"Ever since that day when I was 11 years old, and I wasn't allowed in a photo because I wasn't wearing a tennis skirt, I knew that I wanted to change the sport."
"I knew after my first lesson what I wanted to do with my life."
" A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning."
"Women get the attention when we get into the men's arena, and that's sad."
" It's just really important that we start celebrating our differences. Let's start tolerating first, but then we need to celebrate our differences."
Billie Jean King Diving for a Shothttps://www.espn.comStanding there, as people judged her for wearing shorts instead of a skirt in pictures. She was ridiculed and left out just because she did not have enough money to buy a fancy dress. This is exactly how Billie Jean King felt during pictures at her tennis club. She was not allowed to be in the photograph because of her inappropriate clothing, which was only tennis shorts instead of a dress. She knew that from that moment she would change tennis and show everyone true equality. Born on November 22, 1943, Billie Jean King knew that she would make a huge impact on the world. At only 17, “Billie Jean qualified to play doubles at Wimbledon” and her and her partner Karen Hantze won, making them the youngest players in Wimbledon history to win doubles ("Billie Jean King", St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture). She is known for her 20 Wimbledon titles and her 4 Grand Slam wins. However, she made her biggest impact on September 20, 1973 when she decided to play against a misogynistic man named Bobby Riggs. This “Battle of the Sexes” was used to showcase who was really better at athletics- men or women. Riggs was overly confident that he would win and prove that men were superior, however “He lost in three straight sets, and she won the goodwill of the American public, over forty million of whom had watched the match on television” (“Billie Jean King”, American Decades). All the odds were against King, but she was determined to do everything in her power for the women that felt taken advantage of, which is what makes her a true hero. A hero must possess characteristics that allow them to be brave and selfless. They must also fight for what they believe in, and never give up. Billie Jean King was a professional tennis player that purveyed equality while standing up for women’s rights, and persevered for change in society regardless of everyone’s opinions.
Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs Before "The Battle of the Sexes"https://www.tbo.comBillie Jean King put others before herself and showed bravery when she stood up for women everywhere. The principal claim that Great Women in Sport makes is that “Few tennis stars have done more to popularize the sport than Billie Jean King. King was not only one of the most successful players of the 1960s and 1970s, she was also an ardent activist for women's rights, both inside and outside the sporting arena. Remembered by many today for her trouncing of Bobby Riggs in a 1973 exhibition tournament, she forged a long string of career victories in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles competition¨("Billie Jean King", Great Women in Sport). King showed her selflessness when she announced she would be winning her match against Bobby Riggs to showcase that woman can be just as athletic as men. She took a stand for women’s rights by going against this man that was known for his arrogance against women. When she won against him, that is when she truly left her mark on the world of women’s rights and showed how powerful they really are. Her effect on the rest of society has caused them to change how they look a women. All of King's success in her tennis career and her activism had shown how strong a woman can be. It can be argued, as Notables Sports does, that since King made a huge change in society, she decided that she could show how powerful women were, by making a group especially for them, and "In 1973 King was elected first president of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), a players' union. She also created "team tennis," America's only professional co-ed team sport, and became the first woman to coach a professional co-ed team when she signed on with the Philadelphia Freedoms”("Billie Jean King", Notable Sports). King created this association to give power to women and allow them to have a voice. She gave women a chance in tennis and made a huge impact on what they were able to do. She knew that women were not appreciated in tennis and decided to change that and make them feel they could do something to change the world. Her association gave women that feeling of domination, and her “team-tennis” sport allowed women to play with men, and feel a sense of equality. According to Susan Ware: “For her activism Billie Jean King earned a reputation as the ‘clenched fist of women’s tennis,’ but the Battle of the Sexes wasn’t just about her. She needed a foil, a co conspirator, perhaps an enabler, and Bobby Riggs was more than happy to play all those roles. As her doubles partner Rosie Casals once said, only half in jest, ‘Bobby Riggs did more for women’s tennis than anybody’” (Ware). Not only did King embarrass Riggs in front of 30,00+ people, she planned it from the beginning. She had faith in herself and in women everywhere, and Bobby Riggs’ arrogance blinded him from reality- women were just as great as men. In a way, Riggs did a lot for the feminist community. He proved their point of how women could do just as much as men. However, it was Kings’ bravery to go up against everyone's´ beliefs that influenced almost every other women during that time. It was not oly Kings determination to fight for women's rights, but her bravery against everyone else that disagreed with her that makes her a hero.
