“You will win if you don’t quit!” -Yolanda Moore
There aren’t many athletes that have overcome some of the obstacles that Yolanda Moore has endured during her sports journey. “Yo” has overcome academic struggles, a teen pregnancy, 5 knee surgeries, divorce, the loss of both parents, and post-career roadblocks. Being able to boast 2 WNBA Championships is a testament to her faith, work ethic, and determination. She shares her life experiences as an athlete to educate, empower, and teach aspiring athletes how to make the most of their sports opportunity. From Ole Miss to the WNBA, read more to learn how Yolanda went from being a teen mom to a world class athlete, and find out what she’s doing now!
TAN:: “Thank you so much for speaking with us today. I looked over your bio and I’m so intrigued! In addition to being a well-awarded Athlete, Coach, Author, and Speaker you chose to get a degree in English. Then, you went on to teach it!”
YM: “English came easily to me. I don’t how good of a teacher I was,” she said with a wry laugh.
TAN:: “You taught Honors English, so you were better than you think. What was the biggest challenge for you?”
YM: “Students have so many other things they contend with on a daily basis, sometimes education is put on the back burner. Education is the great equalizer, but I just don’t think they get it. They have so many different types of pressure on them that they fail to recognize the importance of education. When I taught, I made a connection with kids on a much deeper level than just English. I showed an interest in them, and while I don’t think I was a very good English teacher, I was a darn good counselor!”
TAN:: “What I hear is that you did a lot of interpersonal coaching….
“People may or may not consider this a skill, but just being able to persevere. Setting goals and achieving them. Being able to process failure from the right perspective. It doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with you, but that it wasn’t your time and that it wasn’t meant to be. Failure is really an illusion. I think the best thing, the big thing that sports taught me was to always persevere.
TAN:: “Many people who share similar backgrounds to ours understand that there is grace in the execution.”
YM: “I’m the youngest of six. We grew up in Mississippi on my step-dad’s farm. And I learned early on that was not the life that I wanted! I had zero interest in being a farmer. When I found basketball, I was like look I’m going to put everything I have into this. This is going to get me away from here.”
TAN:: “Which leads into my next question…… Please share with us the most vivid memory from your childhood, and how it factored into professional success.”
YM: “I was just thinking about this the other day. My step-dad was old-school. With my step-dad, gender didn’t matter when it came time for me to slop the hogs.”
(For those of you not in the know, slopping the hogs is when you take the food bi-products and leftovers from around the farm and the human table and give it to the hogs or pigs that live in the pen.)
YM: “So, we’d been saving the food up in a big white bucket. The smell was like…Oh my God! It is the worst smell in the world. I think I was probably about twelve, maybe thirteen, but I was really long and lanky. He told me it was my time to go slop the hogs, and he gave me these big rubber boots, but he didn’t give me the technique. I picked that bucket up and stood up on the fence. I was like Michael Jackson in the Smooth Criminal video, on my toes with that lean. I fell over with the bucket. In that moment, I knew there was no way this could be my life. It was the worst thing ever.”
TAN:: “It appears that you were taught through your farm experiences that you have to work hard for the things you wanted.”
YM: “Absolutely! I learned early on that you only get out of life what you put into it. When I didn’t put in maximum effort because I didn’t want to be out there, I had to redo it. So, I got my attitude right and realized I had to do it the right way.”
TAN:: “A farm is a great metaphor for life. So, now that you knew what you didn’t want to do, you knew college was the next progression. Why did you choose Ole Miss, and how did it prepare you for your professional career?”
YM: “I just knew. The one good thing about me choosing to attend Ole Miss was that they had one of the top five programs in the country at the time. They had won an SEC championship, and I already knew some of the players on the team. It was far enough away from home that I could have the college experience and my step-dad couldn’t call me to help them catch a cow if it got out. Ole Miss was educational royalty back then. If you were a black kid from Mississippi, it was considered elite to attend Ole Miss. It was an easy decision, because I wanted to go somewhere I could make an impact immediately.”
