General Conclusion-Where I am now

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Overall, through this research process, I was able to gather a lot of useful knowledge needed for this project, and also knowledge I can use down the road in life as well. As I reflect on this process, I think about my journey of where I started and where I am now. When I first started this project, I was talking about the great athlete Jesse Owens and how he started the trend of breaking racial color barriers, so I started to research what race and sports looked like in the broad spectrum of things. By this, I originally just started looking at some articles to get a basis on racial barriers in sports and where I was heading. Along with this, I looked at YouTube videos to get others opinions on this topic, not solely just my opinion and view on it to deepen my understanding even further by listening to others. , I looked at different perspective of people to fill in the missing puzzle pieces and to once again assist in gaining more knowledge on this topic, but also to have a more current and present day view.
 While looking at these, this led to other topics such as the discrimination and unfair treatment of these athletes in sports too. As I was researching these topics, a common issue that kept coming up was this topic of "Black athletic superiority". I wanted to learn more about this misconception, so I started to dig deeper in learning about this and how it was effective to African American athletes. Then, I started to narrow it down and began my focused knowledge to just looking at the historical African American athletes that took part in breaking color barriers over the years versus every single African American athlete as a whole, which would take way too much time. Of these, I started to pinpoint a few that I thought had made the most impact so I picked Jackie Robinson. However, as interesting as he was, I still wasn't getting the answers that I needed for my topic. So, I decided to get other people's views on this topic, in which I picked a Sports Psychologist and coaches of professional sports. By doing this, I was able to learn in depth more about my topic because I saw the trends that they had studied which were about the changes in racial barriers over the years, which was what I was looking for the entire time. As I started to become more engaged in this topic, the psychologists view made me realize that I need to look at not only racial barriers, but also the gender barriers that came up in sports as well. I came up with this thought because I had picked two athletes from the list I was studying, as I mentioned earlier, and without even realizing it at first, I had picked two different genders, which I felt that this was  a good launching pad into my research. I say this because I now was looking at the racial and gender specific barriers that came up in sports over the years and how they had changed over time. This also gave me an inside look to how males and females took on different roles in sports and each faced different trials, regardless of their skin color. So, I looked more in depth at this topic and came a color equality law called Title IX. I then spent a lot of time and research on this topic because this was all about my topic and I felt that it was leading me closer and closer to my focused idea that I wanted. As I was getting answers to these two topics of gender and race in sports, I knew that I still wasn't satisfied at arriving at my final focus of interest. So, as I sat there with all of the research that I had already done, I asked the question, "What if I were to combine both of the topics and see what kind of answers I can get?". So, I started to research on prosperous African American female athletes over the years. When doing this, the one that kept popping up over and over again wasSerena and Venus Williams Serena was a famous professional tennis player that was one the first black athlete to cross the color line of international tennis.  She has become one of the first people of color to win a Grand Slam title and many other major titles. As I was researching, this is what really piqued my interest since I am a tennis player myself. As I looked more and more at Venus and Serena, their story is what got me thinking. I had read that they had come from a really poor neighborhood called Compton. TA-DA. From reading this, I knew that I wanted to focus my topic on how tennis is regarded as a "rich, white person" sport and how this misconception came to be and if there can be a way to break it. From this, I decided to focus my topic on the racial, gender, and socioeconomic factors that play a part in sports and then narrow it down to just tennis alone and get answers from that.

You ask, "Where am I now?", while I ask myself this same question. As this topic is very intriguing to me, it has prompted me to want to keep taking steps of research on it because I want to see if I can somehow be the person to change this misconception. Also, besides how I can change things, I wonder who else is at the table that can help to end these stereotypes as well. As I was thinking about this, I thought about how this can affect so many others too. This can include: African American athletes themselves for generations to come.

The questions I would ask further if I still did even more research on this would be: "Can there be a way to stop this misconception from happening?" and if so, "How exactly can we do so?".


All in all, I feel that this project opened my eyes and taught me more than I never knew before on barriers in sports and how they can be eliminated. "Will we ever get to a place where any one regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion can go show their passion for a sport without a judgment being cast upon them?".
 As I did research more about this topic, I feel like I successfully reached my goals of helping to further my knowledge on racial barriers in sports, answer my questions, and to be able to show people I might meet down the road the impact of racial barriers in sports truly do have.

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you enjoyed it!

