Holdsclaw Retires
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At the rate I'm going...the Sparks would have had a game tonight and I would have selected her as my fantasy player...
All my fantasy bitterness and selfishness aside...when Krista read that during the broadcast tonight I was completely and utterly stunned and still am. I have no idea why she is so abruptly walking away from this game - I hope all is well with her and her family.
I feel very fortunate to have gotten to see her play in person and will miss not having the opportunity to see her play again. She is simply one of the most gifted women's basketball players I've seen. I still rank her performance along with her former Lady Vol teammate Tamika Catchings' performance in a game against each other as the finest one on one duel I've seen and probably one of the best W games I've ever seen. I was back in DC and saw a game between the Fever and the Mystics. Although they happened to have 8 other players on the court with them, it was a fabulous display of talent that night between the two of them, with the game's outcome riding on shots the two of them made in their respective team's final possessions in overtime. Amazing individual performances against one another, their numbers alone were crazy but it was their shot making and the clutchness of what they did that night that made it so memorable to me. (box score)
Thank you Chamique, and best wishes...
All my fantasy bitterness and selfishness aside...when Krista read that during the broadcast tonight I was completely and utterly stunned and still am. I have no idea why she is so abruptly walking away from this game - I hope all is well with her and her family.
I feel very fortunate to have gotten to see her play in person and will miss not having the opportunity to see her play again. She is simply one of the most gifted women's basketball players I've seen. I still rank her performance along with her former Lady Vol teammate Tamika Catchings' performance in a game against each other as the finest one on one duel I've seen and probably one of the best W games I've ever seen. I was back in DC and saw a game between the Fever and the Mystics. Although they happened to have 8 other players on the court with them, it was a fabulous display of talent that night between the two of them, with the game's outcome riding on shots the two of them made in their respective team's final possessions in overtime. Amazing individual performances against one another, their numbers alone were crazy but it was their shot making and the clutchness of what they did that night that made it so memorable to me. (box score)
Thank you Chamique, and best wishes...
The retirement does not surprise me at all. The timing absolutely SHOCKS ME!! If we can remember she abruptly miss a big portion of her last season with the Mystics before she went to Los Angeles? http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/wnba/mystics/2004-10-28-holdsclaw-depression_x.htm
But for her to walk away during the season, when she is the bonifide leader and the face of the Sparks franchise without Lisa Leslie. I am sure she is the centerpiece of their marketing to the Los Angeles community. This has to bes a huge blow to the Sparks organization. I don't know if I could just walk away like that, unless there are some things going on beyond control.
I am trying to look at this from a responsibility point of view.
If we can remember she abruptly miss a big portion of her last season with the Mystics before she went to Los Angeles? http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/wnba/mystics/2004-10-28-holdsclaw-depression_x.htmBut for her to walk away during the season, when she is the bonifide leader and the face of the Sparks franchise without Lisa Leslie. I am sure she is the centerpiece of their marketing to the Los Angeles community. This has to bes a huge blow to the Sparks organization. I don't know if I could just walk away like that, unless there are some things going on beyond control.
I am trying to look at this from a responsibility point of view.
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Here's Quotes from Los Angeles Times
Chamique says why she even played in 2007....
"I felt like I owed the organization," she said. "Without Lisa, I knew it would have been a double-whammy. But after the first few games, it hit me really hard, and I wanted to be honest with myself and the organization, and not keep going out there, acting one way, but really, feeling like something else."
Chamique says why she is retiring.....
"There's nothing going on. You have your good and bad days, but the place where I was a couple years ago, I haven't been back to," she said. "I'm not pregnant, I'm not going crazy, I'm not depressed, or anything like that. I'm fine, I just want to kind of kick back."
If I am a Sparks fan, I am heated . You mean to tell me this could not wait until the end of the season? When I first heard this I had sympathy. To me this is just straight up wrong.
Chamique says why she even played in 2007....
"I felt like I owed the organization," she said. "Without Lisa, I knew it would have been a double-whammy. But after the first few games, it hit me really hard, and I wanted to be honest with myself and the organization, and not keep going out there, acting one way, but really, feeling like something else."
Chamique says why she is retiring.....
"There's nothing going on. You have your good and bad days, but the place where I was a couple years ago, I haven't been back to," she said. "I'm not pregnant, I'm not going crazy, I'm not depressed, or anything like that. I'm fine, I just want to kind of kick back."
If I am a Sparks fan, I am heated
. You mean to tell me this could not wait until the end of the season? When I first heard this I had sympathy. To me this is just straight up wrong.
I was assuming there were personal issues going on that she was having trouble dealing with and I could understand that. But she walks out on her teammates and the organization in mid-season, because she just wants to kick back?
