‘She has worked the hardest I have ever seen someone work’

The hope of finding somewhere to turn when there is seemingly no place to go is, at best, a paralyzing one. Especially when that someone is not even five years old. Amira Smiley was born in Lexington, Kentucky, in 2002, just under three years before her sister, Gia. Born to parents Joe and Missy, the sisters were brought into a world steeped in unfathomable hardship. Before the game of golf helped to become a reliable staple in her life, Amira was forced to grow up way too soon in the face of way too much despair. “At a very young age, I was fending for myself and trying to raise my little sister, too,” said Amira, now 20. “We grew up too quickly and saw a lot of stuff people just should not ever be subjected to. When I was about four or five, me and my sister started living with my (paternal) grandmother, but it was very off and on. I would live with her for a few months until my parents had supposedly gotten their acts together. It was just a lot of back and forth.” With both battling drug addiction, parents Joe and Missy Smiley allowed a life to create itself around their two girls that no one should have to endure. “Amira was with me off and on from the day she was born,” said Parley Smiley, the girls’ grandmother. “She saw a lot in her childhood years that a person should never have to see or go through. I raised them just like I raised my own kids, which included teaching them about responsibility.” “I have to say, what I really think kept me from becoming a statistic are the people in my life, especially my grandmother,” Amira said. “She has been my mother, father, grandmother and grandfather. Her support has inspired me a lot. She has always encouraged us with things like school and pursuing all opportunities to further ourselves.” When Amira got a little older, Parley was awarded legal custody of the Amira and Gia. In the height of her middle school years in 2013, the girls’ mother, Missy, passed by a drug overdose. She was 37. Amira was 11. “The day that happened, I was living with my grandmother and playing outside,” Amira recalled. “My grandmother came outside and told us what had happened. She ended up being on life support for about five days.” Although her mother had already been declared brain dead, Amira had the opportunity for one final visit. “I did get final closure by being able to go and see her one last time,” Amira said. “Prior to that, because of another incident, I hadn’t seen her in over a year. I just felt a lot of ill feelings towards her for putting me through what she had. Honestly, I didn’t want to see her the last time I saw her. But, having the chance to do so one final time with her maybe somehow able to hear what I had to say gave me that final closure.” Ever since then, the girls’ father, Joe, has been in drug-related trouble with the law. After being released from jail in 2021, it wasn’t long before he was in trouble again. Currently homeless, Joe continues his battle with addiction. Amira sees him on occasion walking around, though she has decided it to be best for her to have no interaction with him at this point. “I always knew I wanted a different life for myself,” Amira said. “I had to grow up so quick and raise my sister and know what I had to protect her from. I didn’t want all that. I knew that I wanted to grow up and get married. If I had kids, I didn’t want them to have to experience what I had to.” Enter the game of golf. Interestingly, it was Amira’s father, a golf fanatic, who introduced his oldest daughter to the game. When Amira was just three years old, Joe would take her to the course to hit balls. “One of the guys who worked at the golf course told my dad he should keep me in the game of golf,” Amira said. “That guy saw potential even at that young age. But then, my dad got into trouble, and I couldn’t play golf anymore. So, I started playing basketball instead.” Amira played basketball through her freshman year at Henry Clay High School in Lexington, but it just didn’t capture her drive like the game of golf had at such a young age. “I’m the type of person who always needs to be active and doing something, and I didn’t get a lot of playing time in basketball” she said. “I thought back to golf and decided to try it out again.” “I don’t know a lot about golf, but I do see how much it’s meaning to her,” Parley said. “When she stopped playing basketball, she told me she thought she wanted to return to golf. She went and showed the golf coach what she could do, and he said, ‘yeah, there’s a spot on this team for you.’ From then on, that was it.” Amira began playing seriously her sophomore year at Henry Cook. “The first time I met Amira was on the driving range many years ago,” said Kevin Mims, Executive Director, First Tee – Greater Lexington and Amira’s former golf coach at Henry Cook. “Her dad had called me and said he wanted to see if she could play on my team. “I told him anybody can play on the team, and no one gets cut. If they can’t play golf, they can learn it.” Mims, though, was impressed by what he saw out of her on the range that first day. To help get a bit more information on her, Mims reached out to Amira’s basketball coach. “He said to me, and I quote, ‘you won’t find a harder worker or anyone that puts their head down and goes to it as hard as she does,’” said Mims. “Kevin and others encouraged me to keep playing and practicing, which made me fall in love with it even more,” Amira said. “The