The road to the WNBA for the Chicago Sky’s Imani Boyette was not a smooth one as she had encounter many roadblocks on her journey to basketball success—including exercising her own demons.
In an interview with Cosmpolitan.com that was conducted prior to the WNBA Draft, the 6-foot-7 center out of Texas, who was taken with the 10th overall pick, talked about how she suffered depression as a young child—and how she attempted suicide at the age of 10.
Boyette mentioned how through her depressed state in her pre-teen and teen years, basketball brought a much needed solace to her life.
“As I started going through my depression and things like that in high school, basketball was just the dependable thing in my life,” Boyette said. “My parents couldn’t pay for me to go to a big college unless I got a scholarship, so I started taking basketball more seriously in high school.”
She got the scholarship at Texas and parlayed her collegiate success into her dream—playing in the WNBA.
She says she would not have accomplished what she has managed to accomplished all by herself.
“Being here is a testament to not only how far I’ve come, but how many people have helped me,” she said.
It is a lesson that is always taught to us as kids and as adults to never give up no matter how treacherous the journey may be. Because as Imani Boyette has shown, it is not about how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get back up and say to life’s obstacles, “Is that the best you’ve got?!”
(Original Story: Cosmopolitan)
By: Akiem Bailum (@AkiemBailum on Twitter, Instagram)
