Tuesday, June 7
June 7, 2011
Economic life of LA1 businesses in limbo
June 9, 2011
“Buzz,” shouts the iPhone alarm clock sitting on the nightstand next to Sumar Leslie’s bed.
The giant digits on the phone’s screen are a blur as Leslie turns over from her slumber and struggles to open her eyes.
“5:30 a.m.,” she recalls. “Every morning 5:30 or 6 o’clock.”
Slightly awake now, she reaches to the multi-talented phone with her right hand and gently taps the silencer.
As her phone is finally muted, another alarm begins to chirp its morning warning, this time a few doors down the hall from the Nicholls State senior guard’s room in the Leslie home in Houma.
Sumar’s little brother Lionheart Leslie is repeating the same process and is waking up, too.
It’s now time to “lehgatit” as the Leslie’s say – which is slang for conquering another day to try and make the most of their upcoming seasons.
“As soon as the sun goes up, me and Lionheart, we’re waking up and we’re going hard together,” Sumar said. “We just push each other so much to try and get better every day.”
Sumar and Lionheart are the last of Raymond and Patricia Leslie’s clan, which is comprised evenly of four sons and four daughters.
Sumar is the elder of the two at 21 years of age. Lionheart is 16, heading toward his junior year at Vandebilt Catholic, where he plays football and the family’s specialty, basketball.
Because of their proximity, the two were “virtually inseparable” growing up.
Hide and go seek at the Leslie house?
“All day,” Lionheart says quickly.
How about some 5-on-5 basketball? Or maybe even some tackle football?
Again, those are two of the main courses on the menu of fun at the Leslie household.
Every activity was the same, big sister and little brother side by side.
Big boys, little boys, all the same, Sumar would keep up with the guys and little Lionheart would hold his own with the older kids.
“Can Sumar play football? Are you kidding me?” Lionheart blurts, nearly dropping the reward of this day’s workout, a freeze pop. “Can she ever play football. Sumar was a tomboy. All she did was play with the boys. She played wide receiver and a little quarterback. That’s how she got better.”
“It didn’t matter how big the kids were, Lionheart would hold them off,” Sumar said. “He would show them how tough he really is.”
As the girl became a young woman, Leslie moved to Vandebilt Catholic in 8th grade and started her career on the Lady Terriers’ basketball team.
Oh, what a career it was.
Leslie is Vandebilt’s all-time leading scorer (2,344 points). She also holds the school record in assists (562) and steals (495).
With every accolade she’d garner and every game that would come and pass (usually ending in a Lady Terriers’ victory), one thing would remain constant. Her younger half was always in the stands, watching and learning, waiting for his turn.
“Those days inspired me in many ways,” Lionheart said. “Her eighth grade year, seeing her start to get better, then all the way to her 12th grade year, oh my God, she just made so much progression. I’m telling you, that influenced me to get better. Everyone in my family plays basketball. Everyone. I just remember sitting there thinking, ‘I want to keep the tradition going. I have to.'”
With big sister embarking on her college career, which started at UL-Monroe and will end at Nicholls State, it’s the younger Leslie’s time to blossom into a man and shine at Vandebilt Catholic.
Lionheart isn’t exactly letting anyone down. He’s holding his own among the Leslies in basketball prominence.
This past year as a 10th grader, Lionheart averaged 20.1 points, seven rebounds and three steals for the Terriers, leading the team to a district title.
Now, it’s Sumar doing some of the learning behind the little brother, who has in some ways become the teacher.
“The ninth grade,” Sumar is quick to say. “That’s when I really noticed that he got a lot better. That’s when I was in Monroe. I get home after being gone for a while and I see him play and it’s like ‘Man, what have you been doing?'”
With each preparing for their next seasons, what the Leslies are “doing” now is working.
The iPhone’s alarm clock has now been silenced for more than five hours. It’s 11:00 a.m. and Sumar and Lionheart are inside Terrebonne High School’s “B-gym.”
“It’s the only place open,” Sumar proclaims. “I’ll go anywhere that’s open.”
The air conditioner is on, but it’s struggling to keep up with Louisiana’s blistering heat inside the several decade-old gym.
Sumar has already been at the gym for several hours and is lathered in her own sweat.
“Got to get that grind on,” she laughs, rubbing the closest bead of sweat from her eyes.
Lionheart has been here about an hour now after having football workouts from 6-8 a.m.
The two work on drills together involving shooting, ball handling and foot speed.
Each drill is slightly different, but end the same way – with a made shot.
Positive is the word that both Sumar and Lionheart say is most important to be successful in hoops.
“Let’s go Sumar,” Lionheart shouts as his sister runs through a drill. “You’ve got this. Finish strong!”
“Don’t let that get you,” Sumar answers back when it’s little brother’s turn, as he missed a 3-point shot off the back of the iron. “You can do this.”
The two partake in these skill-building drills for about 30 or so minutes, as the warm gym approaches downright hot and the clock pushes toward noon.
