Every Day Is Special: women athletes

Showing posts with label women athletes. Show all posts

September 26 – Happy Birthday, Serena Williams!

Posted on September 26, 2018

The place was Saginaw, Michigan.

The date was September 26, 1981.

A child was born.

Who knew, then, that that child would grow up to be an icon, a queen, a star?

Serena Williams has been a star in women's tennis for a long time. She holds some records and has some really impressive stats, and many tennis experts say that she is the greatest female player of the Open Era. She has changed the game, like many other champions before her. And she has also been the focus of quite a bit of controversy.

Last year Williams gave birth to a daughter. Unfortunately, she had some complications and a really rough time during and after the birth; fortunately, she fought her way back to health and is making a comeback on the tennis court.

Williams stopped playing tennis in February of 2017, ranked #1, because she was pregnant. But being away from tennis for 14 months, her ranking fell to 453 in the world! But she reached the finals of the 2018 Wimbledon AND the 2018 US Open, so she has already risen back up to #16 in the world. Wow!

Here are just some of the big-time accomplishments of Serena Williams:

Tied with Steffi Graf for the most consecutive weeks (186 weeks) at Number 1 by a female tennis player.

Ranked #1 eight separate occasions, and third in total number of weeks at #1 (319 weeks) by a female tennis player.

Ranked #1 among all active players, male and female, for most Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles combined.

Most recent female player to have a Grand Slam (in 2014-2015). A Grand Slam is winning all four of the biggest tennis titles in one year.

One out of only three players (male or female) to have two Grand Slams.

Tied for most Olympic Gold Medals (4 Gold Medals) in tennis - tied with her sister Venus!

I could go on, but there are too many accomplishments to list here.

Some of the changes Serena Williams and her sister Venus have made on their sport ramping up the athleticism among female tennis players and challenging racism and sexism in the sport. Serena has also changed the way people think about tennis clothing, being a trend setter but also an inspiration for controversy. She has designed fashion and has lines of athletic wear, handbags, jewelry, and even nails.

Above and below, pieces from Serena's fashion lines.

Williams has also become an activist for social justice issues. Some of Williams's endorsements capitalize on the fact that she pushes back against racism and sexism.

This Nike ad speaks to the fact that the French Open
officials outlawed the sort of "costume" Serena Williams
wore this year (above), even though it was worn partly
for medical necessity!

Also on this date:

Revolution Day in Yemen

Anniversary of the premiere of Gilligan's Island

Composer George Gershwin's birthday

Show-whale “Shamu”s birthday

AKA Shamu Day

JohnnyAppleseed's birthday

Anniversary of new Dominions joining the British Empire

Banned Websites Awareness Day

(Last Wednesday of September)

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

October 18 – Tops of Their Games

Posted October 18, 2017

The super famous people are few and far between. Almost everyone in the world recognizes their names - and sometimes just one name is necessary.

I'm thinking Einstein, Michael Jackson, Oprah, Marilyn Monroe, JFK, Usain Bolt, Beyoncé...

But there are a lot - lot - lot of people who reach ordinary levels of fame. Many of them have achieved TONS but are only known by a fraction of the general public. Plus, of course, they're known by people in their own field - or sport.

Today we celebrate the birthdays of three accomplished athletes:

Brittney Griner, a professional basketball player, was born on this date in 1990.

She is from Texas. She's crazy tall - 6 feet 9 inches (about 206 centimeters) - and she wears a men's U.S. size 17 shoe. Her arms outstretched to either side reach 86 inches!! (That's more than 7-foot arm span, or about 2.2 meters!)

Griner was ranked the #1 high school women's player in the entire U.S., she went on to be the only National College Athletic Association basketball player to score 2,000 points and block 500 shots, and she has played pro-ball for Russia and for the Phoenix Mercury.

Martina Navratilova was a professional tennis player and coach who was born on this date in 1956 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and who later moved to and became a citizen of the United States.

She is one of the top women's tennis players of all time. She was #1 in singles for 332 weeks and #1 in doubles 237 weeks - the only player in the history of the world to hold the top spot in both singles and doubles for more than 200 weeks!

(Remember, as you digest that statistic: there are only 52 weeks in a year!)

Lindsey Vonn, born on this date in 1984, is an alpine ski racer. She was born in Minnesota, and she is on the U.S. Ski

Team for the World Cup - winning four World Cup overall championships! (She's one of just two women ever to win that many.) Vonn has won America's only Olympic gold medal in women's downhill skiing. She has won more World Cup races than any other woman in history, and she has won more World Cup crystal globe titles than any human in history.

Vonn is good at all kinds of skiing. As a matter of fact, she is one of the few women to have won World Cup races in all five kinds of alpine skiing: downhill, slalom, super-G, giant slalom, and super combined.

When you work really hard and reach the top of your game, you can often do all sorts of other things as well. Griner has an endorsement deal with Nike. Navratilova has had many endorsements and has done a lot of announcing and tennis analysis, but she has also written quite a few books (including a few murder mysteries!) and has appeared on TV shows such as Dancing with the Stars and Portlandia. Vonn has done ads for companies such as Rolex and Head, has written a book, and has worked as a correspondent for sports news, including covering the Olympics.