Yetunde's death

Retell:

Yetunde Hawanda Tara Price is Serena big, big, big, big sister. She is the oldest of 5. She was the most understanding and the most forgiving. An example of her forgiveness was Yetunde and her sisters were joking around and pretended to cut Serena’s hair. Serena got so mad that during the night she actually cut Yetunde’s house not knowing that they had not actually cut her hair. Yetunde saw the cut hair and did not get mad at all. She laughed about it and let it go. On September 14, 2003 Serena was in Toronto, shooting a television show. She had to withdraw from the U.S Open because of a knee injury. She filled the time with some acting gigs. Following that day, Serena got a call at 4 o’clock in the morning by her mom. She called to ask if she had heard from Yetunde. Serena thought her mom was panicking for no reason and told her that she’s probably fine. But after the call of course couldn’t sleep and was a bit worried. There was just something about her mom’s voice that got her worried. So later on she called Yetunde’s house to check up on her. When she called Yetunde house, her cousin was the one who answered. She asked if Yetunde was around but being half asleep she could only hear half of what her cousin was saying. Soon enough she put all she could remember her cousin saying and remembered her saying “ She’s gone, Serena. I’m sorry.” Serena couldn’t believe it because she had just talked to her the day before. Her cousin explained to her that she was in a terrible accident. That Yetunde had been shot and that she passed away. Serena says that you never see it coming, and that when it hits you it never fully registers it. Her oldest sister Lyn was a wreck. She was the closest to Yetunde because they were very close in age. Lyn baby sat Yetunde’s kids all the time, or went to her house just to hang out. What happen to Tunde had been out to dinner with friends, just like she had told Serena. But then she drove over to Campton their old neighborhood, with this guy. It was after midnight, and some kind of argument had taken place. During the argument someone had pulled out a gun, and shots were fired into the SUV that Yetunde was riding. According to the police the shots were meant to be shot at her boyfriend. Everyone couldn’t believe it but knew that they had to get through this as a family. Serena’s mom moved in with Yetunde’s kids and promised to raise them as if they were hers. The thing Serena remembered the most was that they played a lot of UNO with the whole family including the kids. It was a way for them to pass the time together and a way to keep Yetunde with them close.

Relate:

I can relate to Serena because I know how it feels to loose a family member and it takes a lot of courage to get through it. It’s hard to think that someone could be there for a second and gone the next. I don’t really know what to day because you can never really know how a person feels unless you them. Just like her we had to really thank god for are life, and live it at it’s fullest because you never know when it’s time to go, not that anyone ever want to face that truth including me.

Reflect:

It’s nice to see that Serena has a really strong bond with her family. I think we should really think about all we have and not take it for granted. I know at times we forget what’s really important but at the end of the day family is really the one thing that counts the most. Family is the people that you will know your whole life. Those people were there since the beginning and will always be there for you. I think we should think about we have and just stop thinking about things we want and be grateful for it.

Match book entry:

Your destiny has just begun. Remember your people. Remember your sister. I’m proud of U. Your people are proud of U. Yetunde is prod of U. Always, always, always, keep it up. Play for your people. Play for Yetunde. U are capable of anything.

Being a Professional

First I want to apologize to M.David because I haven’t been posting my blogs so I’m just going to post 1 now and 2 tomorrow. So in this blog I’ll be talking about Serena becoming a professional tennis player.

