Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
August 27, 2009, Washington Post

These Sisters Know How to Have a Ball

The Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, will be the center of the tennis world once again as the United States Open tournament starts Monday.

Venus and Serena have dominated women's tennis for years. Venus has won 41 singles titles during her career, including seven in major tournaments. (The majors are Wimbledon, the French Open, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open.) Her younger sister, Serena, has won 34 singles titles, including 11 majors.

At 29 and 27 years old, Venus and Serena are still playing and still having fun after many of their rivals have retired or left the game because of injury. Only three of the 50 top-ranked female players are older than Venus.

The Williams sisters are superb athletes, but they have had long tennis careers for other reasons, too: They always took time off from the game; they concentrated on the big tournaments and didn't burn themselves out flying around the world trying to play every event; and they took time to recover from injuries.

In addition, both Venus and Serena developed interests outside tennis. They worked in fashion, interior design, modeling and even appeared on an episode of "The Simpsons." Recently, they said they wanted to become part-owners of a National Football League team, the Miami Dolphins. The Williams sisters seem to have fun even when they are not playing tennis.

I think Venus and Serena show that you can have fun and be serious about your sport at the same time. It's good for kids (and their parents and coaches) to remember that enjoying a sport for a long time is important. That might mean not trying to be the best at 8, 10 or 12 years old.

One way to have fun with sports is to try different ones to see what you like. Any kid who plays only soccer or basketball year-round is bound to get tired of those sports. Why not mix in some baseball, tennis or golf? Or try lacrosse or swimming. Just always remember to give your body enough rest, especially if you get hurt.

It's also good to do other things besides sports. If you like to play guitar or draw pictures or appear in plays, don't give up those hobbies to play sports. Some coaches make their kids play year-round or never miss a practice to show they are "serious" about the sport. But that's not fair to the kids. Kids should be able to try different things to find out what they like and what they are good at.

Look at the Williams sisters. Venus and Serena have been terrific tennis players for a long time, but they have always done other things, too.

And once again, one of the Willams sisters may take home the trophy at the U.S. Open.

Fred Bowen writes KidsPost's sports opinion column and is the author of such kids' books as "Touchdown Trouble" and "Soccer Team Upset."

© 2009 The Washington Post Company