She doesn't want to feel one way and act another? Well hello, welcome to the world of average, everyday people, Chamique, many of whom get up and go to work everyday, despite horrible things happening in their lives or personal issues they are trying to deal with. Why do they do this? Its called being responsible to the people who are depending on you and honoring your commitments.
Good grief. A few more months wouldn't have killed her and it would have been the absolutely right thing to do.
She doesn't want to feel one way and act another?
Well hello, welcome to the world of average, everyday people, Chamique, many of whom get up and go to work everyday, despite horrible things happening in their lives or personal issues they are trying to deal with. Why do they do this? Its called being responsible to the people who are depending on you and honoring your commitments.Good grief. A few more months wouldn't have killed her and it would have been the absolutely right thing to do.
Let me go out on the minority view and say I can still empathize with her decision. Based on the couple of quotes here and speaking without the benefit of the fuller context of what else she might have said, I can still understand her decision. I recall when she left the Mystics she got similarly raked over the coals until she fully explained what the situation was.
Sure, in everyday life we have to do what we have to do and "soilder on" as they say. I think in some respects Mique did just that and she reached a point she couldn't fake it any more. I think it is as simple as she wanted and needed out. I had mentioned in the season preview thread that I was interested to see how the circumstances in LA would affect Mique this year. She had said when she came to LA that she did not want to be the focal point any more like she was in DC. Having Lisa there took burden off of her and she felt freer to do what she does - and I think we saw Chafreakque return. When she was going to have to play not only without a Leslie but to some extent without a TJ as the vocal floor leader I was curious on how this would play out with her. That said, I dont think I quite saw THIS tho.
Of course it sucks for LA, the team and its fans. But I don't necessarily believe she owed them a full season, especially when it didn't seem like she was fully personally invested in playing this one. It seemed like more a sense of obligation than really what her personal thought process was re: what she owed herself. And those two forces apparently collided. I think in the everyday world that happens too, and people make decisions to leave jobs or whatever there too. Hers just is higher profile and people write press releases when she does it.
Sure, in everyday life we have to do what we have to do and "soilder on" as they say. I think in some respects Mique did just that and she reached a point she couldn't fake it any more. I think it is as simple as she wanted and needed out. I had mentioned in the season preview thread that I was interested to see how the circumstances in LA would affect Mique this year. She had said when she came to LA that she did not want to be the focal point any more like she was in DC. Having Lisa there took burden off of her and she felt freer to do what she does - and I think we saw Chafreakque return. When she was going to have to play not only without a Leslie but to some extent without a TJ as the vocal floor leader I was curious on how this would play out with her. That said, I dont think I quite saw THIS tho.
Of course it sucks for LA, the team and its fans. But I don't necessarily believe she owed them a full season, especially when it didn't seem like she was fully personally invested in playing this one. It seemed like more a sense of obligation than really what her personal thought process was re: what she owed herself. And those two forces apparently collided. I think in the everyday world that happens too, and people make decisions to leave jobs or whatever there too. Hers just is higher profile and people write press releases when she does it.
It was a big decision to make & one that set her free. Thanks for the memories, all the great basketball form Tenn. & on. No doubt a very talented player. I remember all the excitement when she was drafted in 99. The year sticks in my mind because Yo came in that season & took the honors.
Holdsclaw was a tough autograph as well, I did get it a few times. I can't really say that it's signed the same twice
Much blessing & best wishes to C.Holdsclaw...a exciting player that many will miss, especially Sparks fan.
Holdsclaw was a tough autograph as well, I did get it a few times. I can't really say that it's signed the same twice
Much blessing & best wishes to C.Holdsclaw...a exciting player that many will miss, especially Sparks fan.
I can fully understand there may be serious issues there. It just would have been nicer if she'd made this decision before the season started.
I'm not unsympathetic. Maybe I'm just jealous. She's lucky she has the option to just quit. As far as serious depression goes, I REALLY do understand. Just take my word for it. Not an option to quit my job.
I'm not unsympathetic. Maybe I'm just jealous. She's lucky she has the option to just quit. As far as serious depression goes, I REALLY do understand. Just take my word for it. Not an option to quit my job.
Chamique says why she even played in 2007....
"I felt like I owed the organization," she said. "Without Lisa, I knew it would have been a double-whammy. But after the first few games, it hit me really hard, and I wanted to be honest with myself and the organization, and not keep going out there, acting one way, but really, feeling like something else."
Chamique says why she is retiring.....
"There's nothing going on. You have your good and bad days, but the place where I was a couple years ago, I haven't been back to," she said. "I'm not pregnant, I'm not going crazy, I'm not depressed, or anything like that. I'm fine, I just want to kind of kick back."