Retell:

Serena tells us how at first playing tennis was about being a family, and having fun. But she then realized that it was about pushing herself, to the best she can be. She knew it was thanks to her dad that she had that determination. Thanks to her dad Serena was capable of playing non-professional tournaments. The only thing was that they had to follow the WTA (woman tennis association) rules. But the thing was that they were always changing. One of the biggest change of all was the age-eligibility rule. The rule used to be that you could play in tournaments when you were fourteen, but starting in 1996 it was going to change to 16. The way it worked was, if you turned 14 in 1995 before the new rule took affect and played in a tournament that same year, the old restriction would apply to you and not the new one. Serena absolutely wanted to play in a professional tournament, and she did in Quebec City, November 1995.Sadly she lost to a girl name Anne Miller who beat her 6-1, 6-1. The moment was a little too big for her 14 year old head. I t messed with her head to be playing in front of a great, big crowd , underneath these great big expectation. Even though she lost Serena vowed to learn from it and get better. It was in Oklahoma City that Venus & Serena won their 1st doubles game tournament. It was a big thing because they then new that they actually had a chance in this career. They had also won a big giant check that they still have up to this day. It is also in 1999 a year after that tournament that her parents got a divorce. But they never talked much about it because they knew that it wasn’t really going to affect them as much, because they were older then 18 so understood and knew it wasn’t going to change the fact that their parents loved them very much.

Relate:
I can relate to her in a way because I do know how it feels to compete and sometimes lose. Example: Just 2 days ago I was a York university for a track meet for regional. But to qualify there you had to qualify at the meet before which I won 3rd place which I was proud of. But for regional you had to qualify in the top 4 which I didn’t. So sadly I lost but I can learn from it and do better in another competition. But I can’t relate to her with the divorce situation because my parents are together.

Reflect:

I learned that you can’t always beat yourself down when you don’t win. You can always do better next time around. You should always have a goal go for it. But before doing something you should really make sure that it’s what you want and that you’re really ready for it. And it’s always good to have someone believe in you just like Serena had her Dad believing on her dreams.

Match book entry:

Tell me “NO” and I’ll show you I can! Tell me “NO” because I can! Tell me “NO”! Go ahead, tell me. Just tell me I can’t win. Just tell me it’s out of reach. Come on, I’ll prove U wrong! Just tell me “NO” and watch what happens.

Though Crowed!!!!

In today’s blog I will explain one of Serena’s worst tennis experiences.

Retell:

The 2001 Indian Wells Masters tournament was one tournament her and her family never forgot about. This tournament takes place in the desert so it gets extremely hot out there. Both Serena and Venus had qualified for the semi-finals. Before they got qualified Venus had a really though game. It wasn’t an easy win at all. Sadly Venus had injured her knee and wasn’t sure if she would be able to play in the semi-finals against her sister. The day of the tournament had arrived and Venus knee had not healed. Venus knew she had to pull out of the tournament. The problem was that everyone was excited for this match. It was a big event. So big that no one wanted this match to be canceled.

Venus was kind of like a rising star, so she did not have much power or much attention as the other classified tennis girls. Every time Venus tried to say that she couldn’t play in today’s match, she had a stiff-arm from the trainer. He kept telling her to hold off any kind of final decision (hopping that she wouldn’t withdraw). This went on for hours. No one would take her seriously. It was cleared that all the tournament officials were stalling. Right before that match was supposed to start the tournament spokesperson finally got on the loudspeaker and announced that Venus was withdrawing due to injury.

The whole place went nuts. The fans were all mad because they had paid good money to see the game and the television people paid for good advertising. The one thing Serena did not get, is why all the hate was directed towards her. The tournaments officials did not try to do anything to bring some of the anger down. Serena even started hearing a rumor saying that her dad had had plan for all of this to happen. That he had manipulated everything to plan which sisters would go through the next round which is not true. During the semi-finals it got even worst. Every time Serena would do something good they would boo. Whenever her opponent did something good they cheers, or when she would do something bad they would still encourage her. When Venus and her dad walked in everyone booed even harder and that’s when she realized they were booing about the whole canceling the semi-finals game (since she’s related to Venus.) This went on for the entire game.

Serena ended up winning the game. After the game she swore never to go back to that place or participate in that tournament. ‘Till this day the William sisters never participate to that tournament.


