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Accept 'n' Respect: Tamika Catchings on Accepting Difference
Basketball, Olympic gold medalist, WNBA Rookie of the Year,
four-time All-American
Torture. Being different was torture when I was a kid. There is nothing tougher than sticking out when you’re a girl who just wants to fit in. With two massive hearing aids, big clunky glasses and a funny way of talking, I was an easy target for teasing. I was bigger than almost everyone else, so I never really got beat up, but being picked on hurt just as much.
Kids can be so mean. Even though I loved school, by second grade, I was ready to quit. “What’s wrong with her?” “Don’t talk to her.” “Why do you wear those things?” they’d say pointing at my hearing aids and laughing. I looked funny, and kids would never let me forget it. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I got called out of class for speech therapy. It was so embarrassing. I’d go home crying and mad. Sometimes I felt like I just couldn’t face it anymore.
One day, I decided to take control. All day long, kids had been dogging on me at school. I was fed up. On my way home from school, I chucked my hearing aids out into a field. I guess I thought my mom wouldn’t notice, but of course she did right away. She made me go back to the field with her to look for them. But I had a pretty good arm. We never did find those things. My mom was mad, ’cause they cost a lot of money. I got spanked and grounded. But I didn’t get made fun of for wearing those big, hearing aids anymore. I had to adapt to life without them. I would read all the chapters before I went to school. I’d sit in the front of the classroom. I would do it my way.
There were two things that got me through those hard days: sports and my parents. When I was playing basketball, I never got teased. It was like a safe zone. I could take my frustration and sadness and turn them into points, blocked shots and rebounds. My family knew that and always encouraged me to live like I play. “Tamika, if you quit school, you are letting the other kids win,” they would say. Competition was our way of life, and that just wasn’t an option.
It took me awhile, but by the time I got to college, I realized that I had to accept being different – it is who I am. I couldn’t change it, so I had to embrace it. After all, everyone is different in some way. I’m unique ’cause my hearing is impaired. But I’m also unique because I’m a good basketball player. If I was like everyone else, I might have good hearing, but I wouldn’t be the athlete I am. It’s up to you to decide whether or not you’ll accept being different – whether or not you’ll dare to shine.
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