[1] Picture. http://www.bigbeat.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/black-and-white-handshake-c-e1353325910300.jpg

The race, gender, and socioeconomic background of tennis as a "rich, white person's sport"

As I develop my focused knowledge more and more, I decide that the best way to do this is to break it down into race, gender, and socioeconomic stereotypes differently; and then connect them as a whole in the end to gather my final thoughts on this topic.
Let’s address the rumor that tennis is a “rich, white man sport”.
I'm not sure if this is historical or the fact that there still are some country clubs out there that hold on to dated traditions, such as wearing all-white attire. But this isn’t true for all tennis players I can tell you that.

As far as the race issue in tennis goes, I thought that it would be easiest to look up more percentages first to get a rough idea of what I'm dealing with. I looked at percentages of white professional tennis players on the circuit today and also from years past.
With the ATA (American Tennis Association) being the oldest standing African American sports organization in the United States, it's important to see how tennis is a sport that stays true to the character of professional black athletes. Some of their rules regarding race include:
 • To bring black tennis enthusiasts and players into close and friendly relations,
• To hold an annual national championship tournament,
• To appoint referees and officials for each event with no discrimination, and
• To promote the standard of the game among black players.

From these rules being set in place in the beginning, it is easy to see how tennis has come to be one of the most friendly and welcoming sports to African American athletes. Those such as Gibson, Ashe, and the Williams sisters also set the stage to knock down any racial barriers that did exist after this association was put into place. Yet, it is easy to notice that it is still predominantly white players on the circuit. The statistics[1] show that only 4% of the Top 100 tennis players in the world are not white. When comparing this to other sports, it is easy to see that it is not yet diversified that much espciellay compared to basketball and football. You also see that as time goes on, many foreign players start to pick up on the sport as well, and many countries show up on the pro circuit wanting to show their talents regardless of what their skin color is as time goes on. As noted earlier, tennis is associated with snobby upper class people, but the fact that it's played by folks of several different levels of income and races deletes that.
When talking about gender as far as tennis goes, a slightly different approach is taken. When tennis was just starting on the professional circuit, it was heavily dominated by males at the time. For instance, when the ATA held their first championship tournament, there were was women's singles, but not women;'s doubles offrered like there was for the men. The notion that tennis is a “white” sport has long passed. This change goes back over 60 years, to when Althea Gibson became the first black athlete, male or female, to play an international tennis match. In six years, Gibson had become the first person of color to win a major tournament (the French Open) and added two Wimbledon and two U.S. titles by 1958. The onyl issue that comes into play regarding race is that the major tournament Wimbledon, where the players aer required to wear all white, not any other color. Regardless of this one small rule, it can be said that tennis is starting to be one of the sports that is even with the amount of African American and white American pro athletes, which is good to see.

The socioeconomic side of this sport takes a completely different turn although.  The environment plays a huge factor into how tennis is seen as a "snobby" sport or not. There is a possibility for someone of lower class to be in the professional circuit, but the odds are a lot smaller because they would be relying on their own skill and determination, deprived of the luxuries in their environment that the wealthier can have right at their fingertips.

Today, though, it still has that reputation. I think tennis appeals to a lot of people in my opinion, and a lot try to play it. The sport is actually much more difficult than it looks and it generally isn't associated much with athletes so much as it is with intellects because, let's be honest, you have to be smart in order to play the sport well. It is a very mental game that requires lots of tactical skills. It's a technical sport which means that because the motions aren't really natural for the body, it takes a lot of skill and practice to do well.
As for the "snobby" part, I don't see the reasoning behind to as to have access to public court for free is a bad thing. I learned this concept tennis through my high school team (and we also practiced on the city courts) and met a lot of different kinds of players from all kinds of backgrounds. It is a more expensive sport to play, but it doesn't have to be. Court access can be free and balls aren't that expensive. Any kind of sports clothes will do and racquets can be as cheap as $30 or less.  Of course, as you get better and play more important matches, the expenses do come. Also, it is a fact that those who are rich do take up tennis as a hobby for fun just because it is a fun, leisure thing to do, but doesn't mean they are necessarily "snobby". Also, this misconception is typically still an issue in the London area, where it originated, but it is a different story here in the United States.
Of course, I'm not going to deny that tennis does become an expensive sport if you want to go pro or play at a high level. However, to say that only rich people can enjoy tennis is ridiculous.  As time goes on, my general consensus to this question is even though tennis has always been considered a high class sport, more kids nowadays are starting to pick up racquets. Tennis is for anyone, everywhere. No matter who you are or where you come from, tennis welcomes you with open arms always! A sport is just a sport and you should be able to play it regardless of your circumstances. So generally I would say that tennis as a sport for the rich, white person is a huge misconception.
After much research, I would not call tennis a "rich" people sport but rather a high maintenance sport. 
This part is based generally off of my own personal opinion, but some of the info was taken from the given website at the bottom of this post. The reason that I used this as a credible source was because stats are given on every player in the pro circuit quite in depth so I know that I can trust it. In addition, this source was useful to me because it had recommendations and other links if I was looking to get other info, which is an important thing to give a researcher like myself. The purpose for this website I determined was to solely give you the current up to date stats on tennis players in the pro circuit. This unique part with this is that you can choose females or males to look at, and then you can also look at country to look at the race area as well. This was effective for my project because I wanted to know the stats of non-white players in the pro circuit to base my research off of and this website helped achieve that.


