Happy Holidays everyone!
I am excited to announce that the ANNIKA Foundation is teaming up with
Athletes for Hope to support our mission and raise funds this holiday
season. The Athletes for Hope “Who Gives? Racing for a Cause” campaign
is kicking off today and features 55 of the world’s best athletes in a
competition to find out who can do the most good. Each athlete has
teamed up with their favorite charity and will be going head-to-head to
see who can raise the most money from now until January 15th. The
winner will receive the grand prize of $10,000 to the charity of their
choice.
It’s going to be a fun, but tough, competition, and in order to win,
we’re going to need everyone to get involved. No donation is too small
and for as little as $10 you can support a child and help us teach
2,500 low-income kids the importance of physical fitness and proper
nutrition utilizing the award-winning SPARK curriculum.
Our project page can be found
here where you can donate and learn more about the program we’re supporting.
In order to win the race, we are going to need the help of everyone, so
please share this with your family and friends and ask them to help too!
Check out the leader board at Athletes For Hope
to track our progress and scope out the competition. We will keep you
posted throughout the race and hope to see you at the finish line!
Thank you for your support,
Annika
Like most people, I have been following the stories about Tiger that have unfolded the last couple weeks. I have chosen not to address the issue publicly because he and Elin are both friends of mine. However, with the most recent developments and an increased number of requests from the media for a comment, this is all I have to say.
I am disappointed in Tiger’s actions and I feel very sorry for Elin and the children. I wish them all the best as they try to work through this privately as a family.
ATHLETE OF THE DECADE: Sorenstam lifts women's golf to new level with numbers and
moments
For all the amazing numbers connected with Annika Sorenstam, from her 54 victories on the LPGA Tour in one decade to becoming the only woman to shoot 59, it was one simple swing with a 4-wood that turned the once-shy Swede into a one-name athlete. The club carried the weight of an entire gender that Thursday at Colonial in 2003 when Sorenstam drew it back and sent her tee shot down the 10th fairway, becoming the first
woman in 58 years to tee it up on the PGA Tour. Not many remember that she missed the cut, one of only three times in the 2000s she didn't play on the weekend.
It's the qualities implicit in statistics like that — Sorenstam's dominance, her
consistency, her ability to play on the same stage as male golfers — that
make her a candidate for The Associated Press' Athlete of the Decade. She pursued perfection through a concept called "Vision 54," the idea that one
could birdie every hole. And while she never got there, Sorenstam never quit
trying. In her best season of the decade, she won 11 times on the LPGA Tour in
2002, set a record for earnings and became the first woman with a sub-69
scoring average.
With nothing left to prove, she decided to take on the men.
"If you look back at her motivation, she did it to test herself, to raise her own
level," said Ty Votaw, the LPGA commissioner during Sorenstam's rise to
stardom. "Along with that came pressure, hype, distractions from all the
other places, and it added to the overall significance. From that moment on,
she became a one-name athlete — like Tiger, like Ali."
Even Tiger Woodslooks back on Sorenstam's decade with wonder. They became friends
through having the same agent, played an occasional practice round together in
Florida, and were teammates in a made-for-TV exhibition. They even exchanged
text messages each time they won a major, a friendly competition to see who could
win more.
"She was as consistent as any player that ever played the game," Woods said in an
interview several weeks ago, before he suddenly captured tabloid headlines.
"She was more efficient (than anyone) at winning and managing her game,
male or female." Told that he had actually won more times in the decade, Woods smiled and said, "She retired."
Sorenstam walked away from the game last year at age 38, still close to the top, saying she wanted to pursue a family and a business venture, and she couldn't allow herself to play without giving it her all. That's what made her Annika.
She was among the first to bring fitness to the LPGA, working out at a frenetic pace. In a sport that features so many moving parts, her swing repeated itself so beautifully
that it looked robotic, and it produced machine-like results. Sorenstam went six consecutive years winning a major, six consecutive years with at least five victories, including 11 times in 2002 and 10 times in 2005. In a sport that is
difficult to dominate, her consistency was simply staggering.
She won 30 percent of her tournaments in the 2000s, and the rest of the time she was awfully close. Sorenstam finished no worse than third 97 times, and 74 percent of the time she was in the top 10. "She was the model of consistency," Dottie Pepper said. "Tiger can't hold a candle to that. It was a shocking week when she wasn't on the first two pages of the leaderboard going into Sunday." It was even more shocking when Sorenstam couldn't be found at all. Only five women — Kathy Whitworth, Mickey Wright, Patty Berg, Louise Suggs and Betsy Rawls — won more tournaments in their careers than the 54 times Sorenstam won in a single decade.
