Lisa Leslie

Many people all over the world in many places have people that they look up to. They refer to them as people they admire, their idols, or their role models. I refer to one of mine as my hero. (Now notice that I said ‘one’ of my heroes because if my parents saw this, I would be in a world of trouble). My hero happens to be Lisa Leslie. I honestly take myself to be similar to Lisa in a way. One being that we both are interested in basketball. I am starting in school to accomplish my dreams of basketball while she is already successful in the basketball world.

Lisa, born on July 7, 1972, grew up under the wing of a single mother. She didn’t have the best childhood in the world but still kept the faith. Even through her father’s exit in her life and having to be the sister and mother of her two sisters, Dionne and Tiffany.

After being introduced to it, Lisa soon found a hobby in shooting hoops with her cousin, Craig, who helped her develop fast footwork and shooting skills. She often worked out to improve her stamina. As well as basketball, she practiced and played volleyball and track for Morningside High School to help increase speed and high jumps. Her sophomore year, Morningside went all the way to state playoffs. The two teams were tied and Morningside needed one more shot to win. Lisa lunged herself into the air for the final shot, but sorrowfully, she missed. This saddened her but she pushed herself harder to improve her game. Junior year at six foot five, Lisa was invited to play for the Team USA’s Junior World Championship squad. Senior year she led Morningside to state once again. Her total average of points ended at twenty-seven and average of rebounds ending at fifteen. After graduating, she averaged nineteen goal attempts for Team USA. Soon after this game she was known as top young female star in the world.

While finding out that there was no US women’s pro basketball, she entered the Olympics and was later officially added to the US Olympic squad. In the year 1999, in WMBA history, Lisa was the third woman to ever receive the 1,000-point plateau at age twenty-two. Now that is an accomplishment! Even though Lisa played the majority of her life with girls and women, she quoted, "She still enjoys playing with guys because of their determination, love and understanding of the game."

Lisa and I have our similarities and our differences. Just looking at her life and what she went through at an early age, I have no choice but to be thankful for my close, supportive family. She truly is an inspiration and an example to many lives. I call Lisa my hero because through it all she held her head high and it all paid off.