[1] http://www.tennis.com/stats/ATP/

Can only the wealthy become professional?

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Originating from English roots, tennis comes from higher-class roots originating in country clubs, but tennis doesn't have to be played by only those from the middle-upper or upper levels of society. However, what makes tennis so rich is its tradition, history, it's class; the game itself and it's etiquette. The point and key is to have class and etiquette when playing and to be with class as a person, no matter what socio-economic level you may come from.

As an individual sport that needs expensive courts and gear, tennis is often considered a rich-man's sport, and this is also cited as the reason for its lack of growth in places like Asia and Africa. This brings up the question of, do the professionals only become pros because they have the money to afford the training, memberships, tournaments, etc.? For the players on the pro circuit, research shows that they do need to be of higher class and be more wealthy because they need to have the funds to pay for the training, tournaments, agents, and travel expenses required to do so. Based on the stats I found:

1. The lead coach, 5 2/HR sessions a week  $75-$150/HR,
2. Additional specialty coach/with unique shot making skill, three 2/HR sessions $75-$100/HR,
3. Hitting coach, three 2/HR sessions $35/HR,
4. Trainer, three 2/HR sessions $60-$100/HR,
5. Nutritionist once a week for meal plans and evaluation, 2HRS/$60-$100/HR,

Yes, you will need a good chunk of change to train to become a pro player. Although, there are always success stories of those who rise up from having nothing, but in reality, this would be next to impossible to achieve without digging into your wallet a bit.
On the other end, this doesn't mean that because you are wealthy and play tennis, that you are automatically to appear on the pro cicuit. You have to work ust as hard as every other professional, no matter what race, gender, socioeconic status, etc.  With saying this, I realize that I want to spend my research now on the race, gender, and socioeconomic background of tennis as a "rich, white person's sport" because that will tie in all of my research as a whole.
I chose the website that I did because it looks very credible. This is because it gave a lot of info about this topic, so I know that the author's purpose was to inform the audience correctly about it and that was conveyed well by the tone. Also, this is credible because the author gives additional info such as publishing info and dates. Most importantly, there are other articles given on where I can go if I want to do more research. This is useful for me because I was able to answer my question about, "Can only the wealthy become professional?", but it also helped to broaden my knowledge of ideas I didn't think about before.

Website can be found at: http://www.tennisconsult.com/produce-professional-tennis-players/

Is tennis a rich, white person's sport?