If I am a Sparks fan, I am heated . You mean to tell me this could not wait until the end of the season? When I first heard this I had sympathy. To me this is just straight up wrong.
"I felt like I owed the organization," she said. "Without Lisa, I knew it would have been a double-whammy. But after the first few games, it hit me really hard, and I wanted to be honest with myself and the organization, and not keep going out there, acting one way, but really, feeling like something else."
Chamique says why she is retiring.....
"There's nothing going on. You have your good and bad days, but the place where I was a couple years ago, I haven't been back to," she said. "I'm not pregnant, I'm not going crazy, I'm not depressed, or anything like that. I'm fine, I just want to kind of kick back."
If I am a Sparks fan, I am heated
. You mean to tell me this could not wait until the end of the season? When I first heard this I had sympathy. To me this is just straight up wrong.
I never post over here. Like maybe ever. May never again. But just wanted to add this:
Change the name "Chamique" with "Artest" and think how Kings fans would react. And appropriately so. And that's in a 7-9 month season. To just abandon your team midseason to "kick back" sounds like that same sort of flaky.
Thanks for stopping by Brick...
What I will agree with is that her language is unfortunate. But I just don't see her being deep down that flippant. But you're right, if that were Artest and he said he wanted to take time off during the season to let's say...promote his record label? - there might a be a hue and cry about that. Mique's history hasn't been like that tho, and that's what makes her different.
But the language she uses is unfortunate, but seems consistent with the idea that she wasn't really personally invested in playing this season because she had mentally decided she was done last year.
What I will agree with is that her language is unfortunate. But I just don't see her being deep down that flippant. But you're right, if that were Artest and he said he wanted to take time off during the season to let's say...promote his record label? - there might a be a hue and cry about that. Mique's history hasn't been like that tho, and that's what makes her different.
But the language she uses is unfortunate, but seems consistent with the idea that she wasn't really personally invested in playing this season because she had mentally decided she was done last year.
I think her timing was even more unfortunate than her words. If she thought she was done last year, she should have retired in the off-season. And if there are personal reasons that meant she could not wait a few months until the end of the season, then she should have chosen her words much more carefully.
I will love to hear what Koz, Krista have to say tonight on Monarchs Talk. I am sure someone from Los Angeles will be on.
I understand the illness and all of the past issues, but she herself says that is not what is going on here. If that is the case, this can wait until the end of the season. I don't care if you have lost your passion for the game. You have an obligation to your employers, your fan base, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY YOUR TEAMMATES to give 100 percent for the next few weeks. It's not like the "W" season is that long. She could have waited.
Kind of reminds me of the Ricky Williams situation a couple of years back when Ricky announced his retirement right before training camp.
I understand the illness and all of the past issues, but she herself says that is not what is going on here. If that is the case, this can wait until the end of the season. I don't care if you have lost your passion for the game. You have an obligation to your employers, your fan base, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY YOUR TEAMMATES to give 100 percent for the next few weeks. It's not like the "W" season is that long. She could have waited.
Kind of reminds me of the Ricky Williams situation a couple of years back when Ricky announced his retirement right before training camp.
Maybe that's where I don't see it that way. She had no obligation to anybody but herself. Or I should say, a higher obligation is to herself.
So it would have been more "honorable" for her to continue on faking her way through a season than to leave now while the Sparks have time to regroup? If she honestly didn't feel like playing any more (which seemed consistent with what Gutierrez says was Mique's feelings were last year) then I say at the very least she's honest. If her obligation is to give 100% then perhaps she felt she couldn't give them that for whatever reason. And quite frankly, she doesn't owe me a reason.
How about we call MonarchsTalk tonight and talk with Koz and Krista about this IN ADDITION to listening to whoever they may have on from LA to discuss this? Support the show, the team, its sponsors and the league.....[putting VF21's soapbox back where I found it...)
So it would have been more "honorable" for her to continue on faking her way through a season than to leave now while the Sparks have time to regroup? If she honestly didn't feel like playing any more (which seemed consistent with what Gutierrez says was Mique's feelings were last year) then I say at the very least she's honest. If her obligation is to give 100% then perhaps she felt she couldn't give them that for whatever reason. And quite frankly, she doesn't owe me a reason.
How about we call MonarchsTalk tonight and talk with Koz and Krista about this IN ADDITION to listening to whoever they may have on from LA to discuss this? Support the show, the team, its sponsors and the league.....[putting VF21's soapbox back where I found it...
)Yes, its just a difference in values. And I'm not saying one is better than the other. Basically, I do not think that the needs and desires of self should always come first.
I think people are interdependent and generally should be able to rely on people doing what they have promised you they will do. I mean verbal promises, too, not just signed contracts.
