LeBron James was born and raised in the town of Akron, Ohio. He was raised by his mother Gloria who gave birth to him at the age of 16. LeBron did not grow up with his dad, Anthony McClelland because he was in jail at the time. LeBron and his mom, had moved around often. Gloria never had a stable job and had difficulty paying for the apartments. LeBron was often left at home alone or stayed at a friend's house. LeBron has had a natural athletic ability since a young age. He first started playing basketball when he was about 2 years old when hhis mom bought him a toy basketball net to play with. His mom said, "He had to have it on the highest height." since he was so tall. She even said that he was dunking on the hoop. Before playing basketball in school, LeBron was a great football player. When he was 9, he played 6 games and had a total of 18 touchdowns. He was so good at football and it was he top favorite sport. At the time he was living with his football coach. When LeBron was about 11, he started playing basketball competitively. He played for a local AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) team called the Shooting Stars. When he was in 8th grade, that team went to the AAU National Championship. They lost 68-66 but most people were just talking about how great LeBron James was.