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Margaret Stender, president and CEO of the WNBA's Chicago Sky, stood in amazement on the court at Moody Bible Institute's Solheim Center.

"It's a real team with uniforms and everything,'' Stender said Monday at the team's media day.

Practice started Sunday for coach Dave Cowens and 14 players. Five more players are scheduled to arrive by next week after completing commitments to teams overseas.

"Right now I have more questions than answers,'' said Cowens, whose last coaching stint was with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. "This is a little more low-key than the NBA, and the players don't have the same size -- like having 6-4 post players. But what they do on the floor is all the same.

"I have to learn what the players can do, and there are things, as a unit, they need to do as a team.''

Stacey Dales, an All-American at Oklahoma and a first-round draft choice of the Washington Mystics in 2002, was coaxed out of retirement to play for the Sky. The 6-foot guard was a WNBA All-Star and has done extensive work for ESPN on college football and as a studio anchor for coverage of the NCAA women's tournament.

"It's great to be back on a team and to have teammates,'' Dales said. "I'm getting back to playing the game the way I did when I was 15. I strayed away from that, but you come back to what you know.

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