My Hero: Lisa Leslie

Samantha Pansky submitted this to the Sparks to show her admiration and respect for Lisa Leslie. She wrote this paper for school and wanted to share it with us and with you.

On July 7, 1972, a legend was born to Lauren and Walter Leslie in Gardena, California. Lisa was the second of three kids; she had an older sister named Dionne and a younger sister named Tiffany. When Lisa was a toddler her father left the family. Lisa�s mom bought a truck and went to business to support the family.

Lisa was over 6 foot 1 in middle school but never did organized sports, but she did play tetherball and double dutch. She had no interest in basketball, but she wanted to be popular. The star of the middle school team insisted that she try out. Lisa helped the team be undefeated. At that point on she loved basketball.

Lisa went to Morningside High School, where she made an enormous impact on their basketball program. She also played volleyball and track. She never enjoyed track, but it helped her perfect her shots because of the hurdles she did in track. She never had a disappointing year.

Many colleges were interested to have Lisa attend their college. Her top two picks were USC and Stanford because they were in the Pac Ten. Lisa chose USC because USC hired Coach Scott who was very close to her and because the school was close to her family.

Lisa was a very good player. She enjoyed playing and liked all her coaches. She had an impressive career and played like a veteran. Even though she was never on the #1 team, in her senior she ended up on the #7 team in the country. At the end of her college years, she was recognized as the top young female star in the world.

Lisa was in four Olympic Games and got gold each time. Each Olympic Game gave a new experience. Lisa enjoyed it because she got to go to many different places and because of the friends she made on the team. She also created a new rival, Lauren Jackson, who played on the Australian basketball team.

In 1996, Lisa got drafted to the LA Sparks and it was good news because she was close to home. Lisa was excited because the LA Lakers played there and they would use the locker rooms that her idol James Worthy and other legends used. She had an amazing career, and set many records, and won numerous awards. She truly brought basketball to life and inspired others.

On November 5, 2005 Lisa married Michael Lockwood in Maui. They have been married ever since. When she was married, she became stepmom to Gabrielle and Mikaela. She played basketball again, but she took a break in 2007 because she was expecting her first child. On June 15, 2007 she gave birth to Lauren Jolie Lockwood. At the end of the 2009 season, Lisa announced that she would be retiring and would not be coming back to the WNBA in 2010.

She learned so many things by playing basketball that helped her in the real world. One of them was dealing with adversity on and off the court, another thing was being disciplined for diets, and writing goals to see what you want and can accomplish.

Lisa truly changed basketball and inspired other kids like me because of all her accomplishments, especially being a role model to kids like us because she wanted to be one. She is definitely a real role model.