Chamique Holdsclaw talks about the game she left and why
I got a great lead tonight on a column from CNNSI about former WNBA player Chamique Holdsclaw. Emphasis on former.
You’ll remember Holdsclaw abruptly left the Los Angeles Sparks and retired from the league early last summer. The 30-year-old spoke to CNNSI and said her leaving wasn’t about depression — which was why she took a similar hiatus in 2004 — but because she was tired of the WNBA grind and wanted more time with her family.
Holdsclaw has started playing in Europe, according to the article, and is apparently loving it.
She also has something else that was starting to feel lost in the hectic schedule of playing in both the WNBA and Euroleague in the off-season — time. It’s something Holdsclaw used to feel guilty about — missing friends’ weddings, holidays with her family, birthdays. But now with many blank squares in her calendar where the WNBA used to be, Holdsclaw, for the first time since being the No. 1 overall draft pick in 1999, can spend her free hours reaching out to people.
What the column gets into a little deeper is Holdsclaw’s opening up about her previous bout with depression. It’s really an interesting read, and there’s talk of a video she appeared in to help children and their parents recognize the signs of depression and how best to work through it. A scary part, though, as she lets on that she briefly considered suicide.
Sad as it may be that Holdsclaw looks as though she will not make a second return to the WNBA, she seems genuinely happy with her life now, so who among us can really blame her?
I picked that specific picture for a reason. I distinctly remember that cover of SLAM back in the day and anytime I hear Chamique Holdsclaw’s name, I think of that magazine cover
(Photo courtesy of SLAM magazine)
Tags: chamique-holdsclaw, euroleague, los-angeles-sparks, washington-mystics, WNBARelated Stories
POSTED IN: News
1 opinion for Chamique Holdsclaw talks about the game she left and why
Kori Ellis
Dec 5, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Thanks for posting this. I found her story very interesting. I was very shocked when she left abruptly, but now I understand her situation.
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