More Adversity For Stoudemire

After a 2005-2006 season in which Amare Stoudemire came back from what many consider to be a career threatening injury, playing better than ever and posting career highs in rebounds and Field Goal percentage, everything seemed to be back on track for Stoudemire. Having faced many adversities in his personal and professional career, Stoudemire was poised to have a breakout summer with Team USA, as well as gear up for another run for the NBA Championship in the fall. Then came the morning of July 4th.

Marwan Williams, the half brother of Stoudemire, was one of five people arrested in the investigation of a murder at a Scottsdale motel, and once again Amare was left being the pillar holding his family up as things seemed to be crashing down around him. It is a position that has come often and regularly for Amare, dating all the way back to his days in high school.

Amare’s mother, Carrie Mae, has been in and out of prison most of Amare’s life for drunken driving offenses, and is currently serving a three-year sentence. His older brother, Hazell Jr., was sentenced to jail in 2002, before Amare entered the NBA, on drug and various other charges. Add to this list the latest arrest of Marwan Williams, and it is a wonder Amare has kept it all together over the years.

But this is what Amare does. He has always been the strength in his family, even as the temptations and pressure built. He has also been the first one to back his family, from his mother to his half-brother’s recent trouble. He credits his faith, and God, for giving him ‘broad shoulders’, so he can handle the pressure put on him.

You hear many stories of athletes who make it out of the ghetto, or poverty, or the inner-city, or whatever adversity they may have faced along the way. Amare is not different in many of these respects. His problems, though, have continued to follow him, even as he has enjoyed such great success in his professional career. Poised to be a break-out star of the League following the 2004-2005 season, his third in the League, Amare’ suffered a micro-fracture in his knee, something very few athletes have come back from to return to their pre-injury form.

Amare used the time spent rehabbing not just getting back to form, but also working on his low post offense and defense, developing a great mid-range jumper and getting better at shot-blocking and help defense. He came back this season a more complete player, but also still as an almost freak-of-nature type athlete. Through the adversity, he rose stronger and as a better player.

It is easy to forget that Amare is only 24 years old. He has seen and been through a lot in those 24 years that most of us will never experience. He has also had greater success in those 24 years than most of us ever will. With each comes great responsibility, and sometimes burden. It is how he recovers to those burdens that set him apart from a lot of people.

It is this kind of recovery he has perfected over the years, and this type of recovery he will need once again as his half-brother faces charges. Amare has demonstrated time and again he is up for the challenge, and I have no doubt he will persevere through the latest adversity a stronger person. And hopefully these troubles will stop following Amare, and he can concentrate on just being a basketball player, and achieving the kind of success he deserves.