There are certainly times when self needs will require a person to request a release from a promise or commitment. And I don't have to know CH's personal reasons, but I think "because I want to kick-back," is completely inadequate and actually insulting to people who honor their commitments, sometimes at great personal cost.
I think, without giving any specifics, which I do not expect, she could have worded it differently, if that's not what she meant. Even if she was flaking out on her teammates, she could've said for "personal" or "family" reasons and that would've been it, likely.
She owes me nothing, but I think she owed the LA fans, something more than those casual and rather careless words.
I think people are interdependent and generally should be able to rely on people doing what they have promised you they will do. I mean verbal promises, too, not just signed contracts.
There are certainly times when self needs will require a person to request a release from a promise or commitment. And I don't have to know CH's personal reasons, but I think "because I want to kick-back," is completely inadequate and actually insulting to people who honor their commitments, sometimes at great personal cost.
I think, without giving any specifics, which I do not expect, she could have worded it differently, if that's not what she meant. Even if she was flaking out on her teammates, she could've said for "personal" or "family" reasons and that would've been it, likely.
She owes me nothing, but I think she owed the LA fans, something more than those casual and rather careless words.
I wholeheartedly agree that her choice of language is troubling. And if her reason is nothing more than flakly then perhaps my understanding of her decision will change with it. But right now, I don't see my view of her decision changing...
But the way I read this, she gave precedence to others over self because she felt she needed to come back because Lisa was out. If she gave them all she had to give them, then I have no issue with that. I think the only way she doesn't get hammered is if she stays the entire season. But if her interest waned - which is seems like she's sorta kinda indicating was a point she had reached, she still gets raked over the coals for not giving an effort even tho she fulfilled her committment/obligation. I'm not sure that's any better.
But the way I read this, she gave precedence to others over self because she felt she needed to come back because Lisa was out. If she gave them all she had to give them, then I have no issue with that. I think the only way she doesn't get hammered is if she stays the entire season. But if her interest waned - which is seems like she's sorta kinda indicating was a point she had reached, she still gets raked over the coals for not giving an effort even tho she fulfilled her committment/obligation. I'm not sure that's any better.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/print...oll=la-headlines-pe-sports&ctrack=2&cset=true
Former Sparks player Holdsclaw explains retirement
Six-time All-Star says family considerations were behind her decision to walk away.
By Lauren Peterson, Times Staff Writer
June 21, 2007
Los Angeles is in Chamique Holdsclaw's rearview mirror, just like her basketball career, and, as she looked back this week, her only regret was never having won a WNBA championship.
"The only thing that I wanted to do, that I didn't do, was win a title," Holdsclaw said in a telephone interview Tuesday night, a little more than a week after abruptly retiring and leaving the stunned Sparks without their top scorer.
"I won at every other level, but I'm not going to chase it anymore. If anything about the decision bothered me, it was probably that, and the fact that I didn't say goodbye to the fans."
Holdsclaw, a six-time All-Star and the league's rookie of the year in 1999, didn't say goodbye to anyone before cutting short her season and her career.
"Now, it's about moving forward," she said. "It's just about being free to try something new. I think I could probably have still played, but I feel good. From day one, I wasn't all about just basketball, basketball, basketball."
Holdsclaw left Los Angeles on Sunday and is visiting friends in Phoenix. Next, she will visit with extended family in New York, and then go home to Atlanta.
"I made my decision because I just didn't feel it anymore. It was like, 'This is it,' " she said.
Holdsclaw, who came to the Sparks in a trade from the Washington Mystics before the 2005 season, said she probably should have quit at the end of last year but was talked out of it.
"I thought about it last season, I thought about it when I was overseas in the off-season, I thought about it, like, every other day," she said. "All my friends can tell you, for the last year, or so, I was going, 'I'm done.' "
Holdsclaw, 29, said physical setbacks didn't help. She had undergone off-season surgery on her left foot and then her left knee began bothering her, limiting her playing time in the home opener June 8.
Yet, not being able to attend important events in the lives of family members and friends because of the Sparks' schedule became more upsetting, she said.
She ticks off the moments: The father of her best friend died last year but she missed his funeral. She had to leave her mother last summer to handle family health crises alone because the team needed her back.
The crises were not easy. Her stepfather was diagnosed with cancer, though that is now in remission. And her father, she said, suffers from schizophrenia.
"When I went home last year, it was crazy. He thought I still played for the Mystics," she said. "He doesn't recognize me sometimes. When you have a parent that has an illness, it makes you realize what's important.
"I just know in my heart that I want to spend time with him when I don't have to leave again. And now I can."
In 2004 Holdsclaw had her own crisis — with clinical depression for which she said she briefly took medication.
"Let people know I'm not depressed," she said of her retirement decision.
