Home » Sports » Women's Basketball » Inside Shalonda Enis

Inside Shalonda Enis

© Colleen Bittner

Shalonda Enis began playing basketball with her father, shooting baskets in her grandmothers driveway. Kenneth Ray Enis was a player/coach for the Chicago scramblers, a semi professional basketball team. He always had a basketball in his hand, and his love for the game rubbed off on Shalonda. Although Kenneth passed away when Shalonda was only eight years old, too young to understand that the father she loved so much was gone, his determination, along with his hard-working ethics lives on inside his daughter.

Untouchable is perhaps one of the best words to describe this Washington Mystics center. She can bang on the inside, and shoot from the outside. She has the versatility every team can use, yet she is unbeknownst to many in the basketball world. Shalonda has yet to amaze crowds wearing a WNBA uniform, but to many fans of the now defunct American Basketball League, she has earned star status. "A lot of people don't know who I am or what I'm about, and I'll have to work hard to show them." Enis said. "That's a good way to be, because you don't want to have everything served to you on a silver platter." Not being one to blend into the crowed easily, you can't miss her when she is out on the court. She is everywhere all at once, yet under control at all times. Even off the court you can't ignore her; she has poise, personality, and a smile you can't help but smile back at. The talent and strength Enis carries with her did not come easily; she has worked her way up to where she is now, never relenting when things seemed difficult, or a goal unreachable.

After her fathers death, Shalonda began living in Celeste, Texas with her grandmother during the week. This enabled her mother to provide for her family by selling insurance. On weekends Shalonda, along with her sister Randahl and her brother Marcus, lived in Greenville with their mother.

Shalonda's road to basketball fame was not met without challenges. As a teenager Shalonda played for Celeste High School, eventually leading them to two back to back championships, averaging 23.1 points. Four days after her sixteenth birthday, on December 7, 1990 Enis gave birth to her son, Chase. Two weeks later, along with changing diapers and making formula, Enis was right back out on the court with her school team. She had promised her mother, Barbara Hickman that she would only be sitting on the bench, but her she just couldn't sit back and watch.

The copyright of the article Inside Shalonda Enis in Women's Basketball is owned by . Permission to republish Inside Shalonda Enis in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.