Veal joins 350 club

Adelaide’s own Kristen Veal will play her 350th WNBL game tonight at Adelaide Arena. The Canberra Capitals player will play her first game since injury on November 29. Veal was part of the WNBL All Star five back in 2003. The 33 year old was a former Norwood Flames junior and progressed through the Australian Institute of Sport where she was a part of the winning WNBL championship team in 1997/98. "It's exciting actually, I want to get to the game and get to the end of it really," Veal said. "I had a previous injury back in 2005, which was a major knee surgery where I chipped some bone, they put a staple and screw in. "Since then I chipped some bone which aggravated it a couple of weeks before that last Adelaide game we played in Albury. "We decided the best course of action was to go in and take all the shrapnel out "So the screw was taken out and the floating bit of bone, the operation will do the trick eventually but its just a matter of when I recover in time. Its quite ironic that being Adelaide born is where Veal will play her 350th Milestone game. "My time in Adelaide as a kid was great that's where it all started, playing for Norwood. Since then I have been to Canberra, Sydney played for Logan Thunder for six years, played in WNBA and Opals squads Veal has been a part of four WNBA Championships (3 x Canberra and 1 x AIS) and she believes the first two were the most satisfying. "Probably the AIS and first Capitals championship that standout to me," Veal said "The two that I'll remember most vividly and with most fondness. For Veal, 350 games is a lot of basketball but her motivation is still quite strong. "The motivation of winning another championship is what keeps me going. "It's been a long time since ive won one. "Once you've won a few the desire to get back there is always very strong, as long as the body holds up I want to play as long as i can. "I'd like to get to 400 games, I'd like to also play pain free "Just to try and find a way to manage the injuries and as long as im contributing if not 350 is a nice milestone. Today though Veal will be taking it easy and doing as little as possible before tip off tonight. "Basically I'll be doing as little as possible in the lead up, Veal says. "The warm up is going to be light. "Just trying to keep the pain level as low as possible so that I can use it up in the game. "It's very unusual for me not to stick to the standard routine and knowing what im going to produce its a bit of a coin toss. "But hopefully I'll be doing as little as possible in the lead up then be able to contriubute when im out there on court.