"Mental illness is not something people accept easily, but it made me such a stronger person."
Holdsclaw does not rule out a return — "right now, probably about a 20% chance" — though she has to sit out a year.
"Who knows how I may feel a year from now?" she said. "I'm just rolling with the punches right now."
Former Sparks player Holdsclaw explains retirement
Six-time All-Star says family considerations were behind her decision to walk away.
By Lauren Peterson, Times Staff Writer
June 21, 2007
Los Angeles is in Chamique Holdsclaw's rearview mirror, just like her basketball career, and, as she looked back this week, her only regret was never having won a WNBA championship.
"The only thing that I wanted to do, that I didn't do, was win a title," Holdsclaw said in a telephone interview Tuesday night, a little more than a week after abruptly retiring and leaving the stunned Sparks without their top scorer.
"I won at every other level, but I'm not going to chase it anymore. If anything about the decision bothered me, it was probably that, and the fact that I didn't say goodbye to the fans."
Holdsclaw, a six-time All-Star and the league's rookie of the year in 1999, didn't say goodbye to anyone before cutting short her season and her career.
"Now, it's about moving forward," she said. "It's just about being free to try something new. I think I could probably have still played, but I feel good. From day one, I wasn't all about just basketball, basketball, basketball."
Holdsclaw left Los Angeles on Sunday and is visiting friends in Phoenix. Next, she will visit with extended family in New York, and then go home to Atlanta.
"I made my decision because I just didn't feel it anymore. It was like, 'This is it,' " she said.
Holdsclaw, who came to the Sparks in a trade from the Washington Mystics before the 2005 season, said she probably should have quit at the end of last year but was talked out of it.
"I thought about it last season, I thought about it when I was overseas in the off-season, I thought about it, like, every other day," she said. "All my friends can tell you, for the last year, or so, I was going, 'I'm done.' "
Holdsclaw, 29, said physical setbacks didn't help. She had undergone off-season surgery on her left foot and then her left knee began bothering her, limiting her playing time in the home opener June 8.
Yet, not being able to attend important events in the lives of family members and friends because of the Sparks' schedule became more upsetting, she said.
She ticks off the moments: The father of her best friend died last year but she missed his funeral. She had to leave her mother last summer to handle family health crises alone because the team needed her back.
The crises were not easy. Her stepfather was diagnosed with cancer, though that is now in remission. And her father, she said, suffers from schizophrenia.
"When I went home last year, it was crazy. He thought I still played for the Mystics," she said. "He doesn't recognize me sometimes. When you have a parent that has an illness, it makes you realize what's important.
"I just know in my heart that I want to spend time with him when I don't have to leave again. And now I can."
In 2004 Holdsclaw had her own crisis — with clinical depression for which she said she briefly took medication.
"Let people know I'm not depressed," she said of her retirement decision.
"Mental illness is not something people accept easily, but it made me such a stronger person."
Holdsclaw does not rule out a return — "right now, probably about a 20% chance" — though she has to sit out a year.
"Who knows how I may feel a year from now?" she said. "I'm just rolling with the punches right now."
Comments on ESPN.COM ...
I read the article on ESPN.COM, and then I looked at the comments. Again there was a flood of WNBA-haters posting comments. The negative energy being displayed there is sobering. The harsh juxtaposition between my own unabashed love, admiration, and respect for the league and its players -- and other's who despise it, and feel the need to say so, is startling.
I read the article on ESPN.COM, and then I looked at the comments. Again there was a flood of WNBA-haters posting comments. The negative energy being displayed there is sobering. The harsh juxtaposition between my own unabashed love, admiration, and respect for the league and its players -- and other's who despise it, and feel the need to say so, is startling.
Update on Holdsclaw
The Pursuit Of Happiness
Burned Out on Basketball, Holdsclaw Wants to Explore Life Beyond the Court
[SIZE=-1]By Marc Carig[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Washington Post Staff Writer[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Sunday, July 15, 2007; E01[/SIZE]
Chamique Holdsclaw made a promise to herself nearly three years ago this month, shortly after coming to terms with events that led to a defining moment in her life.
While a member of the Washington Mystics, the basketball star struggled to cope with the death her grandmother. Holdsclaw grew to resent the rigors of the game, a hectic grind that she blamed for not allowing her enough time to grieve the person who had raised her in a housing project in Astoria, Queens. She reacted with what she had learned within the confines of the sports culture, bottling up her emotions until she couldn't hide them anymore.
Then, it all overwhelmed her. In July 2004, she isolated herself from her team, disappearing without explanation, which only fueled public speculation that pushed an intensely private person into the spotlight. Later, Holdsclaw received a diagnosis of clinical depression and was traded in 2005 by the Mystics, the team that had selected her No. 1 overall in the 1999 WNBA draft after she was hailed as the female Michael Jordan.
