'Big V' takes a turn on 'The Biggest Loser'
Wednesday, September 10, 2014 | Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The nadir of it all, or so Vanessa Hayden thought, was her unwillingness even to show herself in public. The former University of Florida basketball star was grossly overweight and simply did not want anyone to see her.
“I'd been hiding for a couple years,” Hayden said.
But then came a few words from her 7-year-old daughter, Zyon, that shook Hayden to the core.
“You used to do things with me. Now you're always tired and always working. We don't have fun anymore.”
That's when the door of reality slammed in the face of Hayden, who at 31 was now 6-foot-4 and in excess of 350 pounds. Yet about around the time that door seemed to be closing, another opened when a friend of hers from their WNBA days called and said the popular NBC reality show, “The Biggest Loser,” was looking for former athletes to compete in the 2014 season.
Hayden promptly made one of the biggest winning decisions of her life.
When “The Biggest Loser: Glory Days” premiers Thursday night at 8, that will be Hayden, the former All-America center, standing in the third row of the 2014 team photo (above) wearing number 366.
Yes, as in 366 pounds.
Hayden, now 32 and a child welfare and intake specialist in Orlando, will be seen competing and bonding with former athletes like NFL quarterback Scott Mitchell (383 pounds), tennis star Zina Garrison (263 pounds), three-time Olympic softball gold-medalist Lori Harrigan-Mack (301 pounds) and NFL offensive lineman Damien Woody (388 pounds).
The stories of all 24 contestants were cut from similar cloth. All were one-time among the peak of their peers.
Hayden, affectionately known as "Big V" during her UF days, averaged 14.7 points and 10.3 rebounds over her four-year career (2000-04) with the Gators, garnering Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year and second-team All-America honors in her senior season. She had 50 career double-doubles, grabbed 20 rebounds in a game and blocked 10 shots in another on her way to becoming just the fifth UF player to the milestones of 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
The WNBA Minnesota Lynx made Hayden the seventh overall pick in the 2004 draft. She played in the league five seasons, and took some spins on the European professional circuit before leaving the game in 2009 and returning to her hometown of Orlando.
That's when it began. 
“After playing basketball, my weight gain was very rapid and quick,” said Hayden, pictured left in March at the SEC women's basketball tournament when she was honored as UF's annual respresentative among the SEC Legends. “In 2010, I had a knee injury and within two years I was 140 pounds overweight. That's unheard of. As an athlete I was eating 3,000 calories a day and working out four or five hours a day. When I stopped playing, I kept those habits up and didn't work out. I was in an office and at a desk all day.”
Which eventually led to that life-altering moment.
You'll have to watch the show to see how Hayden fares -- no spoilers allowed here, folks -- but in a conversation last week she spoke of how much she loved being a part of the program and the camaraderie enjoyed with her fellow contestants.
Above all, Hayden embraced what it did for her self-esteem.
“Being on the show was definitely a release,” Hayden said. “This was my time to do something about my life. It was going to be on a national TV. I wasn't going to hide anymore. I had to get myself together and it felt good.”
There were some moments that were more revealing than releasing; like the first time she had to put on a pair of tights.
“I was like, 'Oh my god!' I didn't ever want to see that again,” Hayden said. “I just was not healthy going onto that show.”
But the tone in her voice made it clear that how the show began wasn't nearly as important as how it ended.
For that, Gators fans will have to wait. And watch.