The question to ask about this misconception that has been around for decades is indeed, "Is tennis a rich, white person sport?". Yes it does cost quite a lot of money to play the sport of tennis, but a tennis racket can range from $20 to $400, tennis shoes tend to be quite expensive starting around $40-$200, and the latest clothing fashion in tennis is also quite pricey as well. When people say that upper class people play this sport it is because of the fancy country clubs that charge a lot of money. Also it does cost a lot of money to play in the winter, as indoor tennis courts can cost anywhere from $40 to $80 or more to play on a court for just an hour; take it from the girl whose spent hundreds just for a few hours of court time in the Midwest because weather doesn't allow for us players to practice elsewhere. This goes to show that no matter what part of the country you are in, you are paying a lot of money. In the northern region, you are paying for club memberships and court times and in the southern region (where tennis is more prominent), you are surrounded by higher-level players, so you pay just as much money for the camps and clinics and tournaments there.
But, this does not mean that the middle class or lower class can't play tennis too. There are many tennis players that are not wealthy. Just because someone can't afford the expensive clothing, shoes, or rackets does not mean that they can't play tennis.
 The image of tennis as a sport for rich people probably got going for a couple of reasons. First, most country clubs have tennis courts, and the members there may have a lot of money and are usually well off families. Also, it is portrayed that the women who are playing all day don't have to work because the husbands make enough money, and so they can afford to buy fancy outfits and expensive equipment. So certainly tennis is popular among the wealthier, but they still make up a minority of those playing the game today. Where I live there is a huge public tennis program for kids and adults and it costs almost nothing to participate.
 Going along with this, in my personal opinion, anyone who may not be financially well off but wants to play tennis certainly can. I want you all to know that anyone can play tennis, train hard, improve, and develop their game if they truly want to. I found that determined players can improve to the point where they can be sponsored by companies and receive free equipment for tennis and these players are not always pro, but rather can be top junior players in the circuit as well. Just like the William sisters story, there is a great example which tells you all about their life from rags to riches as African American athletes and they still had success.

Coming from  a tennis player perspective myself, and a lower class individual, I realized quick how intense it is to live in a day where these stereotypes are there, we just have to stand up and say what's right and what's wrong about them.
Anyone can play and I strongly suggest you do as "tennis is a life long sport".
It was meant to be played by royalty. Thats why King Henry VIII and all of them did. Part of the reason why I love wimbledon, brings back the royalty factor in tennis along with the class and grace.


link to follow up with research can be found at: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090430173751AAiP5nT

Venus and Serena Williams breaking color barriers

Straight outta Compton:


Yes, that's right, two of the most well known and highly prosperous tennis players in the world are from the poor slums of California. How do they do this you ask?

The fact that the family had relocated to Compton was no accident. With its high rate of gang activity, Richard Williams, their father, wanted to expose his daughters to the ugly possibilities of life being, "if they did not work hard and get an education." In this setting, on courts that were filled with potholes and sometimes missing nets, Serena and Venus practiced the game of tennis and the requirements for persevering in a tough climate. They didn't know at the time that they would grow up to be some of the great African American role models and athletes of all time. Not only did they achieve great feats of showing the world that it doesn't matter if you are a female or a African American, if you want something; you go get it.
 This story unfolded more in 2009 when Serena and Venus purchased shares of the Miami Dolphins to become the first African-American women to own part of an NFL team. Looking at this time, I think that it is important to note how much of an impact and opportunity she is showing as an African American athlete because a women like Althea Gibson might not have ever been able to achieve the same feats because of the time period she lived in. This goes to show how racial barriers were being broke down more and more in sports as years passed and these two were the ones to help take part in doing so.
One of the biggest instances that I found to prove my point on this topic was to look at an episode of unusual behavior that Serena took part in back in 2009. Williams downplayed what happened about how she'd threatened the woman lines person during the match. But the incident did not go over well with the tennis viewing public, nor the U.S. Tennis Association, which fined her $10,000 on the spot. Two months later, she was placed on two-year probation and ordered to pay another $82,500 to the Grand Slam committee for the episode, the largest punishment ever against a tennis player. This got me thinking about questions such as, would a white, professional tennis player had to of dealt with the same consequences or would they have let her easier? This brings me to wonder also, "Is this how tennis came to be said as a rich, white person's sport?". This led to my next portion of research which deals with white athletes in the professional world of tennis and how they are treated, equally or different. I think this question is very important to ask because it sheds light on the white athletes side of things as well. This is important to look at because in order to get a true answer to these questions, we need to know from both sides. Also, I think these questions are good to focus my research on because a lot of audiences can be reached with this. Not only am I talking about African American professional athletes, but also white athletes as a whole. Also , these questions can be addressed to both genders as well, so I now have the gender topic covered as well. I think this is important to ask because I feel this is a common misconception that has always lingered for an answer, so now I am going to go find one.
Their power and athletic ability overwhelmed opponents, and their sense of style and presence made them celebrities on and off the court.With their famous style and play, Venus and Serena changed the look of their sport as well the look of other professional sports for African America athletes.