In the aftermath, she vowed that she would never again hold in her emotions, that she would trust herself to do whatever it took to be happy. Yet, as a member of the Los Angeles Sparks, she noticed herself falling into a similar pattern. She despised the grind. Again, she kept it mostly to herself, until she rose one morning last month.
"At that point in time, I just knew," Holdsclaw said over the phone from Atlanta as she explained her reason for retiring from the WNBA. "There was no explosion, not me going crazy, or anyone having to call me 10 times to calm me down or anything."
In the city where Holdsclaw was once the face of women's basketball, the best players in the world will gather today for the 2007 WNBA All-Star Game. The game could have been a homecoming for Holdsclaw. Instead, the six-time WNBA all-star has stepped away from the game that had taken her from Astoria to a storied college career at Tennessee and a professional championship in Krakow, Poland.
Holdsclaw admitted that the timing of her decision was unfortunate -- five games into the season. When asked what she would change in her career, Holdsclaw said she would have grabbed some of the lifelines that were thrown to her by friends during her turmoil in Washington. But she also concedes that without that difficult time, she would not have arrived at the point where she could finally step away from the game and into a state of peace.
"One thing I've become is introspective," Holdsclaw said. "I think I have a great sense of me as a person. I know what makes me happy. I know what makes me miserable. I'm trying to stay on the happy side."
Her trade from the Mystics to the Los Angeles Sparks marked a fresh start in her basketball career, but her feelings had not changed. Within the first week of her arrival in Los Angeles, she called team General Manager Penny Toler. "I don't think I want to do this," Holdsclaw told her.
Toler, and later others, persuaded her to stick with the game. Holdsclaw said she felt obligated to try because the Sparks had given her a chance. "I sucked it up and took one for the team," she said, and the pattern continued through most of her stint in Los Angeles.
Holdsclaw said that for a while she rediscovered her passion for basketball. But in the days nearing her retirement, Holdsclaw said that when she awoke in the morning, the lingering feeling that she usually pushed to the back of her mind seemed to get stronger. Recent injuries made the decision even easier.
"I've been doing this since I was 11 years old. That's 19 years of my life," said Holdsclaw, who turns 30 on Aug. 9. "So If I want to take five months, six months of my life and say this is what I want to do, I don't want to do anything, I feel like I have the right to do that."
Nowadays, Holdsclaw generally doesn't watch sports on television but when she does, she's most likely catching a tennis match. She watches basketball games on television, only when friends she grew up with or other favorite players are on. And when the best female players in the world take the court at Verizon Center today, Holdsclaw will instead hang out with a group of children and watch a friend participate in a street ball exhibition.
"I want to drop Chamique Holdsclaw the basketball player now and focus on Chamique Holdsclaw the person, and see if the person can have an impact on the lives of others," she said.
She has a rough plan for retirement. She wants to give back to her community, maybe work with children. But whatever it is, she says it must have a purpose and it must be different. So, as she waits for her next revelation to come, Holdsclaw does some of the things that she had spent most of her life trading away for basketball.
Her new focus has been on her family, friends and areas that she "slacked on for many years." She spends time with her father, who is ill, and her stepfather, who is in remission from cancer.
For the first time in her adult life, she has the summer off, a pleasure she intends to enjoy. She rides jet skis, holds paintball wars and takes joy in being around for the simple things like driving a friend to a doctor's appointment. She's taking tennis lessons ("my first love, before basketball") although she's thinking about switching to racquetball because it's more her speed.
Lately, much of her time has been devoted for a search for a new house. After living in a constant state of travel, Holdsclaw wants to settle down in Atlanta. She considered building her own place, but discovered that the process could take more than a year. Instead, she will find something big enough for her new life.
"This is that period of my life, everybody has been through this period," she said. "It might have been like when they first graduate from college. You have people that take that first year off to kind of focus on themselves. Maybe this is my time off to focus on me."
Since her retirement, Holdsclaw's basketball future has been the center of speculation. She still plays basketball every day, running pickup games at her gym. She has rehabbed her injured knee and lifts weights to stay active.
She did not rule out a comeback. "As of right now, I think I'm done," she said. "I can't predict the future because I don't know how I'm going to feel the next day. But as of right now, on July 12, 9:12 p.m., I have no desire."
Messages of encouragement still stream in from all directions, including from friends and fans on her page on the social-networking Web site MySpace, where the headline on her profile captures her present state of mind.
It reads "Livin Free!!"