Billie Jean King Showing her Strength as a Womanhttps://www.shopsouthsidemall.comKing persevered and tried to change society for the best, to the best of her abilities. This text, by Claire Cohen, is focus upon King's real goal when she played against Bobby Riggs; “King, then 29, knew how significant a win over the former world number-one would be, especially as he had already defeated the-then champion Margaret Court. As she later told the Telegraph: ‘It was important to beat him for more than just the glory: it was so important for social change and for the way the public and the sport viewed female players’”(Cohen). King did not want to beat Riggs just to win something, she wanted to show the power that women have and what they are able to do. She wanted to change society for the better and wanted to show that female plays can be as good-if now better, than male players. This determination has led others to see the real truth of equality. She knew how important it was to beat Riggs in this match. It would truly show the equality between men and women when it came to tennis. She was selfless and did not win it for herself, but for everyone else that believed in her. Joel Drucker points out that Billie Jean King’s acceptance to Riggs’ challenge was an enormous step for women's rights and their confidence: “Twenty-five years ago this month, on September 20, 1973, Billie Jean King played a tennis match whose impact went far beyond the lines. Bobby Riggs, a 55-year-old who'd once been the number-one player in the world, believed women belonged in the kitchen and the bedroom, not on the playing fields. To prove his point, Riggs vowed he could beat any woman tennis player, and in 1971 challenged King. Strongly focused that year on boosting the fledgling Virginia Slims circuit, she declined” (Drucker). Riggs wanted to prove that men were more athletic and overall superior to women when it came sports. To test his theory, he invited Billie Jean King to his “Battle of the Sexes” to really test who was better. At first, she declined,“But in May 1973, Riggs whipped King's rival, Margaret Court. ‘I knew I would have to play him,’ Billie Jean wrote later in a eulogy to Riggs. ‘All of the implications of the match flashed through my mind: It would be for Title IX legislation and the women's movement and all of the inequities women felt so deeply ’” (Drucker). After Riggs beat Kings counterpart, she knew she had to show the world that women can be as great as men. She agreed to his challenge and promised herself that she would win for women everywhere, which proves herself to be a true hero. Kings’ determination and influence upon the many women that depended on her to fight for them, displays her as a real hero.
Billie Jean King Winning "The Battle of the Sexes"https://www.espn.comKings’ never ending fight for equality and change in society has shown many people how heroic she is. King inspired others to be brave and strong, and fight for their values and what they believe in. She strived for equality between males and females in tennis, and urged others to do the same. Her courage to do what others think is wrong, has inspired many to do the same. Because of her, tennis is now thought of a sport that is for everyone; because of the equal prize money, and the reason that equality is here is because of Billie Jean King. King did not want to beat Riggs just to win something, but she wanted to show the power that women have and what they are able to do. She wanted to change society for the better and wanted to show that female plays can be as good-if now better, than male players. This determination has led others to see the real truth of equality. Because of King, equal pay is advocated into tennis and it is an equal sport. King inspired others to follow in her footsteps and make sure that equal pay was instituted forever and no one was thought of less than another. Her fight and her bravery effected all women, and even men around her, to fight for equality and do everything in their power to speak up for themselves, because they do have a voice no matter what anyone tells them. Since the beginning King knew she would make an effect on tennis; “Ever since that day when I was 11 years old, and I wasn't allowed in a photo because I wasn't wearing a tennis skirt, I knew that I wanted to change the sport” (“Billie Jean King Quotes”). From the start she wanted to make a change for the better, and that is exactly what she did.Page created on 2/13/2018 7:56:57 PM
Last edited 2/16/2018 5:45:19 AM
