Phil Hamilton

The fans go all out at Ballhalla — just ask TIffany Hayes: “You know what’s my favorite thing about Ballhalla? It’s actually more of a specific scene than a ‘thing.’ And it’s something that happens all the time at Chase Center. Big games, clutch games, early-season Tuesday night games in the middle of May, doesn’t matter. Let me paint the picture for you…. It’s the first quarter. Score’s like 10–7. We’ve made some shots. Missed some shots. Nothing major’s really gone down. In that arena, though, up in the stands? It’s just…. Hella loud!!!!!! Maybe we got a steal and a bucket, or someone from the other team dribbled the ball off her foot, or whatever it may be, and their coach calls a timeout, and our crowd…. They’re just absolutely going nuts. Everyone’s on their feet. People in purple wigs screaming at the top of their lungs. Little kids with rubber swords and shields all hopping up and down. GSV chants echoing like crazy. It’s so loud you can’t even really hear what the person next to you is saying. If it’s your first time at Chase Center, you’re probably like.… This doesn’t even make sense. It’s 10–7. Ten seven!!! I just got my popcorn!! And then, down on the court … it happens. The players on the other team, especially the rookies, the newbies who don’t know how we do, they’re looking around like…. What in the world is thiiiiiis? Like…. Where am I right now?!?!?!?!? They walk past our bench, and … it’s almost like they can’t help themselves. They’ll look up at the fans, and be shaking their heads, and then they’ll ask us like…. ‘Yo, are they like this all the time?!?!?!?!’ And everyone on our team? Hahahaha … we just kinda smile. We have this look in our eyes. We all just start nodding our heads like…. ‘All day, every day! Absolutely!! Ballhalla, baby! We’re just built different out here!!!!!!’ So yeah, that right there … that’s my favorite thing about Valks fans. At 10–7, it’s already popping. The second thing is easy. It’s all the jerseys. The way the city reps us. If you live out here … you know what I mean. They’re everywhere you look in The Bay! But it’s more than that, actually. There’s a twist. I’m always telling my mom and dad that I’ve never seen so much violet in my life. And it always makes me feel so happy and grateful when I see people walking around out here wearing one of my #15 jerseys. But that’s not even what I’m talking about right now. What I love more than anything is not that our fans support me, it’s that they support … literally everyone on our team. Our fans are out there wearing jerseys of everybody on our roster. They love who they love. It’s so cool to me that our fans are equal-opportunity supporters, you know what I mean? We’ve got someone for everyone. Actually, you know what, I take it back … that may not be second, that actually may be tied for first, honestly. I love that so much.” playerstribu.ne/THayes @tiphayes3 | @valkyries