When University of Tennessee basketball forward Chamique Holdsclaw spoke at

a Think Drug Free America gathering at the Foundry Tuesday night, she

wanted to make it apparent that her life hasn’t been as easy as most people

believe.

“People look at me and say ‘Chamique Holdsclaw’s life is filled with joy

and is full of promise,’ but it hasn’t always been that way. My family has

had their struggles,” Holdsclaw said.

These struggles lend a sense of legitimacy to her words because she’s seen

what drugs do to people close to her.

“My mom has been sober and clean for 10 years. She was a former drug addict

and alcoholic herself, and so I mean, it has been in my house,” she said.

“What I stress to the kids in the neighborhood is that I’ve been there;

I’ve been through this all.”

Drugs were in other places than the home, as Holdsclaw described how “as I

played basketball, people would come to the court shooting dice, smoking

weed and things like that, and I’m a kind of a product of that environment,

but I just choose to do positive things in my life.”

As for avoiding drugs while growing up, Chamique credits her grandmother.

“She always told me to be positive and not just to sit around on the court.

Go out and do something with structure and organization. I just thank God

for my grandmother for leading me in a positive direction.”

According to Holdsclaw, the most important lesson her grandmother taught

her is that “hard work will pay off.” This has been reinforced through her

experiences in basketball, especially with head coach Pat Head

Summitt.

Holdsclaw explains that although it’s easy to talk about avoiding drugs, it

can be difficult in real-life situations.

She says, “It’s easy to sit here and say ‘stay away from drugs’ and ‘drugs

aren’t a good thing’, but when you’re in a situation where it’s bad, you

have to go about other ways to get out of that situation.”