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Squash’s Tournament of Champions is in Grand Central Station through Jan. 24.
The 27th Annual Great Sports Legends Dinner honored Alonzo Mourning, Lisa Leslie, Joe Torre, Shaquille O’Neal and Jake LaMotta among others, at a fundraiser for The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis.
Commentary: With all the problems in American society, it’s edifying to see excellence in sports.
Photographs: Stephen Wise
American John Isner, #9 in the world, defeated Xavier Malisse at the U.S. Open today. The 6’9″ Isner is top ranked among American men.
Also at the Open today, Kim Clijsters — three time winner of the U.S. Open — played her last singles match.
Photographs: Stephen Wise
Vesa Ponnka, Senior Director of Tennis at Junior Champions Tennis Center in College Park, MD, gave a class to tennis instructors today at the Tennis Teachers Conference in NYC.
Mr. Ponnka’s insights are directed at teaching tennis, but can be applied to any field or endeavor. For him creating a ‘culture of success’ requires character, the right mindset, and surrounding yourself with good people. He emphasized the need for coaches to be creative, disciplined, and consistent in order to keep players engaged. For him high performance tennis requires technical, tactical, mental, emotional, and physical proficiency. LE asked Mr. Ponnka if he saw digital devices as a hindrance to his player’s performance? He nodded saying “I’m old school on that.”
The inaugural Ironman U.S. Championship was held today in New Jersey and New York City.
Americans Jordan Rapp and Mary Beth Ellis (lower photo far left) were the winners with times of 8:11:18 and 9:02:48 respectively. There were 2500 athletes at the start of the race from 47 states and 46 countries. It was reported that one person died during the swim portion of the race.
Regarding the heat and humidity, Mr. Rapp said his head was near “redline” the whole way. Commenting on the condition of the Hudson river, Ms. Ellis said she has been in worse (dirtier) water.
Photographs: Stephen Wise
Outside of Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, this dog was posing for pictures.
The sign reads: Thank You For The Picture But Don’t Forget I Don’t Like $$ Cheap $$ People
Given the price of tickets for tonight’s game ($215 face value for seats 30 rows behind third base), the same could probably be said of the team’s owners.
Photographs: Stephen Wise
It’s nice to see good guys win.
You can’t spell Elite without Eli.
Photographs: Stephen Wise
The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team represented by global superstars Hope Solo and Abby Wambach were honored today at the March of Dimes Annual Sports Luncheon in New York.
Both women were instrumental in helping the U.S. earn a silver medal in the 2011 World Cup in Germany. The U.S. reached the finals, falling to Japan in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw.
Hope Solo was the goalkeeper of the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Ms. Solo’s success in soccer has come with family struggles that others can relate to. Her father (a Viet Nam war vet) taught her soccer and experienced being homeless at various times. He died in 2007. LE asked Hope to offer any advise to others from her experience with her father. She said: “So many of us are from different walks of life. And at the end of the day it’s about love. I mean you’re not always going see eye to eye, not always going to be in agreement with different ways of living but I think acceptance is the key to all happiness. I know that I accepted my father for everything that he was — good decisions and bad decisions, it all circled back to love. And I think that’s why I have such a great relationship with him”
Photograph: Stephen Wise
Out shopping in Manhattan today, NBA player Larry Sanders (Milwaukee Bucks) was also seen helping a homeless man on 42nd Street.
LE asked Sanders about the NBA lockout? He said he remains hopeful about a deal getting done, that would salvage part of the season, but if it doesn’t happen he’ll explore options in Europe.
If a deal does get done between the NBA, players and owners, hopefully games won’t be played on Christmas day.
Photograph: Stephen Wise
