Basketball – The Younger Years

Tall is something I have always been. I was 25 inches long at birth and never looked back from there. It was not something that I was comfortable with growing up. I was constantly being made fun of, because I was this lanky, shy girl, who just so happened to be taller than everyone else. My mom was always reminding me to be proud of my height, but it wasn’t something I truly understood till I got to college.

Basketball began for me around 4th grade. Because of my height people always assumed that I was a good player. Since my skills and coordination came later in life—I was left with a lot of expectations that I couldn’t quite live up to. I definitely spent more time on the bench than on the court, throughout my junior high days.

We moved back to my small, country school, North Miami, for my High School years. I quickly found myself in a starting position by default, simply because there were not that many people in my school and I happened to be the tallest. Throughout my high school years, I spent a lot of time before school lifting weights and shooting. Besides basketball, I was also on the volleyball and track teams.