“Tennis has changed my life and I want to help others,” Naomi Osaka on her Play Academy which aims to empower girls in sports
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Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka is easily one of the leading athletes of this generation. At the age of 24, the Japanese have already won four Grand Slams and it has not been an easy ride to the top for her. Therefore to give it back to the society she has joined hands with Play Academy, a program that aims to help other young girls find empowerment through sport. They recently launched their website to better their connectivity worldwide.
Naomi Osaka shared how she has joined hands with the Play Academy program and has brought in a brand like Nike and Laureus Sport for good to make an everlasting impact and empower more young girls. Her aim is to change the lives of as many girls as possible through sport.
“Play Academy with Naomi Osaka (PANO) is a program I created through a partnership between Nike and Laureus Sport for Good with the goal of changing girls’ lives through play and sport — something that tennis did for me growing up,” Osaka shares in a recent interview.
“I want to help girls from marginalized communities in sports”: Naomi Osaka
The main aim of the PANO program is to spread positivity and be inclusive for young girls in sports. The PANO program initially started out in Japan and Haiti and now Osaka is thrilled to bring it to Los Angeles aswell. “We now have grantee partners in L.A., Haiti and Tokyo, but at our event this week, I got to meet four grantees from Los Angeles, and it was really cool to see how Play Academy has helped them. Plus we had a lot of fun together,” the former World No.1 added.
There was an event at Play Academy’s website launch where Naomi Osaka had a good time playing tennis with young girls. American tennis star Frances Tiafoe was also seen enjoying his time with the little ones. Veteran sprinter and Olympic champion Michael Johnson was also present to motivate the young girls.
Naomi Osaka has faced several challenges before she could make a name for herself. Even in her stardom and all the glit and slam, she has struggled with several issues. But the 24-year-old has always shown a lot of courage to rise up. “Tennis has changed my life and opened so many doors for me. I wanted to make sure that I was extending the same opportunity to girls in marginalized communities who otherwise may not have been able to get involved in and have positive experiences through sport,” she concluded.
After reaching the finals at the Miami Open where she lost to Iga Swiatek, Osaka has not returned to action as she takes her time off before starting her clay season. The 24-year-old sadly will not be a part of the upcoming Stuttgart Open.
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Atrayo Bhattacharya
(193 Articles Published)