Then the older sister stops and dribbles the ball toward the top of the key and runs a few strands of loose hair out of her sweat-soaked face, before murmuring some fight words to the little brother.
“C’mon,” she quips, getting the last piece out of the way. “Let’s do this.”
“Oh, OK,” little brother says back, getting into his defensive stance. “It’s on.”
At that moment, it’s time for some 1-on-1.
Leslie vs. Leslie.
Sumar and Lionheart collide.
“And-1,” the younger brother proudly proclaims as he tosses in a jump-shot, while claiming to be fouled.
“I didn’t hit you on the arm,” Sumar shoots back, as she takes the ball into the paint and makes a right-handed layup of her own.
“It’s my ball,” Lionheart responds, taking the basketball back for his turn.
The little brother receives the basketball from the wing, then turns into the triple threat position.
At Vandebilt, that’s when Lionheart readies to strike toward the rim. Against his sister, Sumar already knows her brother’s tendencies and sags back, challenging him to switch up his repertoire.
“Shoot it,” Sumar says. “Go for it. I’m giving it to you, shoot it.”
“I’m about to wet it up,” Lionheart spouts back with a grin only a little brother could have.
“Wetting it up” is a basketball slang term for making a jump shot.
Lionheart finally pulls back and throws up a shot.
“Oh, that’s off,” Sumar says as soon as the shot’s released.
It is, falling off the front of the rim and then into the sister’s waiting arms for a rebound.
“We know one another’s game so well,” Sumar said. “When we play, we know what each other’s strengths are. I know he can go to the rim on me all game, but I play back because it’s not about beating each other up. I want him in our games to work on the things he needs to do to get better at Vandebilt. And he needs to shoot the ball better, so I make him do that when we play. He doesn’t get better if he just goes to the hole and makes layups all game.”
“I guard her tight,” Lionheart says. “Sumar needs to get a little quicker, so when we play, I guard her tight so she can work on her foot speed. I know she needs that.”
The two play 1-on-1 for about another 30 minutes. No one keeps score and neither player has a decisive advantage on the scoreboard.
Like siblings have a knack for doing, they both proclaimed victory.
“I would beat him any given day,” Sumar decisively says. “He can’t shoot. I’d stop him.”
“Of course I took her man,” Lionheart bounces back. “You see, she can talk all she wants, but I just know, you know? That’s a fact. You can ask anybody.”
“He can talk, but I prove it. I can beat him any given day,” the sister quickly replies, getting the last word this time around.
When the 1-on-1 game ends, it’s time for Lionheart to leave as he has AAU practice that afternoon. Sumar will head home and get a little bit of lunchtime rest before heading back to the gym to continue working out.
This will be the last time the siblings see one another for a few hours, as they go their separate ways again for the remainder of the day.
When that happens, it will be time to rest, time to get that iPhone out and set it for 5:30 a.m. again to try and conquer another day.
Together.
“We’re pretty much like stuck together,” Sumar said. “Pretty much, if you see him at the gym, I’m going to be at the gym, too. That’s how it’s going this summer. If you see me there, he’s going to be there, too. We do everything together, laugh, clown around. We know to take basketball seriously, so when we’re in the gym, we get it done. Off the court, we do the usual stuff. That’s my little brother and I love him. We’re in this together.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Lionheart says back with a smile. “There is no other way.”
LOUNGIN’ WITH THE LESLIES: Getting to know more about Sumar and Lionheart Leslie
WHAT SUMAR’S SAYING:
Q. Who would win in a 1-on-1 game? You or Lionheart?
A. Me. All day.
Q. What is Lionheart’s biggest strength on the floor?
A. His quickness and his speed. He can get to the basket anytime he wants to.
Q. Who is your favorite player?
A. Kobe Bryant. He’s so cerebral and he just knows what he’s capable of doing on the floor. He’s the best.
Q. What is your best memory as a kid?
A. Having water gun fights in the neighborhood.
Q. What is your best sporting achievement?
A. All of them because I worked hard for them all and they all fell into place. I can’t pick just one.
Q. Who you got in the NBA Finals?
A. Dallas. I don’t like no Miami Heat. LeBron James. I think he’s overrated.
WHAT LIONHEART’S SAYING:
Q. Who would win in a 1-on-1 game? You or Sumar?
A. Me easily. That’s easy.
Q. What is Sumar’s biggest strength on the floor?
A. Court vision. She got that high IQ with the no-look passes and everything. You just step back and are like – wow.
Q. Who is your favorite player?
A. Kobe Bryant. My favorite point guard, though, is Derrick Rose.
Q. What is your best memory as a kid?
A. Water gun fights in the neighborhood and playing hide and go seek.
Q. What is your best sporting achievement?
A. It’s the same thing she said. You can’t really just pick one. I love them all.
Q. Who you got in the NBA Finals?
A. Dallas. I can’t cheer for LeBron James. That dude’s too arrogant.
