In Andre Agassi’s autobiography Open, Agassi provides an in-depth description of his childhood and the pressures that burdened him throughout his life. From an early age, Agassi was primed to become the best tennis player in the world. Agassi’s father, Mike, forced the sport of tennis upon him. Andre would be forced to hit thousands of balls every day. “My father says that if I hit 2,500 balls each day, I’ll hit 17,500 balls each week, and at the end of one year I’ll have hit nearly one million balls. A child who hits one million balls each year will be unbeatable” (Agassi, 28). This heavy and inordinate workload proved to wear on Andre as his childhood went on. Agassi developed a hatred for tennis. He describes his relationship with tennis by saying, “I hate tennis, hate it with all my heart, and I still keep playing,... because I have no choice.” He goes on to say, “This contradiction between what i want to do and what I actually do, feels like the center of my life” (27). Andre never got the chance to develop his own goals and expectations. Eventually, he pursued his father’s goals even though that is not what he wanted. “I’ve internalized my father- his impatience, …show more content…
In a talk given in the October session of the 2010 semi-annual LDS General Conference, President Thomas S. Monson stated, “every worthy, able young man should prepare to serve a mission. Missionary service is a priesthood duty—an obligation the Lord expects of us who have been given so very much. Young men, I admonish you to prepare for service as a missionary” (Monson). Ever since, church leaders and parents have been urging children to prepare for the opportunity to serve a mission. Due to the prodding from my parents, I reluctantly took the call and started to prepare. Soon after, I began to question if a mission was what I wanted to do. I privately looked into all my options and concluded that I mission was in fact a good goal to
While my athleticism developed, I neglected honing my mental strength, leading me to not achieve my potential during matches. Allowing my mind to dictate my emotions rather than produce strategies led to frequent defeats. However, with motivational tales recounted by my coach and plenty of work on my part, I gained the ability to focus and rise up to become a nationally competitive tennis player.
Tennis is more than just a sport for Damien Heller-Chen, it is a lifestyle. When he was six years old, he got introduced to tennis and found it as a very enjoyable sport. Many sports are intense and competitive, which is why Heller-Chen chose tennis, as he fell in love with a less competitive sport. Heller-Chen enjoys the feeling of having control in the game. He feels empowered since he is center stage of the game and not on a team. Tennis takes dedication as he practices for eight to 14 hours a week at The Boars Head.
Noreen was inspired to start playing herself, by watching her brother from the sidelines. Although she discovered tennis at a very young age, she did not start playing, until she was ten. Noreen was preoccupied with dance and other activities, and never got around to actually playing herself. Noreen began training recreationally but soon started playing at some academies. This year, she entered into high school and joined the Piedmont High varsity tennis team. From being a part of a supportive team, with amazing coaches, Noreen has learned a lot from her teammates along with exposure to many remarkable experiences. With an abundance of wonderful role models from her team surrounding her, she is inspired to constantly try her best and to appreciate tennis. She aspires to be more competitive when it comes to playing, and to progress in improving her playing overall. Her hope is to never lose her passion for the sport and to continue playing it throughout her
His great success in tennis carried on into college, so he decided to play tennis for the Dutch and just so happened to be the best player on the team. He had an excellent scholarship due to his academic success and kept the scholarship throughout all of his years. Lucas wishes he would have studied more while he was in college instead of just getting by as easy as he could. He described college as one of the most fun times of his life because he did not have class all day so he could do whatever he wanted whenever, plus living with his friends did not urge him to be the most studious student. He also informed me about how much time tennis took from his college life, not being paid to play, he would have to practice a lot and would be involved in many things with tennis taking away time from his studies. However, it did not take as much time away from him as football players because Lucas informed that at Central that the football players were pretty much full time players. They had lift weights four times a week and practice even more. The tennis players did not have to put in as much time but he expressed how it was a pain taking so much time out of his day which could have been used for work, studying, or relaxing. Although, he did not want to take playing tennis for granted because he loved the sport and was extremely good at
Last Sunday at church Father Ron said something that hit home for me. He said that a mission begins with an invitation. I grew up in a rural area in the highlands of Nairobi, Kenya. Life was not easy and I always made a point of maximizing the opportunities I got. I grew up knowing that I wanted to be in a profession that really helped people improve their wellbeing. When I got the opportunity to go to university I choose to do Biomedical Science because I was very good at science and I thought that being a scientist was my calling. However, becoming an adult and having varying experiences like volunteering in a children’s home, working in the field doing research, working in a laboratory and currently working as a nurse aide has taught me
In order to establish exigence, Hogan relays his personal experiences about his times playing tennis to the reader. The author makes it clear that, in the words of the colonel, “Tennis is the one game that, once you learn it, you will be able to play for the rest of your life.” As a result, Hogan reveals how he played it every year of his life since he was first introduced to the game (Hogan,106). In his narrative, the author tells the reader that, with the help of the Colonel, tennis helped him find focus and a way to relax. Because he was not the best at the sport, the author was able to learn to be happy not by being the number one player on the tennis courts, but instead finding joy in the magnitude of his skill. Hogan tells the reader that even though the sport has changed since he first started playing, from a rich man's sport to a competitive
As a convert to the Church i felt prompted to serve a Mission, Having no clue what a Mission was or what to prepare for was a great lesson i learned to love.
