A feature from 2002 provides a peeklook at the basketball genetics of the young man:
As a senior at Mount Baker High in Deming, Wash., Susan Anderson averaged 24 points and 13 rebounds a game in 1985. The impressive statistics, along with her team's 22-5 record, helped her earn All-USA honors. Her 3.9 grade-point average and Mount Baker's run to the Class 1A semifinals also were impressive.
The number she's more proud of now, though, is four.
Anderson and her husband, Ruiz Rogerieo Soares, a former pro basketball player in Brazil, have four children: Timothy (5), Jessica (3), Stephanie (2) and Tiago (5 months).
"It's been good," Anderson, now Soares, says of being a parent. "The hardest transition was having our first child. I've really enjoyed the whole experience."
Soares' experience includes living in Brazil and working for Athletes in Action, a Christian organization that promotes its faith through athletic activities.
The Soares host nearly 90 children a week at basketball camps in Americana, a city about half the size of Seattle. The couple teach youths the finer points of basketball, along with the importance of physical and spiritual well-being.
"Americans have a good presence in Brazil," says Soares, currently visiting her family in Washington. "People want to listen to what we have to say."
She's considered herself a born-again Christian since she was 8. After starring at Mount Baker and the University of Texas, where she scored more than 1,000 points, she traveled to Brazil to play professionally. She met Soares and decided on her future. "I have a God-given skill, and his grace has allowed me to do what I do," says Soares, who has spent the last seven years in Brazil.
Her husband is a graduate of The Masters College in Santa Clarita, Calif. He says basketball is "a tool to reach out and make friendships...
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