick. Um, she like for having those injuries, she's just like super nimble and strong and like diving on the floor, blocking shots, reaching around. Um, yeah, I think, I think she has a really weird, weirdly good, uh, transition. Like when she's going, uh, So like be where people are rebounding or have the rebound and then like kick it out to the point guard and then somehow like make it down the floor or maybe she's predicting that it's going to go down the floor. And then she's often gets like this pass from the guard and doesn't even take a dribble and just like lays it up like a one, two lay up and she finishes really well. Okay. I appreciate that. She shoots with her left hand on the left side. She has a really cool, like, little move that most people when they're under the basket, they'll, they'll kick it out to the wing or like, you know, just get rid of it. And she'll be like, I don't care that I'm under the basket. I'm going to somehow make a reverse layup. Okay. And, and do it. And yeah, we're going to be looking out for love. I just love her. Like, yes. Another scrappy player. Yeah. Super scrappy. Well, it was funny. Cause when she was talking to Monique, she was like, and we're so happy. We're on the same team now. We don't have to go against each other. Oh, why did, have they played together? No, they were there now on the same team. They had played against each other. Like they were different teams before. And she was like, and she was like, And I love because they were talking about how much they had each other's back, but within the whole team. So that's a thing. And that's what I think we're seeing is that there's good chemistry happening between all the players. They've only been playing a few games so far. We're still in early stages. They're getting to know each other. And yet... they very much are talking about like good chemistry and really being like watching for watching out for each other. Yeah. One of the, one of the journalists asked her how she felt going into the away game against the sparks because he was saying, you know, the crowd has been like called your sixth player. Like the crowd has been so awesome at the chase center. And how do you feel like playing on the road? And she said, She laughed initially. And she was like, I love a hostile environment. And she's like, to be honest, I love. And I was like, wait, this is so great answer. I was like, I want to love a hostile environment. I was like, I want to be Tammy when I feel like in situations when one could be uncomfortable, but to like think like that and to be like, Oh no, I'm going to go and slay it on the road. Right. Right. And then that's of course what we saw the team do. So, That was awesome. But yeah. What a great sense of humor too. Yeah. Well, okay. What do you think about how she handled, you know, stuff about the press regarding Caitlin Clark? I haven't seen her react to it, but I have been following it. What did, what did you, well, she, well, this was like when she was playing with Caitlin. So this is about like the current stuff, but I, she was just like really had Caitlin's back in terms of, you know, a lot of people were critiquing, critiquing the popularity, Caitlin's popularity in terms of, you know, being such a focus on her and not being focused enough on like other players. And Temi was like, listen, like, I'm not going to criticize the fact that, like, you know, it's happening because Caitlyn or something. We're going to, like, be thankful. It should have happened before.

SPEAKER_01: 19:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 19:56

And so she was very much just, like, supportive of her teammate in a way that was also, like, shutting down the haters. Yeah. I appreciated that. Yeah. I mean, I appreciate how Caitlyn Clark is shutting down the haters to this day. Currently. And just being like, a troll's not a fan. Yeah. Get out of

SPEAKER_01: 20:12

here.

SPEAKER_00: 20:13

Yeah. I think they had a really... like strong connection. Um, and you could see it on the court and off the court. And so we are again, so lucky. I know we are lucky. Like, I mean, someone was such leadership, like she stepped, she is stepping into, I think this role as she was describing it, like in other, in other teams, I think she has not been the person that we are looking to, to be the leader. And she is, she was saying she is ready and like loving it. Yeah. I, I got a little text or a comment on on our instagram of uh from someone who lives in indiana saying they miss temi so yeah that's really sweet yeah yeah really cute so you can't relate to the 11 siblings or any siblings as an only child no i can't relate to that at all what could you connect with in your research like what was most inspiring to you or what did you oh i loved i loved the i loved the thing about like just if you're gonna do something do it well because i'm like as a mom i was like that that is the thing that i'm like with our kids, like come back to where I'm just like, first of all, find your interests and, you know, get to like, get deep into them. Yeah. Like just to be passionate like that, that somehow it doesn't even matter what it is. So her, her approaching like all the different like sports and areas of her life, like the fact that she's like so educated, so cultured, so athletic, so connected to her family. I was like, you are an amazing role model. Yeah. And also she seems like, To be really grounded. Like, when somebody was asking her, when one of the journalists was asking her about what she does in terms of, like, mindfulness, and she said she likes to go to the ocean and take off her shoes and have her feet in the sand. Oh, that sounds like you. I was like, this is someone who can handle things because she has tools. And I think that's big love. She's been in the U.S. since she was 15. And then went back. Like, not... She's been... away from our family yeah um but that like being family love yeah must be so grounding um i want to talk about the game the game we watched on tv yeah because you came over and we watched our first away game on tv together yeah and that was such an amazing experience so what was it like for you it was um way better than watching it on my laggy 2010 television um so uh and it was i mean in every way it was a faster game it just feels like they're they're gelling and like people like i love burton is just yeah just to see like different people popping up and again watching it with the filter of like who's our next yeah deep dive yeah watching temi fang benley and i was like oh okay this is gonna be fun to talk about love her zero suit shoes that she's yeah like rocking yes I'm like that makes so much sense yes my dad would never let us wear high tops because he thought if you stabilize the ankle then the injury goes to the knee oh

