NEW YORK — Indiana Fever forward Katie Lou Samuelson says life as first-time mom got a little easier with the WNBA’s announcement that players will fly on charter flights for road games.
The announcement addressed security concerns among other issues but was an early Mother’s Day gift for the Fever wing and about a dozen other players across the league with children.
“It’s going to be a lot easier traveling with a 9-month-old on a charter than it would be commercially,” Samuelson, who gave birth to her daughter, Aliya Renae Cannady, on Aug. 4., told The Associated Press. “She’ll be on a lot of the road trips.”
Many players would not take their kids on the road due to the requirements for young children when flying on commercial flights.
Breanna Stewart, who has two children with wife Marta, also appreciates the new travel perk — as well as other benefits for parents under the current collective bargaining agreement, which include:
• Players receive their full salary while on maternity leave after only getting half under the previous agreement.
• They get a $5,000 child care stipend, and a two-bedroom apartment is provided.
• Mothers are given comfortable, protected and secluded space for nursing at arenas and access to a refrigerator to store their…
