Aussie star Jackson has plans after basketball

KARLOVY VARY, Czech Republic (AP) - Australian star Lauren Jackson is anxiously checking her mail, eagerly awaiting a letter from the Rwandan woman she's been sponsoring for the last few years.

“I'm getting a note from her in the next few weeks that I'm completely excited about,” Jackson said. “I have a photo of her and basically I'm helping her and her child. She's going to school now.”

Jackson's passion for women's rights was ignited after she read the book “The Men who Killed Me,” which tells stories of sexual violence against women in Rwanda. Jackson was deeply moved by it and became involved with an outreach organization.

They set her up sponsoring a Rwandan who was a victim of sexual abuse at a young age and is now HIV-positive and ostracized by her community.

“It was so sad hearing her story that I wanted to do all I could to help her,” Jackson said.

The two-time WNBA MVP didn't stop at just sponsoring the woman. She started taking classes to get a degree in gender studies. She just finished two courses and will be taking three more when she goes back to Russia to play basketball this winter.

Earlier this year, Jackson met Gloria Steinem, one of the driving forces behind the women's liberation movement that began in the 1960s. Jackson hopes to become a champion of women's rights herself after she's done playing basketball - whenever that is.

“I need to have a background and information,” Jackson said. “I definitely have mentors and people who can help me. With what I've been able to achieve in sport hopefully I can help people ... it would be great.”

Seattle Storm teammate Sue Bird, who has played with Jackson in the U.S. and in Russia for years, wasn't surprised at the activism of her teammate.

“There are many different sides of Lauren that people don't know about,” Bird said. “Lauren's very socially aware. Even what she studies right now. It's not just the normal academics. Most of her studies have to do with feminism. She's very passionate about it and always tells us how she's doing in school.”

Jackson has had a busy year on the court, winning the Australian league title and then following that up with her second WNBA championship. Now she's three wins away from completing a rare basketball triple crown by adding a world championship.

“That would be really awesome, but I haven't had time to sit and think about it,” Jackson said. “We still have three games to play and if it happens that would be incredible because it means that we won the world championship.”

While Australia did win the world championship in 2006, they didn't have to beat the rival U.S. to do it after the Americans lost to Russia in the semifinals.

“We didn't have to come across them in the last worlds,” she said. “We've never beaten them in a tournament like this.”

Win or lose in the worlds, Jackson knows there are bigger things in life.

“I wish I could do more, though,” she said. “The awareness that this is still happening around the world is something that you can't comprehend. That's one woman I'm helping, but there are so many people affected by this. You hear stories and it's horrible.”