by Candace Roberts

Created on: October 23, 2008

Tamera Young was born October 30, 1986 in Wilmington, NC. She is an American basketball player for the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is the daughter of Greg Young and Lynda Nichols-Brown and John Brown.

She currently plays the position of Forward for the Atlanta Dream. Young stands at 6'2 and on April 9, 2008 she was selected the 8th overall draft pick for the 2008 WNBA draft.

Young attended Emsley A. Laney High School, which is the same high school Michael Jordon attended. While attending Laney, Young was an Honor roll student, Laney's female athlete of the year (2003), and raked in numerous other awards. Her jersey number was number 11 throughout high school and college, yet she was not able to keep the number entering the WNBA due to a teammate, Kristen Mann, who already wore No. 11.

Young attended James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia majoring in Kinesiology with a concentration in Sports Management and a minor in Business. She graduated from JMU as the all-time leading scorer and one of the most popular players in JMU history. She was also known as a crowd pleaser and fans at JMU would hold signs up at Young's games reading, "Marry Me Tamera" or Air Young." She also received a standing ovation on Senior day. Young also received countless awards while attending JMU. She is the first player from JMU to play in the WNBA.

In Young's first season oversees she played in Spain competing for Extrugasa Vilagarcia. Young was joined by Meredith Alexis, another former standout from James Madison University.

Now Young wears the number 23 on her jersey while playing for the Atlanta Dream, which is the same jersey number Michael Jordon wore during his time in the NBA. Young hasn't had much time to check out her new home, Atlanta, "I don't really do much. I don't really know nobody except my teammates. So usually, if I'm not in the mall, I'm at the house on the Internet," said Young. No more overnight bus trips for Young like in college, now its commercial flights and nice hotels. "You're on your own time, you basically do what you want," Young said. "But you also have to prepare yourself for the game. There's no coach on you, there's no schedule, just 'Meet at 10 o'clock for shoot around."

Tamera Young very well looks and feels like a pro. "I really find myself not having anything to do except play basketball, and it's great," Young said. It is safe to say that Tamera Young is living the dream!

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