Kingston, R.I. — It would be hard to top Stephanie White’s “How I spent My Summer” Olympics break story.

The Connecticut Sun head coach, White took a family trip to Italy, visiting Rome, Florence and Venice. The time difference made it easier for her to focus on family time and temporarily put basketball aside.

“It was awesome,” White said. “We did all the touristy things. … I get recharged from family time in general. To be able to get away, with the time difference, I wasn’t answering emails and phone calls all day long, just part of the day. So it made it a little bit easier for me to sort of decompress and detach from the every day, so it was nice.”

Rested from a two-week WNBA break that started with the All-Star game on July 20, White and the Sun basketball team are back at work. Their season resumes on Aug. 16 with a game at Dallas.

Connecticut is holding workouts this week at the University of Rhode Island basketball practice facility.

The Sun, who are staying in Newport, plan to mix in some team bonding activities. A boat excursion is planned as well as a yoga session during Tuesday’s off day.

“It’s a lot of practice time, so getting in a different environment, seeing some new areas, but more than anything just an opportunity for our team to bond and continue to come together and do some fun activities together and enjoy a new part of New England,” White said.

“Fortunately for me, because I’ve been part of this league for such a long time, I’ve gone through this every four years. The biggest thing is, it gives us some time off, and then it gives us an opportunity to work on skill development.

“Then, for us as coaches, how do we keep it fun? How do we not let it become sort of mundane and monotonous? And that’s by doing fun things.”

Of course, White is taking full advantage of practice time to try to improve the team. The Sun carried an 18-6 record into the break, trailing Eastern Conference leader New York (21-4) by 2.5 games.

Player development and overall team growth top the list of things on White’s to-work-on list.

“From a team standpoint, we want to be faster and we want to be more difficult to guard,” White said. “We’ve got to be a better shooting team, so we’re working a lot on getting shots up. We’re working a lot on our reads and our actions. … Then this is always a good time to add some things that we want to do on both ends of the floor.”

Connecticut is practicing without Alyssa Thomas, who is playing for the United States in the Olympics. Her Sun teammate and fiancee DeWanna Bonner also is in Paris.

Last month, the Sun added veteran guard Marina Mabrey and rookie forward Caitlin Bickle to the team.

Mabrey, whom the Sun acquired via a trade with the Chicago Sky on July 17, averaged 14 points, 4.9 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.2 steals in 24 games this season.

As native of New Jersey, Mabrey already has a connection with Thomas and Bonner and also crossed paths with other Sun players while playing overseas.

“I’m happy to be here,” said Mabrey, who attended UConn women’s basketball games growing up and played against the Huskies while at Notre Dame. “They’re a great team. Me and AT and DB are pretty close. … My skill set directly fits exactly what they need. I wanted to be part of a championship team, too, so that was a big thing on my list.”

White believes Mabrey will be an impact player.

“It’s going to be huge for us,” White said. “We have another player that can knock down a shot. We’re toward the bottom of the league in our 3-point attempts and makes. So we’re getting somebody that can be a playmaker and can make tough shots. She’s really good at those end-of-shot-clock situations and we have some issues at the end of shot clock, too.

“She’s another threat on the floor for us, not just creating for herself but creating for others. So she’s a player that can certainly get us over the hump in terms of having another option on the floor for us.”

Bickle signed a short-term contract with the Sun on July 20 that ends on Aug. 21. A 6-foot-1 forward, she was in training camp with the Sun prior to last season, so she’s familiar with White’s coaching style and system. She played professionally in Greece last season.

“She’s a really high IQ player,” White said. “She picks up things quickly. ... She’s going to be able to continue to push the envelope to make us better, to pick up things quickly. She’s a hard worker.”

Bickle hopes to stick around.

“I’m trying to take in as much as I can and learn as much as I can,” Bickle said. “Obviously, I’d like to get signed again. So I’m trying to prove myself and doing what I can do best for the team and whatever they’re asking of me.”

News and notes

Connecticut Sun assistant coach Abi Olajuwon is a part of the history-making Nigerian Olympic women’s basketball team coaching staff. Nigeria, the first African team to reach the Olympic quarterfinals, will face the United States on Wednesday.

“I’m excited about that,” White said. “Making history. Proud of her and proud of them. A lot of those players played college basketball here in the states, so it’s really fun to see them go realize their dream. Certainly they’re going to run into a buzzsaw, a tough matchup, when they play Team USA. What an amazing experience and opportunity for them.”

g.keefe@theday.com