Tamika Catchings was named 2011 WNBA MVP

Tamika Catchings was named MVP of the WNBA, after 10 season consistent hard-work Tamika you well earned this award.  

Tamika Catchings is the only WNBA player in history to have reached 5,000 points, 2,000 rebounds, and 1000 assists. She is also the only player in WNBA history to be defensive player of the year 4 times. Tamika may not score the most points in the league or get the most rebounds in the league, but she does something more than that. She averaged 15.5 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 3.5 apg, and 2 spg. Overall she does everything on the court at a 110% all the time. 

At a young age Tamika was born with a speech impairment and lost most of her hearing in both ear. Growing up as a child she had to wear hearing aids, which most of the kids at school would make fun of her because of it. Being different at a young age is always hard because you always want to be the same as everyone else; however, her impairment actually made her work even harder at school from being in the front desk in class to reading ahead so that she knew what the class was talking about that day to staying after class and talking to the teacher to see if she missed anything. As Tamika got older she became great at basketball and play college basketball at the University on Tennessee with Pat Summit. One day in the weight room Pat told Tamika that she needed to go back to wearing hearing aids and working with the university speech therapist so that she can reach her goals. Now a days she has hearing aids to wear in the game, but she really prefers not to wear them because she feels it makes her more aware of her surroundings. Through her diversity she became a role model for all children who are hearing impaired. 

Tamika has also been awarded: Rookie  of the Year, member of the All-Decade team, member of the Top 15 Team, Olympic Gold medalist (2004, 2008), 7 time WNBA All-Star Player, 4 time Defensive Player, and the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award. But out of all of her awards what she wants the most is a WNBA championship. It’s great having a ton of awards, but nothing beats having a WNBA championship like all the other greats. Tamika you have deserved this award for some many year, and I am happy to say that you are now a WNBA MVP.