CATCHINGS OVERCOMES A HEARING IMPAIRMENT AND MORE TO BECOME A PRO

Lifetime Player's Journal: Tamika Catchings

Academy Award winner Holly Hunter hosts Lifetime Player's Journal, a weekly intimate portrait of some of the top names in the WNBA. Continuing with impressive Rookie of the Year candidate and Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings, Hunter takes a behind-the-scenes look at where these remarkable basketball talents came from, their family lives, their motivations, and how they've become the women that they are. Join Hunter every Friday at 5 p.m. ET on Lifetime.

* * * PLEASE NOTE: This episode will now air on July 5, followed by a Player's Journal featuring fellow Tennessee alumn Chamique Holdsclaw at 5:30 p.m. on Lifetime * * *

Player's Journal: Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings
Friday, July 5, 5:00 p.m.
Lifetime

Video: 56k | 300k

Tamika Catchings is leading the Fever in almost every statistical category including scoring (18.8ppg), assists (4.2apg), steals (3.55spg) and rebounds (8.8rpg).
Ron Hoskins/WNBA Photos/Getty Images

Tamika Catchings was born on July 21, 1979, to Harvey and Wanda Catchings, the younger sister of brother Kenyon and sister Tauja. Throughout her life, Tamika has faced various obstacles and moments of personal adversity that have helped shape and strengthen her character and have allowed her to become the person that she is today.

At an early age doctors detected a hearing disability which required Tamika to wear hearing aids which made her "different�. Catchings shed the hearing aids to avoid the teasing and taunts from her classmates, which forced her to focus that much harder to succeed. Growing up, Tamika and her sister Tauja, just two years older, shared a close relationship despite opposite interests. Tauja�s had a love for dolls and Tamika loved sports � especially basketball, which enabled her to be �different� in a positive way.

Eventually the sisters both followed in the footsteps of their father, NBA great Harvey Catchings, and took up the game of basketball. They would play against one another, but often the competition became intense and Harvey, who played 11 seasons in the NBA. had to break up the fights. But eventually the sisters would star together to help Lincolnshire High School win the 1995 Illinois state championship.

Family life was disrupted though, when Harvey and Wanda divorced while Tamika was in high school. Adding to the difficulty, Wanda moved to Dallas, Texas. Tamika would join her mother in Texas prior to her junior year and was now apart from here sister Tauja for the first time. At first the separation was extremely painful, but Tamika developed her a sense of independence and quickly became accepted and well-liked in her new home, Duncanville, Texas. Amazingly, few people there knew about her hearing loss, as Tamika excelled in school and sports where, as one of the nations top female high school basketball players, she led Duncanville High School to a 40 � 0 record and the 1997 Texas state championship.

Tamika�s journey then took her to the University of Tennessee where she was a four time All-American and a member of the 1998 national championship team. However, her career at Tennessee ended abruptly during her senior year when in January, 2001, she suffered a devastating knee injury. Despite the seriousness of her injury, only three months later, as a testament to her determination and her incredible talent, Tamika was chosen third overall in the 2001 WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever.

After missing the entire 2001 WNBA season, Tamika returned to action and to her previous form in 2002. Now, as one of the talented young stars of the WNBA, this once shy little girl has already become a positive role model and hero, especially to children who suffer from hearing disabilities.