The Pursuit Of Happiness
Burned Out on Basketball, Holdsclaw Wants to Explore Life Beyond the Court
[SIZE=-1]By Marc Carig[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Washington Post Staff Writer[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Sunday, July 15, 2007; E01[/SIZE]
Chamique Holdsclaw made a promise to herself nearly three years ago this month, shortly after coming to terms with events that led to a defining moment in her life.
While a member of the Washington Mystics, the basketball star struggled to cope with the death her grandmother. Holdsclaw grew to resent the rigors of the game, a hectic grind that she blamed for not allowing her enough time to grieve the person who had raised her in a housing project in Astoria, Queens. She reacted with what she had learned within the confines of the sports culture, bottling up her emotions until she couldn't hide them anymore.
Then, it all overwhelmed her. In July 2004, she isolated herself from her team, disappearing without explanation, which only fueled public speculation that pushed an intensely private person into the spotlight. Later, Holdsclaw received a diagnosis of clinical depression and was traded in 2005 by the Mystics, the team that had selected her No. 1 overall in the 1999 WNBA draft after she was hailed as the female Michael Jordan.
In the aftermath, she vowed that she would never again hold in her emotions, that she would trust herself to do whatever it took to be happy. Yet, as a member of the Los Angeles Sparks, she noticed herself falling into a similar pattern. She despised the grind. Again, she kept it mostly to herself, until she rose one morning last month.
"At that point in time, I just knew," Holdsclaw said over the phone from Atlanta as she explained her reason for retiring from the WNBA. "There was no explosion, not me going crazy, or anyone having to call me 10 times to calm me down or anything."
In the city where Holdsclaw was once the face of women's basketball, the best players in the world will gather today for the 2007 WNBA All-Star Game. The game could have been a homecoming for Holdsclaw. Instead, the six-time WNBA all-star has stepped away from the game that had taken her from Astoria to a storied college career at Tennessee and a professional championship in Krakow, Poland.
Holdsclaw admitted that the timing of her decision was unfortunate -- five games into the season. When asked what she would change in her career, Holdsclaw said she would have grabbed some of the lifelines that were thrown to her by friends during her turmoil in Washington. But she also concedes that without that difficult time, she would not have arrived at the point where she could finally step away from the game and into a state of peace.
"One thing I've become is introspective," Holdsclaw said. "I think I have a great sense of me as a person. I know what makes me happy. I know what makes me miserable. I'm trying to stay on the happy side."
Her trade from the Mystics to the Los Angeles Sparks marked a fresh start in her basketball career, but her feelings had not changed. Within the first week of her arrival in Los Angeles, she called team General Manager Penny Toler. "I don't think I want to do this," Holdsclaw told her.
Toler, and later others, persuaded her to stick with the game. Holdsclaw said she felt obligated to try because the Sparks had given her a chance. "I sucked it up and took one for the team," she said, and the pattern continued through most of her stint in Los Angeles.
Holdsclaw said that for a while she rediscovered her passion for basketball. But in the days nearing her retirement, Holdsclaw said that when she awoke in the morning, the lingering feeling that she usually pushed to the back of her mind seemed to get stronger. Recent injuries made the decision even easier.
"I've been doing this since I was 11 years old. That's 19 years of my life," said Holdsclaw, who turns 30 on Aug. 9. "So If I want to take five months, six months of my life and say this is what I want to do, I don't want to do anything, I feel like I have the right to do that."
Nowadays, Holdsclaw generally doesn't watch sports on television but when she does, she's most likely catching a tennis match. She watches basketball games on television, only when friends she grew up with or other favorite players are on. And when the best female players in the world take the court at Verizon Center today, Holdsclaw will instead hang out with a group of children and watch a friend participate in a street ball exhibition.
"I want to drop Chamique Holdsclaw the basketball player now and focus on Chamique Holdsclaw the person, and see if the person can have an impact on the lives of others," she said.
She has a rough plan for retirement. She wants to give back to her community, maybe work with children. But whatever it is, she says it must have a purpose and it must be different. So, as she waits for her next revelation to come, Holdsclaw does some of the things that she had spent most of her life trading away for basketball.
Her new focus has been on her family, friends and areas that she "slacked on for many years." She spends time with her father, who is ill, and her stepfather, who is in remission from cancer.
For the first time in her adult life, she has the summer off, a pleasure she intends to enjoy. She rides jet skis, holds paintball wars and takes joy in being around for the simple things like driving a friend to a doctor's appointment. She's taking tennis lessons ("my first love, before basketball") although she's thinking about switching to racquetball because it's more her speed.
Lately, much of her time has been devoted for a search for a new house. After living in a constant state of travel, Holdsclaw wants to settle down in Atlanta. She considered building her own place, but discovered that the process could take more than a year. Instead, she will find something big enough for her new life.
