“Every day, it felt as if it were a fight for my life.”

For Little Rock women’s basketball player Angelique Francis, that was her existence from ages 6-12, growing up in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

It appeared – from the outside – that Francis had an ideal childhood. She was something of a golf prodigy, living with and learning from her instructor. Francis had dreams to become a professional golfer at a very early age. In seven years of playing, she won 31 tournaments.

Off the golf course, however, her experience was much the opposite. 

“When other people looked at me, they thought I had this great life, but behind closed doors, it was a different thing,” Francis said. “It was survival.

“I was getting hit with a golf club upside my head or having a golf ball thrown at me,” Francis continued. “I was also homeschooled and I would be locked in a room for hours, doing homework or studying. If I fell asleep, I would get stabbed with a pen, electrocuted or have the leg of the chair I sat on broken off [to hit her with]. A belt buckle once hit my knee at just the right spot. From then on, I’ve had inflammation. I have problems even now with sports. My injuries recurring from my childhood are still something that I have to deal with.”

The scars that Francis has carried with her from her childhood go far beyond the physical injuries.

It has been a long journey for the 5-foot-11 junior forward who will take the court with the Trojans on Wednesday at the Hercules Tires Sun Belt Women’s Basketball Championship at the Pensacola Bay Center. She tells her story in hopes that she can help or give hope to others going through similar situations.

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Throughout the abuse that Francis endured for six to seven years, she felt as if she was all alone. She tried to reach out to family members and to call out for help, but she never received any.

“In the house, if I was screaming for help or begging for them to help me, they wouldn’t react,” Francis said. “They would just look at me like I was worthless and move on. This person was a manipulator and a persuader, so my family members ignored me. I was just looked at as the crazy person or someone who was ungrateful for everything they had done for me.”

At the age of 13, Francis was able to escape the abusive environment. Her mother, Vickey Finch, and Finch’s soon-to-be-husband had just moved to Texas. Francis moved in with them.

Despite the transition to her mother’s home, Francis found herself unable to escape the horrors of the past half-dozen years.

“It was a very, very difficult process,” Francis said. “From then on, she and my stepfather tried to show me love, affection and what a real family should look like. All I could do was lock myself in my room because that’s what I had been doing since I was 6. I didn’t eat and I didn’t sleep much.

“Trying to get along with another male figure so fast was the hardest part about it because I had just come from the situation. Him trying to touch me and tell me things were okay – I would flinch, react and hit, because I was scared. When you go to a rescue center and get an abused animal, they’re in the corner, they’re scared and they’re terrified until they’re able to finally open up. For me, it took years to grow, years to understand.”

As she attempted to adjust to her new surroundings - all while coping with the trauma from her recent past - Francis began engaging in self-harm, including eight suicide attempts.

“Growing up, I had always dealt with pain every day,” she said. “It was a hit, slap, punch, something. I kind of replaced that with cutting. I tried therapy, but it didn’t help. I had to learn how to go through it all by myself because my parents didn’t understand, but they did try. It was tough, but my parents were so supportive. It hurt them to see me hurt because my mother trusted my guardian to protect me.”

* * * * *

As Francis began to get more comfortable in her new surroundings, her mother tried to get her re-involved in sports. The coaches at her middle school, taking note of Francis’ height and length, did the same.

“My mom was trying to get me active, get me out of the house to do something,” Francis said. “It was at the end of my eighth-grade year when coaches started coming up to me and saying, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re built and you’re intimidating. I would love for you to be the goalie or run track or do this or that.’ So I started getting into sports in the eighth grade.”
But it was her high school basketball coach, Suzie Oelschlegel at McArthur High School, who helped Francis find her love for basketball, the sport that would end up saving her life.

“Coach O is so amazing,” Francis said. “She was like ‘You’re going to play basketball; you’re going to play for me.’ From then on, I did. It’s crazy because I just fell in love with it. Basketball just brought me so much drive and energy. That’s when I started playing AAU and got recruited by Little Rock. That’s the process that it took to get me to where I am.”