Relate:

I can’t relate to her in this situation because I have never had a whole bunch of people hate me, especially for something my I didn’t do. I don’t know what I’ve would of done if I was in that situation. I am impressed that she kept her cool all along with insulting or giving them back the reaction they were trying to get out of her. I don’t have much to add because it really shocks me that everyone was being disrespectful and were not behaving even though did they not like what her and her sister had done.

Reflect:

I learned that Serena really cares about her family, because through the whole time she kept her cool and defended her sister and her dad through everything. Even though everyone was screaming she did not break down and stood tall.

Match book entry:

Jehovah is your strength. U R strong. As you walk through the deepest shadows, your fear nothing. You move from strength to strength. God Jehovah is with you.

ME, TENNIS AND FAMILY!!!

The last time I wrote my blog I had only read the prologue of my book. Since last time I have read 3 more chapters. I have read 61 pages out of 257 pages. I still have a long way to go but I’m enjoying it.

Retell:

So far Serena’s been talking about how her family wasn’t the richest family then so she couldn’t afford a small rackets for herself, she had to use regular sized tennis racket which were to big for hands. But it was a good thing in the long run because she got used to using the rackets she uses now at a young age. Her Dad used to bring her and her sisters at public tennis courts which were not in good shape. There were broken glass everywhere, cigarettes on the floor and broken wall and fences. They know that they shouldn’t go there to practice but they couldn’t afford to go anywhere else and her father really believed that if they practice, practice, practice that they could become really be good players. Her dad new a lot of people so one day they got to go in a little tournament between kids. At the tournaments they got to meet some famous tennis players and got to meet professionals that helped them with there techniques. They even got to play a couple of games with them. She also talks about how she never liked losing, and since she was the youngest she got away with a lot of things. An example of how much she hates losing is: There was a Domino’s Pizza League. She joined when she was 7 years old. They got to compete against people their own age. She was competing against this girl name Anne who was beating her 5-2. They had to keep count of their own scores but the Anne lost count. She asked Serena what the score was and Serena said that the score was 5-2 but for her. But to her surprise Anne still cached up to her 5-5. Serena was furious because not only did she manage to catch up but she was about to beat her to. Serena wasn’t going to let that happened. She was so mad that she catch up that she actually won with all the anger in her. She also talked about her older sister Venus who is a year, 3 months and 9 days older then she is. She feels like she really had to fight for her attention because her dad was always so concentrated on Venus. Because Venus was the oldest she could compete in more competitions then Serena. She showed more potential then Serena did when they were younger. Serena always felt like she was in her shadow because she was more athletic, taller, stronger and nicer. But she would always try to be like Venus. Whenever they went to a restaurant her mom would always make Serena place her order first because if she went after Venus she would just pick exactly what Venus picked.

Relate:

I do understand that she wants to win. When I’m in a competition or even a friendly game between friends I always try my best to win. I wouldn’t necessarily go all the way to lying about the score. But I would be determined to win if I was way behind. When I loose at a competition I don’t beat myself down because I know I did my best. I just tell my self that I’ll do better next time and now I know how much more I need to practice. When I lose against my friends I usually just laugh it off. I joke around. I usually make up some excuse on how it was rigged, but as a joke. I even just make fun of myself because it doesn’t really mean anything because we play just for fun. I don’t know how it feels to be the little sister because I am the oldest. I only have one little sister. I understand that she wants to be like her sister because she does live with her and when she sees her do great things that her parents are proud of, well she’ll want to do it to. My parents always tell me that I have to behave because my little sister looks up to me. It sometimes annoys me that she copies me but I understand that she’s just doing what she sees.

Reflect:

So far I’ve learned that she always practice tennis ever since she was a baby. Her parents taught themselves the game so that they could teach her and her sisters the game. They have been watching tennis videos ever since they were little in there free time. There dad would make them practice in the morning before school even after school. They would stay at the tennis court until the sun would set down. They would even stay even when it was dark to keep on practicing. So it just comes to show that if you really want something you have to work extremely hard for it. It will never be handed to you. If you’re ready to make in extra effort then it will show in the long run.

