DeRozan details mental-health struggles in memoir

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This article was published 23/11/2024 (361 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Celebrities and sports stars might seem to live easy, carefree lives, but the reality can often be very different. In Above the Noise: My Story of Chasing Calm, basketball player DeMar DeRozan tells of the triumphs and struggles he has experienced, helping readers to understand how his early life and ambitions influenced the course of his career as a professional athlete, as well as his personal life.

DeRozan is a successful basketball player and six-time NBA All-Star, as well as the all-time leader in points scored for the Toronto Raptors. As a player on the U.S. men’s basketball team, he won two Olympic gold medals. He has five children and frequently serves as a mentor for young basketball players at the Compton, Calif. community centre where he learned to play. (Co-author Dave Zarum is well known as a sportswriter and is the author of a history of the NBA.)

Growing up in a rough L.A. neighbourhood where violence and the sound of gunshots were common, DeRozan struggled to survive his early life. As he explains in the book’s prelude, his area of the city was ruled by two gangs, the Bloods and the Crips. Almost everything in the area was governed by people’s association with one or the other of these groups.

For DeRozan, his way out of this life was through basketball, with his father pushing him, often very hard, to succeed. Much of the book describes his career as he began playing in the NBA for the Toronto Raptors, who drafted him in 2009, and his later move to the San Antonio Spurs. (After a stint with the Chicago Bulls, DeRozan was sent to the Sacramento Kings, where he curently plays.)

After describing his successes, DeRozan’s tone changes. Around halfway through the book, he begins to discuss mental health and how he began to suffer from depression upon learning he had been traded to the Spurs. He wouldn’t be able to settle in Toronto with his wife and children as planned; instead, he and his family would be uprooted and would have to deal with a move to another city.

DeRozan’s acknowledgment of mental-health issues in his life began when he sent a tweet describing his feelings of depression on hearing about the trade. That one tweet set him on a journey exploring the effects of mental health on people’s lives, and of emotional trauma that can often remain hidden for years or even a lifetime. With his marriage breaking apart and the difficulties of adjusting to this new reality, DeRozan encountered new struggles he details in Above the Noise.

Even early chapters contain hints of what is to come. DeRozan uses his difficult early life as an illustration of his points about mental health and the value of dedication to a goal. Readers seeking to understand their own struggles need not be pro athletes to identify with the challenges he has faced.

Above the Noise is quite well written, with a clear and engaging style that will draw readers into the story. The style slips once or twice, but otherwise the book is easy to read and can maintain the interest of even those with little knowledge of the world of basketball. Sports fans will enjoy the many details of DeRozan’s career, while others will appreciate his discussions of the mental-health issues.

Susan Huebert is a Winnipeg writer and dog sitter.