On the Court With... Shaquille O'Neal by Matt Christopher Page B

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     him. So they told him that if he didn't earn passing grades, they wouldn't allow him to play. Shaquille knew they meant what
     they said. He started working a little harder in school, and soon his grades went up.
    However, he still didn't take school very seriously. He didn't understand that education was about more than just learning
     lessons. It was also about learning how to learn and behave.
    When Shaquille was ten years old and in the fifth grade, everything changed in his life. The army transferred Phil Harrison
     to Fort Stewart in Georgia. The whole family had to move.
    Shaquille didn't react to the move very well. He missed his old friends and he had to get accustomed to living with different
     kinds of people. Growing up in New Jersey, the Harrisons had always lived in an African American community. Shaquille hadn't
     spent much time with children from other parts of the country or of other races. All of a sudden, everyone was different.
    To make matters worse, Shaquille was a shy child and younger than most of the other kids in his class.In addition, many of the other children were the sons and daughters of army officers. These officers made more money than
     Shaquille's father, who was only a supply sergeant. Money was tight, and Shaquille often had to wear the same pair of pants
     two or three times a week. This fact didn't escape the notice of his classmates. They teased him about his clothes. His size
     made him an easy target for name-calling, too. Taunts such as Sasquatch, Tall Bunyan, or the name that bothered him the most,
     Shaquilla the Gorilla, followed him around the school.
    Shaquille hated being teased. To take the focus off his height, he began to act up. In the classroom, he became a clown and
     was constantly disrupting class by cracking a joke, playing a prank, or just not paying attention to the teacher. Outside
     of school, he continued to go along with the crowd and followed others into trouble. When the teasing became unbearable, he
     became a bully, getting into fights almost every week. He discovered that he could intimidate other kids and that when he
     did, other students would be nice to him because they were afraid.
    The Harrisons were concerned about their son. Phil Harrison, in particular, was embarrassed byall the trouble his son was causing. In the past, Shaquille's father had spanked him when he misbehaved. But now that Shaquille
     was nearly as big as his father, the spankings didn't have much impact anymore. One day Shaquille and his father sat down
     and had a long talk.
    Shaquille told him about how much he hated being teased and how embarrassed he was to be so big. His father, who stood six
     feet five inches, understood what it was like to be bigger than most other kids. He also knew that his son needed to look
     at his size as something positive rather than something negative. Phil told him, “Look how big you are. Be a leader, not a
     follower. People will look up to you.”
    Shaquille never forgot those words. He wanted to be looked up to. He wanted to accomplish something in his life. Ever so slowly,
     he began to change.
    Life soon changed, too. After one year in Georgia, Phil was transferred again. This time the family had to move to Germany.
    At first, Shaquille hated being in Germany. He didn't like the cold weather and was bored with life on the army base. He had
     an after-school job but quit before too long. Instead, he baby-sat for his little brother and sisters while his parents worked
     —not something he found to be too much fun. The only thing he really liked to do was play basketball.
    On the base, Shaquille made friends with the wrong crowd of kids. Soon he was getting into trouble again. Although his buddies
     liked to sing and break-dance, they also stole from the stores on the base and vandalized other people's property to show
     one another how tough and brave they were.
    Then one day, when Shaquille was only thirteen, his friends decided to steal