TAN:: “At the time you were finishing up school, the WNBA was finding its start. There was finally life after college basketball for women in the states. How did you make the transition to the WNBA?”
YM: “Coming into Ole Miss as a freshman, I was All-American, All-Everything. Then, I got pregnant, so I didn’t really know what was going to happen, but I knew I wasn’t going to stop playing basketball. I was even more determined because everyone had counted me out. After having three knee surgeries and two children by 22, I had my second daughter approximately four months before the WNBA season started. I had a coach tell me not to show up for try-outs because I didn’t stand a chance of making it. You have to understand I was a 6’0 Center, the shortest center in the SEC. But, I dominated. Now, I was competing with athletes from all over the world, and they were 6’8 and 6’10. I was going to give my best, but if I didn’t make it – cool, but no one was going to take it from me. I was never going allow someone else’s vision for my life to become my reality.”
TAN:: “The title of your book, “You Will Win, If You Don’t Quit” is so appropriate as a segue to this next question. Is there something you want to share from your book with your audience?”
YM: “It doesn’t matter how you start but how you finish. We don’t get to pick the circumstances we’re born into. Growing up my biological Dad wasn’t there, but that wasn’t my fault. It didn’t give me the right to make an excuse to not be great. I try to share with young women, because we battle with so many insecurities that hinder us and we don’t even know it. My message is: Yes, I got pregnant at 18 and again at 22, so what? I still went to the WNBA, I still went back to school and graduated from college. I still got a Master’s degree. I still went and did television, still became a college coach. Yes, it was hard. But, you don’t have a right not to use every talent and gift God has given you. There is still purpose for your life. But, it is ultimately up to you.”
TAN:: “You are obviously made of strong stuff. Can you share what was one of your best and worst experiences in the WNBA?”
YM: “The best for me was making the team after my coach told me I didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell. I competed against about 200 women trying out for 4 spots, and I made one of them. Winning the championship was icing on the cake. I played with Sheryl Swoopes and other Hall of Fame members. One of my favorite quotes came from Cynthia Cooper, “It’s ok to be great.” I watched them all unapologetically strive to be the best.
One of the worst was my Mother passing in November 1997, just a few short months after we won the WNBA championship. That was probably the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with. Thank God I had basketball.”
TAN:: “We don’t have enough time to cover all the things you have accomplished in your short career as you are still young yet, but I would like for you to share with our readers what you are currently doing. Who was your book written for, who was your intended audience? What is your dream job?”
YM: “My dream job would be traveling the world and empowering young girls. Just having someone to remind you that you are enough. If you can see a real person who has achieved success, it helps you believe you, too, can do it. Seeing gives you hope.
I truly wrote the book for me. I took a look back at my life to examine how I got to the point I was at. It was like a letter to myself. I am actually working to re-release an updated version of my book. I am connected with Eric Thomas, the best motivational speaker I’ve seen. He is mentoring me and helping me build my speaking business. Every Tuesday, I speak as part of the Success Series at the University of Michigan.”
TAN:: “Now, for my favorite question, based on your experience, what advice would you offer prospective and rookie athletes to help them prepare for a smooth post-career transition?”
YM: “Remember that what you do is not who you are. Your identity is wrapped up in your craft. You start to get your confidence through the applause of others. However; when the applause stops, then you’re left with just you and the world. And you’re like, now what? Athletes, myself included, often have a hard time separating themselves from their craft. I would caution athletes to not get caught up, because even if your athletic ability is taken away, you still have gifts.”
TAN: “I can say one thing for sure, Yolanda Moore you have the mind of a champion. Thank you for your candor and insight. Please follow her work and support her endeavors.”
YM: “Thank you.”
-by LaToya Baker of The Athlete’s NeXus
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YolandaMoore33?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ymoore33
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ymoore33/
Website: www.yolanda-moore.com