better I got at golf, the more fun I had.” “I truly believe golf is the most important part of Amira’s life,” said Alena Woodson, Amira’s friend. “Since finding golf, she has been able to go out there and focus on the good things about herself, as an individual, as opposed to all the bad things that have happened to her in her life. When she is out there, she is focusing on exactly what she loves most – golf.” When the golf coach at Transylvania University in Lexington reached out to Amira late in her high school career, he offered her a spot on the team. As a rising junior at Transylvania now, Amira looks back with confidence on her decision to not just pursue golf, but to stick with it. “I love the game now,” she said. “I not only like the game, but I like being able to use the game as a way to help impact other people at First Tee.” In addition to volunteering her time to teach kids at First Tee – Greater Lexington, but in keeping with the values and life skills ingrained in the program, Amira has actually broadened the spectrum of people who benefit from the game. “Later this month, I’ve arranged for First Tee kids to come with me to where I work at the Woodhill Community Center, which is a home for at-risk youth,” she said. “The kids I work with there are underprivileged kids who don’t really have the opportunity to play golf, so we’ve arranged to be able to bring golf to them and see if they might become interested in it as well.” “Last year, the team went to Elizabethtown, Kentucky,” said Mims. “One of the places we visited was an organization that helps combat sex trafficking and/or the sexual abuse of girls. Upon arrival, Amira was the first one through the doors after assuring Mims she had no qualms about sharing her story if it could help even one girl. “She marched straight in saying, ‘I’ll do anything, share my story…anything.’ She looked at me and said, ‘you just don’t know how close I was to being one of these girls.’” Amira also credits the Woodhill Community Center and its Urban Impact program, which provides a safe haven and activities for kids with problematic home lives. She began going to the center – which is a beneficiary of this week’s Barbasol Championship on the PGA TOUR, as is First Tee – Greater Lexington – in the third grade. “Amira may be hard-nosed, but she also has a heart as big as I’ve ever seen,” said Mims. “When Amira came along, we started taking the girls to the Woodhill Community Center on Wednesday nights, which Amira was instrumental in getting done. “I can’t speak highly enough about her. She is all about giving back.” Prior to Amira joining the golf team, Mims said the team practiced every day and competed in tournaments on Saturdays. On Wednesday nights, though, he added in team visits to assisted-living or nursing homes, to give these girls a broader view of what life was about. “Amira can – and will – do anything she puts her mind to,” said Eve Fox, Amira’s friend and college roommate. “She wants to be a fighter pilot and a great golfer. She’s definitely determined to do it all, and I know she will accomplish it all.” “I just want to have a good family when I get a little older,” Amira said. “I would like a husband and kids that would love and support me and let me love and support them. That’s something I’ve wanted ever since I was a kid, to give that love and respect. When I think about my life, I just want to have a positive impact on my kids and grandkids. I want my grandkids to feel about me the way I feel about my grandmother.” “She won’t settle for anything but the best,” said Parley. “She’s a very true person. If she says she’s going to do something, she does it. She’s a selfless person and very unique in my eyes.” To Amira, First Tee – Greater Lexington is a wonderful outlet for her to share her story and the lessons she has learned along the way. “She’s a leader that does so by doing,” said Mims. “She is all about integrity and doing what you say you’re going to do. She is used to responsibility and, I think, was forced to take too much on as a youngster.” And her game? “I think the best parts of my game are ball-striking and putting,” said Amira, whose best tournament score is 80. “I know that if I can just get it onto the green, I’m good to go.” “She has worked really hard at golf and has gotten really good at it,” said Fox. “She has taken me out on the course, and I’ve watched her do trick shots. It’s just really fun to watch her play. She’s also very serious about it and continually strives to get better.” For now, Amira’s plan after college is to join the military. She has become quite the skilled young pilot and is currently working to earn her private pilot’s license. Her sister Gia, now 17, graduated from high school back in May and is headed to a technical college to pursue a career in welding. “Amira is one of the most amazing people I have ever met,” said Woodson. “When you learn of her life story, you quickly see how easy it would’ve been for her to follow the path that everyone before her is on. But she has worked the hardest I have ever seen someone work, not at golf, but also in school. She just refuses to become a product of her environment.” “This stuff has always been a part of my life, but it’s stuff I’m getting through,” said Amira. “I’d like to believe it has made me a better and stronger person.” Never a doubt. And it has resulted in a remarkable young lady with everywhere to go, too.

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