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Seattle Storm guard Tanisha Wright returned to the Emerald City this past weekend to kick off the Stormin' the Sound off-season program. Wright, who is completing her degree in education at Penn State, also honored Alexis Carter, the winner of the Storm's Women in Sports Essay Contest, before Friday's SuperSonics game against the Atlanta Hawks. Storm.wnba.com caught up with Wright before the game for a brief chat about her off-season.

storm.wnba.com: How has your off-season been?
Wright: Long. It's been long. I'm happy to get back and get started. It's been good. It's treating me really well; just a lot of work. A lot of work professionally as far as being an athlete and a lot of work as far as being a student. It's a lot of work on both sides.

Is it strange being back on campus after a year in the WNBA?
It is a little bit, but leaving last year really solidified it for me anyway. Coming back and knowing all I have to do is school, it's okay, because I'm still with the team, still part of the team as a student-athlete, still attending games and things like that. I'm okay with the whole situation and where I'm at with it.

"It was good for me to be able to read some essays and sift through and see which ones were good and which ones weren't as good. It was really good for me as a teacher to be able to do that." Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images

How often do you work out with your former Penn State teammates?
Whenever I can. Whenever I can, I get in there and work with them. Otherwise, I'm on my own. Last semester, I worked out with them a lot. Probably every day last semester. This semester, it's not every day. Maybe twice a week I run with the girls, but it's a lot more individual stuff.

What have you been working on individually?
Really conditioning and conditioning my body. Not necessarily with my respiratory system and things like that; I think that's good, but having my whole body conditioned, being able to withstand playing for a long time. Obviously, you want to work on your skills and stuff like that. That's every-day stuff, as is getting stronger.

How have you balanced what you think you need to work on and what Coach Anne Donovan asked you to work on?
Obviously, coming from my college season and going into the WNBA season, I'm not going to be at my peak conditioning-wise. So obviously that's anything that I think any rookie needs to work on. A lot of her requests were to work on my ballhandling and things like that. I'm not going to ignore that; I'm going to do the things that she asked me to do.

Have you thought about the possibility of playing more point guard this season after Francesca Zara was selected in the Expansion Draft?
If that's what they need me to do, that's what I'll do. Like I said, she asked me to work on my ballhandling and the purpose is in case I have to handle the ball more and things like that. Obviously, I recognize that we lost Zara and those are the things that I need to work on and some of the things I have worked on. If that's what they need me to do, then that's what I'll do. It's as simple as that.

How is student-teaching?
It's coming. It's a little draining and stressful. It's coming along. I still enjoy doing it.

What was your experience like as a judge for the Storm's Women in Sports Essay Contest?
It was fun. It was good for me to be able to read some essays and sift through and see which ones were good and which ones weren't as good. It was really good for me as a teacher to be able to do that. The essays were good all around. I was surprised as far as how intelligent kids are getting and how they're able to articulate what they're feeling inside.

Are you keeping up with your teammates overseas?
There are a lot of them overseas. I talk to JB ( Janell Burse)a lot. I talk to Sue (Bird) every now and again as well, just over IMing, things like that - same thing with JB. I keep in touch with Zara over e-mail. I'm able to keep in touch with a couple of them.

Do you expect to join them overseas in the future?
I'll probably end up going overseas next year, just to gain the experience and see what it's like. I'm excited about it too. I don't know exactly where, but I'm excited to go over and to do that too.