Basketball superstar Lisa Leslie offers advice for athletes in sports, life at Semoball Awards

Powerhouse athlete and WNBA superstar Lisa Leslie brought her wisdom and poise to the 2018 Semoball Awards on Saturday at the River Campus.

Keynote speaker Leslie highlighted several key points she recommends athletes incorporate into their daily routine to ensure success in all areas of life including remaining prayerful, setting goals and the importance of remaining determined to one day achieve those goals.

During the evening�s Q&A session led by assistant publisher of the Southeast Missourian Lucas Presson, Leslie said growing up she remembers her mom focusing the most on imparting positive affirmation to herself and her siblings at a young age.

Women's basketball legend Lisa Leslie was a superstar for the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks during her 12-year pro career. Leslie was the keynote speaker for the fifth annual Semoball Awards on Saturday at the River Campus.Submitted

Lisa Leslie speaks during a question-and-answer session with Lucas Presson at the Semoball Awards Saturday, July 14, 2018 at the River Campus in Cape Girardeau.Fred Lynch

Her mother would tell Leslie and her siblings to be proud of who they are and to walk with their heads up high, and to never forget the seven Ps: Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performance

�The seven Ps pretty much apply to everything in life,� she said, �whether it�s school, work, basketball, whatever it is you want to do; if you prepare properly and put your time into it and your effort, you would come out successful.�

Leslie said she didn�t fall in love with basketball until she was about 12 years old. She jumped rope and was part of her school�s drill team, but never considered herself �a sporting girl,� she said.

Even though Leslie had a lot of tough females in her family who played football with the boys and ran track and relays, she was always the one getting them water rather than mixing it up.

Out of a family �of about 25 girls and three boys,� Leslie was probably the last person that they would predict to become a professional basketball player, she said.

�But in my admiration for their strength, I found that I actually had it also in me,� she said.

At first, Leslie said, she only played basketball because she wanted to be popular, but it ending up turning into so much more.

�You know, that�s just God,� Leslie said. �Because why would I play on the basketball team just because a girl was popular? Beyond that, I started to realized that basketball was going to be the way for me to get a great education.�

Leslie said she isn�t inherently aggressive, an obvious characteristic needed for basketball, but it�s something she learned through her early years of being an athlete.

When it comes to sports, she said sometimes females have to acquire permission to be aggressive. And once she got that, Leslie said she never looked back.

�One thing I can say about myself is that I�ve always been competitive, whether it was playing cards or backgammon, I wanted to win,� Leslie said. �So having that sort of competitive nature inside of me obviously helped translate into sports as well.�

In addition to making a list of short-term and long-term goals and being willing to pursue those goals, Leslie contributes a majority of her success to putting faith in prayer.

�I�ve always loved the Lord,� she said.

Playing basketball is what Leslie did, she said, but it�s not who she is.

She believes her spiritual gift that was revealed to her early on was the ability to speak in public and then basketball eventually became a platform for that gift.

But what one word truly defines Leslie? Love.

�Love in general. I just love people, I love the Lord, and I love the fact that I�ve been given the opportunity to do a sport that I love,� Leslie said.

Leslie stays busy juggling family, a career as a luxury real-estate agent and as an up-and-coming actress. She also appears on ESPN broadcasts and contributes to Fox Sports Florida�s Orlando Magic NBA broadcasts, according to earlier reporting by the Southeast Missourian.

The Semoball Awards on Saturday welcomed more than 150 student-athletes from 57 area high schools. Event sponsors included SoutheastHEALTH as presenting sponsor, The Bank of Missouri as the official bank sponsor and rustmedia, SEMO ESPN Radio and St. Louis Cardinals as title sponsors.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

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