Lisa Leslie
Lisa Leslie
Lisa Deshaun Leslieis an American former professional women's basketball player who played in the Women's National Basketball Association. She is a three-time WNBA MVP and a four-time Olympic gold medal winner. The number seven pick in the 1997 inaugural WNBA draft, she followed a superb career at the University of Southern California with eight WNBA All-Star selections and two WNBA championships over the course of eleven seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks, before retiring in 2009. Leslie, a 6'5" center,...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth7 July 1972
CityGardena, CA
CountryUnited States of America
I don't think I would have been able to stick with it and been proud of who I am and be feminine out on the court. I think I would have folded to the peer pressure if I didn't have my mom to encourage me to be me and be proud of how tall I am.
When I watch kids play basketball, they don't know how to think the game. They know what it should look like, but they don't know why.
I'm probably taller than 90% of the men I meet.
Right now I'm 185, which is really good for me yet very hard for me to maintain. My weight seems high for the average woman, but I've got big bones and I'm maintaining muscle.
Everyone talks about age, but it's not about age. It's about work ethic. Winning never gets old.
I played on an all-boys team in the 8th grade, but they wouldnt throw me the ball even though I was on their team. One day I stole the ball from my own teammate and I made a basket. From that point on, everyone yelled Give the ball to the girl! I was the only girl on the whole league!
We are women. We are attractive. We have great bodies. You can't escape that fact, so why not use it to our advantage? If sex sells, I'm all for it.
When I set a goal, I work hard to achieve it.
Boys have a tendency to jump around a lot more than girls. Boys have that desire to want to dunk way more than girls do. It just never seemed like something we could truly fathom and do.
The one thing I learned about myself going back and watching tapes of all the losses that we've had is that I'm physically capable of doing this and dominating the game, but the mental part was not there. I don't know if it comes with age, but I had to learn to be mentally tough.
I'm a better and more educated person because of basketball.
If, by the way I play, I can be a role model or encourage someone else, that would be great.
For me, being tall was very positive because I thought my mom was the most beautiful person ever.
In boys, it's ingrained in their heads that to dunk is just the highlight of basketball, whereas for girls, our shooting technique, making baskets and free throws is taught more. It's such a sexist approach to the sport sometime. Men aren't encouraging their little girls to try to work on their hops. They're encouraging them to work on their jump shots and the fundamentals of the game.