"This is that period of my life, everybody has been through this period," she said. "It might have been like when they first graduate from college. You have people that take that first year off to kind of focus on themselves. Maybe this is my time off to focus on me."
Since her retirement, Holdsclaw's basketball future has been the center of speculation. She still plays basketball every day, running pickup games at her gym. She has rehabbed her injured knee and lifts weights to stay active.
She did not rule out a comeback. "As of right now, I think I'm done," she said. "I can't predict the future because I don't know how I'm going to feel the next day. But as of right now, on July 12, 9:12 p.m., I have no desire."
Messages of encouragement still stream in from all directions, including from friends and fans on her page on the social-networking Web site MySpace, where the headline on her profile captures her present state of mind.
It reads "Livin Free!!"
Looks Like Holdsclaw is Not Done After All
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...ches_up_with_newly_retired_chami.html?print=1
Here is the key quote in the whole piece, if you do not want to read it all.
Chamique responding to why she suddently "retired"
This time, she just wasn't having much fun on the court and her body was breaking down. Michael Cooper, the Sparks' coach, had moved Holdsclaw to point guard out of desperation, after the projected starter, Temeka Johnson, had knee surgery. Holdsclaw likes playing on the wing, and didn't enjoy the stress that came with bringing the ball upcourt.
"There's so much more pounding on the body, pushing the ball, the stop and go constantly," Holdsclaw says. "It was the start of the season, I was playing a new position. My legs, my knees were starting to bother me a lot. In the second half of games I couldn't step out on the court. It was painful. I was trying to push through this, but I was thinking, 'This is harder than it's supposed to be.'
"I needed a break. I was mentally a little fatigued. My body was talking to me. It was a bunch of things. I said to myself, 'I have to take care of me.' If that means walking away for good or for a little bit, I got to take care of me. They were shocked on the team, but they were supportive."
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...ches_up_with_newly_retired_chami.html?print=1
Here is the key quote in the whole piece, if you do not want to read it all.
Chamique responding to why she suddently "retired"
This time, she just wasn't having much fun on the court and her body was breaking down. Michael Cooper, the Sparks' coach, had moved Holdsclaw to point guard out of desperation, after the projected starter, Temeka Johnson, had knee surgery. Holdsclaw likes playing on the wing, and didn't enjoy the stress that came with bringing the ball upcourt.
"There's so much more pounding on the body, pushing the ball, the stop and go constantly," Holdsclaw says. "It was the start of the season, I was playing a new position. My legs, my knees were starting to bother me a lot. In the second half of games I couldn't step out on the court. It was painful. I was trying to push through this, but I was thinking, 'This is harder than it's supposed to be.'
"I needed a break. I was mentally a little fatigued. My body was talking to me. It was a bunch of things. I said to myself, 'I have to take care of me.' If that means walking away for good or for a little bit, I got to take care of me. They were shocked on the team, but they were supportive."
please....
The Holdsclaw Saga is starting to get boring.
I have posted on this before so I will keep my statement short and sweet.
"Kick It" or Play... Make up your mind. Quit putting out false hope feelers. If you are Sick (which she may be) get help. Get new handlers so they can monitor you.
I know Depression is a tough thing to deal with. But she says this is not about her depression. Even tho everyone else is trying to make it about that. Therefore her actions are Bush League at best.
She retired. I respect her decision to do that. But don't keep talking about Maybe I will come back. Whateva. She hasn't even uttered so much as an"I sorry". All we hear is "I had to do what was best for me, and I just want to kick it." At least acknowledge that your actions ****ed over not one but two franchises. Consequences Mique, there are consequences to your actions. The Sparks had to live with them. So should you.
I can't believe the notion of her coming back is being entertained. Why??? Cause she is Mique. Who else would get a pass like that? No matter how talented she is, whatever team choses to bring her back deserves the screw job she gives them.
The Holdsclaw Saga is starting to get boring.
I have posted on this before so I will keep my statement short and sweet.
"Kick It" or Play... Make up your mind. Quit putting out false hope feelers. If you are Sick (which she may be) get help. Get new handlers so they can monitor you.
I know Depression is a tough thing to deal with. But she says this is not about her depression. Even tho everyone else is trying to make it about that. Therefore her actions are Bush League at best.
She retired. I respect her decision to do that. But don't keep talking about Maybe I will come back. Whateva. She hasn't even uttered so much as an"I sorry". All we hear is "I had to do what was best for me, and I just want to kick it." At least acknowledge that your actions ****ed over not one but two franchises. Consequences Mique, there are consequences to your actions. The Sparks had to live with them. So should you.
I can't believe the notion of her coming back is being entertained. Why??? Cause she is Mique. Who else would get a pass like that? No matter how talented she is, whatever team choses to bring her back deserves the screw job she gives them.
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