In V.C. Andrews’ novel, Flowers in the Attic, the elements of classic Gothic literature are present in profuse quantity, relating directly to the ideologies outlined in Noël Carroll’s The Philosophy of Horror, or, Paradoxes of the Heart. Andrew’s novel dements the ideologies of a late twentieth century America, directing her focus towards the perversion of the family unit through her incorporation of incestuous relationships and inconceivable familial abuse. The characters draw heavily on Carroll’s ideas of the forbidden, staunchly disrupting social normality, and layering the pages of the novel with an unspoken horror. Flowers in the Attic deeply embraces the tradition of the Gothic, proving itself a contemporary to the genre established
Tennis has always played a significant role in my life as well as my commitment to my community, academics and as a part of my future goals. Ever since the age of six, I have absolutely adored the game of tennis. I honestly cannot explain my genuine attraction to the sport, although I know that I would not be the tenacious and goal-oriented young lady I am today if it was not for my participation in the Prince George’s Tennis and Education Foundation. PGTEF is a community tennis association that provides the opportunity for children of all ages to succeed academically and athletically through tennis.
Part VI Strategies for Assessing Sinclair's Leadership Effectiveness Capability things for powerful leadership have incorporated a leader's capacity to motivate others, to support followers, to listen well, to know about his/her organization, to have vision, to have great interpersonal abilities, to have the capacity to resolve conflicts, to know about the law, to have the capacity to direct people, and in addition, adjust individuals toward basic headings (Spencer & Spencer, 1993; Conger, 1992; Kotter, 1990), those would serve as a guideline for developing new behaviors that would go in the direction of Sinclair's necessities for Mattel's and his own success. Besides, there are other necessities for Sinclair, which have included a leader's
"It was a period in my life where I needed help," states Andre Agassi In his autobiography, Open. Published in November of 2009 with the help of American novelist J.R Moehringer, Open reveals the different stages of Agassi’s conflicted relationship with tennis. Playing a major role throughout his entire life and merging into a career before his eyes, his passion for this specific sport eventually began to fade away. From being pressured to pick up a racket during his childhood and obligated to play for his adolescent education, Andre Agassi questions why he was still playing tennis while he should have been making his own decisions. In this chilling autobiography, the former tennis player describes the conflict in his relationship with the sport, illustrating it through his constant rebellion and angst towards the competitive tennis world during his childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
Throughout history there has been a strong hold on women to adhere to the culture of domesticity. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this value system was engrained in the class system in the United States. According to Barbara Welter in her article The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860 this system of values defined a woman’s role in regards to the virtues of her actions within the family system. A woman was to be submissive, pure, and pious. She also had to fulfill her domestic duties to the family and community. The women of a community were the connections to faith and family. They had to uphold the standards of their religion and be steadfast in their faith. Having a pious presence in her family and community also built up a woman’s self-worth as she was an active member with the church. Her Christianity offered her praise and respect from her fellow citizens and her family. This social order is presented in Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter written in 1850. Hester Prynne, the heroine of the novel could possibly be viewed as one of the very first feminist in literature. She defies the power of the Puritan society and from her rebellious actions; the reader can see an emerging feminist consciousness within Hester, which is then passed along to her daughter Pearl.
This can have something to do with how the culture is in Iran, where the 2nd and 3rd generation lived and were brought up. The father is portrayed as a dominating person and Andre feels pressured by him as it is portrait in the quote on P. 2 ll.118-123: “But my son, he adds – maybe they will make tennis an Olympic sport once again, and my son will win a gold medal, and that will make up for it. a little extra pressure to go with my everyday pressure.” The father has high expectation and does not care if Andre wants to be a tennis player, but since he could not he wants his child to, which Andre does not seem to understand. He also talks rudely and aggressively towards Andre as it is portrayed on P. 4 ll.241-242: “startled, he yells, steps back, then shoots out his fist.” And on P. 4 ll.246-249: “My father stands over me, scowling. What the fuck is the matter with you? Go to your room.” He behaves very mean towards Andre and the quotes show that the father has a very short temper. This may have something to do with the way the father was brought up as we see on P.1 ll. 11-13: “He says she nagged him when he was a boy and often beat him.” This quote shows that the father does some of the things his mother did to
“Oh no, please don’t tell me this is happening. Mom, can I just skip this tournament?” I pleaded, “There is absolutely no hope for me.” Being the dramatic person I am, I lamented the imminent end of my tennis career. I went into the tournament with an expectation of failure. I started the match by accidentally whacking the ball over the fence, tripping on my own feet rushing to end the point. The little confidence I had when going into the match dissipated within a few minutes. I continued the match pondering how to angle my racket to put spin on the ball. Every time I failed, I blamed it on the high skill level of my opponent. Unsurprisingly, I lost in an hour. When looking back on that match, I realized that it could have gone differently had I not brought myself down before. My lack of
Purpose Statement: The purpose of my speech is to inform my audience about the history of tennis and about tennis itself.