When doing this research, I thought if this website was trustworthy enough to use. After looking at it more in depth, I realized that it is. This is because there are other famous athletes and celebrities found on this website as well, so I know that they want to let researchers really know about these people correctly. The biggest part that I realized that made me trust this website was at the bottom of this page, all of the citation info needed was given. This showed a lot about the author because I knew then he wanted to audience of this website to know that he wasn't just making this stuff up. This was useful for the purpose of my project as well because I was able to use the info I needed bout Serena and knew that it was valuable enough to put in this blog.


Additional info can be found at:http://www.biography.com/people/serena-williams-9532901#personal-life

The impact of barriers in the sport of tennis

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As I was researching this topic more and more, I thought about just typing in race barriers in sports and see what would pop up. I wanted to know more about how African Americans females got their break in the sports world as well. When I first began researching, I noticed that it was all male athletes that I was talking about, and I want to get a different take on the topic. Of all the photos, this one kept to seem showing up. It's a unique photo of a white tennis player giving congratulatory kisses to African American player, Althea Gibson.
On this topic, I was still looking to get another perspective on how Althea Gibson really changed racial barriers in sports. So, I decided to look at books for sources to see what I could find. In the book titled Glory Bound, Black Athletes in a White America, [1] there was an excerpt included about her. This said, "Althea was a great tennis star who broke several racial barriers in the sport, but did not see herself as a champion of civil rights". By reading this I started to think more in depth about how all the African American athletes over time probably thought to themselves how it was no big deal about achieving a great feat in their sport, they were just playing; but to the rest of the world, it was a foreign concept to them. Also from this reading, I was able to grasp how the civil rights movement changed the face of American athletics and society forever and how I wanted to look at other African American female pro athletes and how they made an impact. Who fits this better than the Williams sisters; Venus and Serena?
This photo was a significant part of my research because it led me to what I believe is my grand conclusion, yet is still somewhat of a spinoff from my original idea. It really got me thinking, being a tennis player myself, how there are stereotypes revolved around just this sport alone, which is huge to think about when thinking about racial barriers in all of the sports. As I sit here and think, "what stereotypes could be relate to tennis though?", one keeps popping up in my head. It is one that I have heard for awhile now that I, myself have been irritated by, which is that tennis is referred to as a "rich, white person sport". With both of these ideas spinning in my head, I want to start off by just getting some basic knowledge about Venus and Serena as players and also how they broke racial barriers during their time and go from there to answer my next question on tennis being a "rich, white person" sport.

Nonetheless, it is important to notice this type of social interaction during this time period. What are your thoughts about this? When I look at this, a lot of thoughts and feelings come rushing through my mind. I think about the race and gender issues both being quite prevalent here because of the type of photo it is, still in black and white coloring which shows that it was before the time that color photography was really even a thing.

[1] Wiagins, David K. Glory Bound: Black Athletes in a White America. New York: Syracuse University Press, 1997.

[2] http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/02/sport/tennis/us-open-althea-gibson-tennis/

Perception in the media for professional womens sports

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Girls also see a double standard in covering women's professional sports. When male athletes receive media attention, such coverage is primarily focused on their skilled performance and athletiscism, and how tough they can look to the public. When female athletes receive media attention, the media is much more likely to focus on their physical attractiveness or non-sport-related activities. Anna Kournikova, who has yet to win a professional tennis tournament, was one of only six women ranked among the most important people in sports because they paid more attention to her looks than athletic performance. This double standard devalues the athletic achievements of female athletes compared to their male counterparts. because media focuses just on the attractiveness element. With the topic of Anna being a white athlete, I decided to break down to another category based just off of my opinion, and asked,  "How are African American athletes perceived in media?". Based on doing this, I can combine both race and gender barriers in sports and tackle them both. While on the topic of tennis, and African American athletes who are also female, the fist athletes that popped in my head were Venus and Serena Williams. As I knew that I am developing my focused knowledge, I still have to break it down to a specific sport over all of the sports in order to get a clear answer to my questions, so I decided to stick with tennis. Now that I know that m focused knowledge is going to be on the racial and gender broken down through Venus and Serena's story, I can move forward in my research process.

[1]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUx7Y_y1EAYFsgql0izzcJdBRGO-zRoxKtKa4C5bnjTsg8v03GfZXYQnQV4zkJq0L7Mi2RQdDH_ISLAk77j1qoXBQu_uhrY_socViqqjcdvhh2OdyVGgIziB3d9OrwQp6PqzyKxrgfhCg/s1600/picstitch.jpg