UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) -For many WNBA players, choosing between the league and their national teams is easy.
In 2008, Australians Penny Taylor and Erin Phillips missed the first half of the WNBA season so they could train for the Beijing Games. Lauren Jackson left the Seattle Storm two weeks before the Olympic break so she could join her teammates.
``They have it in their contract, a lot of these people,'' U.S. coach Geno Auriemma said. ``But our guys, we don't. Our guys have to play for their WNBA team and we get them when we can.''
Auriemma said that means the U.S. team is at a disadvantage in preparing for this fall's world championships in the Czech Republic.
Those begin on Sept. 23. The WNBA finals could end as late as Sept. 20.
``We could be in the Czech Republic and we won't get the players that are playing in the finals until after the first game, maybe, and we're expected to win the whole thing,'' Auriemma said.
Auriemma hopes to have a few days to gather his team in the spring - before the WNBA season - and a few days in early September to train with players whose teams are not in the playoffs.
On Wednesday, the league announced it will help the national team to get together in July, by having this year's All-Star game feature the U.S national team against an All-Star team of remaining WNBA players.
``We don't have a lot of time with our players, together, all of them,'' Auriemma said. ``So we have to take advantage of whatever time we have.''
WNBA stars who are members of the national team will play for Auriemma in the game. The others will play for the WNBA All-Stars. Members of the national team who are not in the league will be allowed to join their teammates for the game, USA Basketball said.
``We will showcase the greatest female basketball players in the world,'' WNBA president Donna Orender said.
The July 10 contest will be held for the second consecutive season at the Mohegan Sun, a casino with a 9,500-seat arena that serves as home to the WNBA's Connecticut Sun.
Carol Callan, the director of the women's basketball program for USA Basketball, said she has been talking to officials on the East Coast about hosting other exhibition games and training camps for the national team in early September.
``There's been interest in the Hartford, Connecticut, area and Bridgeport's been interested,'' she said. ``There's been a variety of places that are interested. We hope to have a decision made by early spring.''
Auriemma said he will take as much time as he can with his team, wherever he can. That doesn't mean he likes having to share them.
``This is the U.S. national team. This is the USA Olympic Team,'' he said. ``What brings more attention to basketball than that? Every accommodation should be made within reason to make it work.''
