Posted by
jjjjjkkkkll on Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Although she is no longer the number one tennis player in the world, Maria Sharapova is still absolutely the most famous and most watched female tennis superstar as well as the world's highest paid female athlete.
Her parents were originally from Gomel, Belarus but they moved to the infamous Siberia in Russia in 1986 after the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe. Sharapova herself was born in Nyagan, Russia on April 19, 1987. She now resides in the United States but has retained her Russian citizenship.
After moving with her family to the Black Sea Resort at the town of Sochi at age three, she started playing tennis later at the age of four. Her first racket came from the father of tennis star Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who hails from Sochi. By the time she was six, she showed enough talent on the court to catch the eye of superstar Martina Navratilova, who then spoke to Sharapova's parents, urging them to send the young girl to the United States for professional tennis instruction.
The parents were not rich people yet they took a gamble and followed Navratilova's advice. Accompanied by her father, Sharapova went to Florida and enrolled at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, the same tennis school that produced former world number ones such as Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. Due to visa problems, the father and daughter were separated from Sharapova's mother for two years.
In the beginning, Sharapova's father worked at several jobs to pay for her tennis lessons. But things would get better soon enough. The giant sports talent agency, International Management Group, soon granted Sharapova a full scholarship to ease the financial burdens on her father.
In 2004, Sharapova defeated two-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams in straight sets (6-1, 6-4) in the finals to become the third youngest winner of the prestigious Wimbledon women's singles event, following the footsteps of Lottie Dod and Martina Hingis. She also became the first Russian to win the event. On her way to the finals, Sharapova pulled off stunning three-set victories against Ai Sugiyama (5-7, 7-5, 6-1) and Lindsay Davenport (2-6, 7-6, 6-1).
Posted by
jjjjjkkkkll on Monday, June 11, 2012
Author of "Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds," Jenny McCarthy is appearing on Oprah on Wednesday, February 4th to discuss her new book. It has seemed to cause some controversy lately between two sides that are debating whether or not it is actually helpful and based on scientific facts or if this book "Mother Warriors" should be viewed as merely a heart-warming story to read and to encourage other mothers to be mother warriors press on for their children to find help with autism or other challenges.
I cannot argue that "Mother Warriors" was certainly inspiring and provided hope for positive treatments for autism which will be a great encouragement to many parents to continue to push for help for their autistic children. However, I'm not sure this book, "Mother Warriors" contained enough information about therapies that have worked for many autistic children (outside of the Defeat Autism Now organization and Kirkland products.) I tend to give more credit to a book, such as "Mother Warriors" that has a variety of treatment options mentioned because there are certainly many therapies that have assisted children with autism besides simply the DAN conferences and Kirkland products.
The stories included in "Mother Warriors" about warrior mothers who are helping their children with recovery from autism were indeed touching and inspiring. It is always nice to read about mothers and fathers who are pushing forward and not giving up on behalf of their autistic children. Certainly the stories of others in "Mother Warriors" will instill hope and will create many more mother warriors to fight for recovery and healing for their children with autism.
On the other hand, I would not turn to Jenny McCarthy as a knowledgeable person about scientific issues and autism. I believe that warrior moms are much smarter than that and will do a lot of research into various ways they can help their child and will not take it simply from a Hollywood celebrity as to the best course of treatment for their child. While she did provide some interesting information in "Mother Warriors" that I had not been aware of about the possible causes of autism, it seems that there is much more to that story and that every child is different.
Overall, the book "Mother Warriors" by Jenny McCarthy would be a good read if you are simply looking for an inspiring story to encourage you to keep fighting as a mother warrior for your child. However, I would not turn to this book as the be all and end all of scientific knowledge on the subject and I hope others will remember this as they read Jenny McCarthy's new book, "Mother Warriors."