SPEAKER_01: 23:17

sure

SPEAKER_00: 23:17

okay and also as like a high jumper and a ballerina like I'm like yeah why do we wear boots why do we wear these heavy boots that like give you shin splints in basketball and she's doing these like zero these new sneakers that she's she's floating around in and she does she looks like Like, she's running track and doing a high jump. She's 6'4". 6'4". We've got two 6'4 players. So, like, yeah, we don't have a Brittany Griner, but she acts like she's 6'7", 6'8". She acts like she's so tall. She's blocking shots and getting rebounds, but then also, like, diving on the floor. What did you like about the game? Well, first of all, I also have started to call the regular NBA the non-W. Yeah. So I'd like to promote that. So I'm really just, you know, it's like instead of saying, oh, my God, I say, oh, my goddess. For basketball, we are now watching like the W and we can talk about the non-W when we're watching the men. Watching the game the other night at home. Again, it is like emotional to watch these women play. in and away game, play great basketball and to be able to watch it on TV. And I was like, I don't think that the men understand how like amazing this is because it was also easy to find. I did like get the WNBA like league pass, but I don't even think we like used that to watch the game. Whereas like also before it's WNBA games, it was like not easy to watch them depending on what channels you had. Yeah. And then it was just like very enjoyable. And of course, because we had just talked about Carla, I was watching Carla and Carla did amazing. The two Frenchies, Carla and Janelle scored, I think like 19 and 18 points respectively. And so that was very exciting as a Frenchie to watch them. Yeah. And now they're in New York. Yeah. They're playing two games in New York this week. And the Knicks just won. 4 p.m. The Knicks just won. It's an exciting spot to be. Yeah. So we're going to watch some more games. We're going to try and maybe go to Ricky's Sports Bar one of these nights. I know. It's like so new it's not showing up on the map. On my Android map. It shows me some in Ricky's Sports Bar in San Leandro. So we have to invest. It's in the... Oh, it's right near... High Tops. High Tops, yeah. Okay, that makes so much sense. How did they land those two next to each other? The lesbians and gays are working together, guys. It's amazing. So we got to go to Ricky's, just in case you're East Coast or in Vietnam or Canada listening to this. She's listing cities where people have listened, so thank you, listeners. We see you. And Ricky's is in the Castro, which is our historically LGBTQIA neighborhood, and it's next to High Tops, which is a Is it historic? It's a very important... landmark in the Castro. And so to get a women's sports bar, um, next, right next to high tops is kind of epic. Um, I didn't invest, but I really thought about it. I wanted to invest. You have season tickets to the boundaries. It's all connected. Is it like, we're, we're going to go patron and see what it's about. Sports bra franchise. That's in Portland. Yeah. Now it's franchising. Oh, they are. Are you going to buy a, I was like, should I buy a sports bra franchise? But then Ricky's open. I was like, this is so great. Should I invest? Anyways. Okay. Um, but Ricky's is spelled R I K K I. So we will, we'll check out Ricky's and we will. Come back. What's our next player we're going to do? Okay. Our next player. I think we should do Veronica Burton. Yeah. I think she's had. She's caught me by surprise. An amazing few games. I don't know anything about her. I don't know anything about her either. Okay. Sounds good. I can't wait. We're going to talk about Veronica Burton. All right. Number 22. Looks like she has some experience. And I don't know much about her. But she's only 22. 25. So no, 24. Her birthday's in July. Listen, we just want to take a moment also to say thank you because this has been so exciting to see the number of downloads go up like every hour. I keep texting Raina and I'll be like, there's five more, there's 10 more. And so thank you to everyone who has listened to episode one, two, and three so far. It makes us feel a little less like crazy for like being so obsessed like if people across the world who aren't even in san francisco feeling this vibe are listening it's like there's something going on with women's basketball oh my god the community um also there's a valkyries fan club facebook group which are we in it which i just joined i sent you an invitation thank you there's 7500 other folks in it and when i posted about our podcast it was so great we have like i don't know over 120 likes i love the love those likes And then several comments, some of them from people who have listened. We are spreading joy and love by being part of this community. Okay, I'm going to check out the fan club. And the next game. And Ricky's. And the next game tomorrow at 4. Okay, the next away game is tomorrow at 4. Okay, we'll watch it on TV or listen on the radio. And then the next home game, I have no idea. It's Sunday, June 1st at 5.30 against the Lynx. That's a Sunday, huh? Okay. Next Sunday. Against the Lynx. Sunday, June 1st, 5.30 p.m. against the Lynx. Ooh. Temmie's team. Her old team. Her old, old team. Back when she was 20 or whatever. All right. So what about our chant? All right. Our chant for what do we do when Temmie scores? Temmie. Temi. Temi. What song is it? It's not a song. It just came to me. Temi, Temi, Temi, just do it again. Just do this all night. All right. Thank you so much for listening. To Valkyries. Say less. This is Reina. And Vanessa.

SPEAKER_01: 29:34

Valkyries.