"Her dominance in that period of time reminded me a lot of Sandy Koufax," Votaw said.
"She was so far and above an accomplished competitor that she became a
marvel to watch."
Beyond the numbers,however, was her impact. She was the only
player to have a tournament named after her in Europe and the United States.
She became such a powerful attraction that the tour instituted a "1-in-4" rule that required players to compete in every tournament at least once every four years, an effort to make sure Sorenstam played in as many different tournaments as possible to share the wealth.
And she changed the way players prepared for tournaments. "She took
women's golf to another level — not only how she played, but how she
prepared," Woods said.
Typical of most dominant athletes, Sorenstam's only rival was history. Karrie Webb challenged her at the start of the decade, and Lorena Ochoa arrived toward the end of
Sorenstam's reign. Combine the victories of those two Hall of Fame players
— 47 — and it doesn't match what Sorenstam achieved on her own.
Interest in women's golf reached a peak, as did prize money, because of Sorenstam. "Probably more than any other player since Nancy Lopez, she elevated not only the stature of the tour itself but also the competitive level of the tour," Votaw said.
"They knew they had to raise their game in some way to challenge her."
Even during some of her darkest days, Sorenstam thrived. She went through a divorce in 2005, yet still managed to win the first two majors and had golf buzzing about the possibility of a calendar Grand Slam until she came up short in the U.S. Women's Open.
Sorenstam still achieved the career Grand Slam, along with induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame at age 33. "I think she has become the most precise golfer we've ever know in women's golf," Judy Rankin said. "When you couple that with strength and length, she's a little different than anyone we've had."
And it could be awhile before they find anyone like her.
Copyright
2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York, 9 December, 2009 – Hall of Fame golfer Annika Sorenstam will participate in ICAP’s 17th annual global Charity Day on Wednesday, December 9, 2009. On this day, ICAP, the world’s premier interdealer broker, will donate 100% of company revenues and commissions to a selection of over 120 charities around the world, including the ANNIKA Foundation. The foundation is Annika’s charitable arm that teaches children the importance of living a healthy, active lifestyle through fitness and nutrition and offers aspiring junior golfers opportunities to pursue their dreams.
As part of the day’s activities, Annika will visit the ICAP offices in Jersey City, N.J. to rally employee enthusiasm and interact with clients to help boost trading volumes. Prince William, Prince Harry, Bill Clinton, actors Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington, and musicians Jon Bon Jovi and Elton John have been a few of those who have lent their support at ICAP offices in past years.
Since the inception of ICAP Charity Day, ICAP and its customers in over 50 countries have raised funds for over 700 well-deserving charities globally. This year, ICAP will be supporting a further 120 charities globally, almost 30 in North America alone. Last year, $16.3 million was raised on Charity Day, bringing the total to over $100 million since 1993. These funds went towards such diverse programs in North America as helping sick children, supporting literacy, and funding cancer research.
November 20th, 2009 – Tallahassee, Fla)Governor Charlie Crist today announced the appointment of World Golf and LPGA Halls of Fame golfer Annika Sorenstam to the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness. The council met this week in Miami to further its efforts to increase Floridians’ level of physical fitness through regular exercise and sound nutrition practices. Governor Crist also encouraged middle schools and students to participate in the 2009-10 Governor’s Fitness Challenge, an eight-week school-based program to help boost children’s participation in physical fitness activities.
Ava, Mike, and I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! We hope that each of you will be able to have a great day with friends and family. This is one of our favorite holidays as we are so thankful for everything that we have. It has been such an incredible year and we thank you for sharing it with us.
Founder Tony Hawk & Annika launched a discussion on whether athletes have an obligation to give back, or not.
Growing up in a small town in Sweden I played all kinds of sports. I loved the competition, camaraderie, and travel that came with playing those sports. As I grew older and more focused on golf, I met so many people around the world and learned many life lessons. I was very fortunate to have great parents, coaches, and mentors. However, it always seemed to be my heroes in sports who inspired me. It wasn’t just because they were winning tournaments, breaking records or making lots of money. It was because I felt emotionally tied to them and their actions outside of the arena. They were cool, they were humble, they influenced others, and they gave back. These athletes helped in the community, which showed us that a difference can be made with a strong will, had work, and a big heart. They inspired me to one day follow their footsteps.
Avocado Mexicana Recipe, by AnnikaMay 10, 2013, 2:53 pmI have been fortunate to have traveled and competed in Mexico on numerous occasions. Each time I thoroughly enjoyed the dining experiences and the wonderfully delicious and fresh ingredients. This recipe is inspired by my memories from there. INGREDIENTS – for 4 portions. 2 avocados fully ripe 1 lb. of cooked prawns in the shell [...]
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