Stoudemire did not start playing organized basketball until he was 14. As a result of moving in-and-out with his mother and her problems with the law, Stoudemire transferred between five high schools in two states six different times. He first attended Lake Wales High School in Lake Wales, Florida, where his freshman season was cut short due to academic ineligibility. He transferred to Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham, North Carolina, to play for coach Joel Hopkins. Midway through the year, Hopkins founded Emmanuel Christian Academy in a Durham office building basement and took the Mount Zion basketball team to serve as his student body; the school folded before they played a game. Stoudemire returned to Florida where he attended summer school at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando. He briefly reenrolled at Mount Zion Academy and then sat out a year at West Orange High School in Winter Garden, Florida, due to academic ineligibility that stemmed from his transcripts from Mount Zion. His final move was to Cypress Creek High School in Orlando, Florida, where he graduated in 2002. Due to all the transfers, he missed his entire junior year of basketball and only played two full seasons.