Her AAU coach, Otis Nicksion, was another positive influence on Francis’ life. His positive coaching helped make sports a place for comfort for Francis, rather than a place for fear.

“I’ve had some really loving and supportive coaches that knew my story,” she said. “Coach Otis would get in my grill so bad, but it was so positive. That’s what drove me to keep going. I had encouraging and positive coaches that kept pushing me every day.”

Francis also began opening up about her story and established an organization called ALF – which stands for Angelique Lizette Francis – to help others who are going through similar situations to what she experienced.

“I started ALF when I was 15 because of my situation,” Francis said. “By then, I think I had four attempts at suicide. I thought ‘I’m still here for a reason, so what is that purpose?” I started a clothing brand, I started talking to schools, being a motivational speaker in a sense, did some community service and tried to help homeless children at my high school go to prom.”

While it hasn’t always been easy to publicly share the details of her abuse, Francis knows that doing so serves a greater purpose.

“At first, I was a little hesitant but I have a mission,” she said. “If this is going to help someone – even one person – that is what matters. Saving someone’s life or helping someone in some kind of way is what matters to me. I have people who see or hear my story and talk to me about it. I’ve had people cry to me about it. It’s a blessing to see the little bit that I’ve done and just imagine what can happen down the line. It’s actually pretty cool.”

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Little Rock was the first school to recruit Francis and, after attending one of legendary coach Joe Foley’s camps, she knew it was the perfect place for her in the next stage of her life.

“They were very loving and very welcoming – Coach Foley, Coach [Steve] Wiedower, and just the whole staff in general,” Francis said. “As soon as they offered me, I walked out of the building and told Coach Wiedower that I was coming to Little Rock. This is family.”

Within that family, there is no one with whom Francis is closer than Jacob Hoy, the head athletic trainer at Little Rock. Hoy has been there for Francis every step of the way and has helped her on and off the court throughout her collegiate career.

“He actually saved my life my freshman year,” Francis said. “I was doing a hard workout, made all the running times and this was the final thing. I sat down and I collapsed. He was with me the whole time. The ambulance came and they had to figure out what was going on. Every step of the way he has been there. Anything that’s gone wrong, he’s taken care of me. He’s always there to answer his phone. He is a very positive, supportive guy and I really appreciate everything that he’s done.”

Attending Little Rock has been a perfect fit for Francis. She’s played in 76 career games with 20 starts. She’s gotten better each year and has started 15 times this year for the Trojans. Francis is averaging a career-best 28 minutes per game this year, shooting a Sun Belt Conference-best 57 percent from the field and contributing a career-best 5.6 rebounds per contest. Francis is considered to be the best pure athlete on her team.

While she has experienced success on the court, Francis also now has a platform from which to share her own personal story and impact the lives of others. For the past two years, Francis has been invited to speak at the Save AR Students Rally Focused on Preventing Substance Misuse, where she has spoken on the steps of the state capitol alongside Governor Asa Hutchinson.

“It was an amazing experience, especially speaking in front of the Governor and reaching out to those parents who had lost their child due to alcohol and drugs,” Francis said. “That’s why I was on those steps – to speak out about my story to those who have survived, but also the families of those who haven’t.”

As Francis approaches her 21st birthday, she hopes to commemorate that milestone with a community event to help others.

“I’ll be 21 in April,” she said. “A lot of people love to celebrate, but I would like to do an event and get the community involved in maybe homelessness or mental health. It will be an opportunity for the community to have fun and also raise money for certain organizations. That’s what I want to do for my birthday – to make a change, make a difference and spread love to those who are in need or going through something.”

* * * * *

The scars – both physically and mentally – serve as a daily reminder to Francis of all that she’s been through.

Still, she looks back at the horrific abuse she endured as a child and Francis sees it as something that has fueled her desire to focus on the higher purpose of helping others.

“I don’t regret anything that I’ve been through because it has shaped me to be the person that I am now,” Francis said. “Not only did it humble me, but it opened my eyes to so much. I don’t have all the time in the world, but with the little time that I do have, what can I do? It’s hard to look back but, for myself, I just love how I’ve grown and the person that I’ve become.”