‘I wear Boston through and through’: WNBA player Taina Mair enjoys an emotional homecoming

When she finally returned to Boston last week, the city made sure she knew how much she meant.

Roxbury Prep, one of the launching pads that lifted Mair from Dorchester to the WNBA, hosted a homecoming last Friday, filling the gym with everyone from starstruck students to proud former coaches.

Mair’s mother, Mercy Pineda, sister Trayana, and brother Talik shared emotional messages. Her mother and sister held back tears. Her brother couldn’t.

“She always said, ‘Ma, I’m going to go out there and I’m going to do what I need to do,’ ” Pineda said. “And that’s what she’s doing. And I’m proud.”

State Representative Chris Worrell presented Mair with an official citation and award. Then City Councilor Brian Worrell declared Sept. 4 “Taina Mair Day” in the city.

Mair was overwhelmed, but also honored to be an example for kids who were sitting where she once sat.

“I don’t even know the word for it, but I’m so grateful,” she said. “This is something that, as a kid, you dream of. When you go away and you do great things, and you come back home and the city shows you nothing but love.

“It’s a top-tier feeling. I’ve never felt like this in my life and I’ve won plenty of championships, I’ve won a lot of things in my life, but this is something different.”

Emma Simmons, principal of Roxbury Prep’s Dorchester campus, coached Mair in middle school and remembered the packed gyms for middle school games. She also remembered Mair working as relentlessly in the classroom as she did on the court — the combination set her apart at an early age and sets an example to this day.

“If you ask, I’d say, 25 percent of our kids right now, what do you want to be when you grow up, they’d say basketball player, football player,” Simmons said. “And she’s one of the only ones that I was like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re going to get there.’

“I just feel grateful that she’s coming back to Roxbury Prep and she sees us as a home and that my current students can look up to her and see her as a real inspiration.”

From AJ Dybantsa, who took Brockton everywhere he went on his journey to becoming the NBA’s No. 1 pick in June, to Veronica Burton, a star at Newton South who’s now the reigning WNBA Most Improved Player and the engine for the Golden State Valkyries, Mair joins a growing list of players carrying Boston-area basketball onto the sport’s biggest stages.

The closest example Mair had when she was growing up would’ve been Roxbury native Shey Peddy, but Mair was 15 by the time Peddy made her WNBA debut in 2019.

“I feel like I didn’t really have anybody, to be honest,” Mair said. “That’s why me coming back is pivotal for the youth. Just being able to be the person that they can look up to and see they can reach these heights.”

Mair signed a player development contract with the Storm in May that allows her to practice and travel with the team, but limits her to 12 regular-season games. She’s played nine this season, six since late July, putting up her most productive night on Aug. 23 in a loss to the Dallas Wings (6 points in 13 minutes).

With the WNBA season coming to a close at the end of the month, Mair said she already has plans to sharpen her game in the offseason in Poland.

“There’s really levels, and you can see it,” she said. “When you get to the pros, there’s a bigger gap because these girls have been playing for 20-plus years and they know their role, they know what they have to do.

“But I think just coming in, figuring out how to adjust my play style, just being a little more physical, understanding that when you get a shot it needs to be knocked down. You’ve just got to be sharper.”

But on a day dedicated to her, Mair was proud to be an example of what’s possible.

“I wear Boston through and through,” Mair said. “Everywhere I go, I’m like, ‘I’m from Boston.’ You can’t tell me nothing. This is the city where I came from, I grew up here, born and raised.

“So to be able to have that is a special gift for what I’ve done for my city. Just being a role model — or trying to be one — I think having that kind of solidifies me as who I am as a person and who I’m trying to be.”

From the source Julian Benbow can be reached at [email protected].