Match Book Entry :
Be strong. Be black. Now's your time to shine. Be confident. They want to see angry. Be angry, but don't let them see it. Play angry, but let them see confidence. Play angry, but let them see certainty. Play angry, but let them see determination.

My BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!

I'M SUPPER HAPPY BECAUSE IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY!!MOST OF MY FRIENDS SCREAMED HAPPY BITHDAY TO ME WITCH I LOVE!!!I TURN OFFICIALLY 15 AT 1:14 IN THE AFTERNOON!!!! SO FAR IT'S BEEN A GOOD DAY. I FINISH MY ENGLIsh GRAPHIQUE NOVEL, CHAPTER 19. I'VE READ ALOT OF PEOPLES COMMENTS ON THEIR BIOGRAPHIE AND THEY SEEM TO ENJOY THEIR BOOK!!! HOPE THE REST OF MY DAY IS JUST AS AWESOME!!!!

Before I start I just wanted to apologize for those who wanted to know about Lewis Hamilton. I changed my book because I was really confused and didn’t understand what I was reading. There where a lot of technical terms about motor racing that I didn’t understand. It was just easier to take another Book.

On the other hand, I chose another book. I am 100% sure that I’m going to like this book. Reason number 1 is that I already know the athlete, because I watch her play on television all the time. Her name is Serena William. The book was written by Serena herself with the help of Daniel Paisner, and it is called Serena Williams - On the line.

Retell:

So far I’ve only read the introduction. The introduction stars out with her being at the U.S open quarterfinals with older sister, Venus, (She lost against her at the quarterfinals but still cheered her on the rest of the way). The one thing she hates about playing with her sister is that it is always a huge battle trying to beat her. They’ve gone against each other so many times that the already know each others strategies. So they know each others techniques, when they play it and how. The only difference between her and her sister is that her sister always thinks about her strategies before the day of game, where has she figures it out right before the game. Her sister is capable of keeping her cool way more then Serena. When ever Serena stars to get frustrated you can see it clearly. One of the great things about tennis that Serena loves is that it doesn’t give you much time to dwell on your mistakes. If you think about it you end up making even more mistakes. Serena also loves it when the game is fun. When there is a lot of action and thrill going on because she knows that fans pay a lot of money to come see the game, and her. She’s honored that people take the time to come watch her play her favorite sport. The one thing Serena keeps around her all the time is her match book. That’s where she writes all of her quotes and strategies for her games. She writes about her weaknesses, and her strengths. During changeovers she always reads a couple of quotes and strategies to inspire her.

Relate:

I can relate with Serena is the way she likes to practice a lot to get better at what she does. I like playing sports especially basketball and track. I tend to get lazy sometimes but I still practice to improve myself. I also relate to her when she says that when ever she plays against her sisters it’s harder to win and to do new things because they know each others strategies. When ever I play or do something with my sister I already know what she’s going to do or the way she does something because I have know her for like my whole entire life. But we still have so much fun together because we sometimes mix it up like she does with her sister. And it’s always fun trying to beat my sister!!!!


Reflect:

So far I learned that she has won the gold metal in women’s doubles with her bid sister Venus at the Beijing Olympics I also know that she trains with her Dad and that she has two older sisters. That is without counting her older sisters Yetunde, who was shot and died. I’ve learned that she has always liked tennis and that she’s always been training with her family since the age of 8. The last thing I’ve learned about Serena Williams is that before every game she says to her self “You are capable of anything, Serena”

(At the end of each bog I will write one of her match book entries)

You are the one with 7 Grand Slams, not her. You are #1. Play with a purpose. You will move forward. You will look at ball. You are the best in the world. You will fight for every point. You won’t be afraid. It is not in your vocabulary. It is not in your nature. It is not in you, period!!! NO FEAR!!!!!!!