Raising Tennis Aces - The Williams Story

Rating:
Summary: Inspirational
Review: A look "behind the scenes" and behind the hype, at the Williams family. The story is augmented by footage of a training session at their compound, and old home movie footage of Venus and Serena.

The story is one that's not often told in perspective, and is really pretty interesting. Father Richard Williams had a rough life. He grew up poor (in rural Louisiana), with his absent father living down the street and providing nothing. He watched one childhood friend get run down by a white woman in a car, apparently intentionally. (Williams shows us the tree he planted at the time, in his friend's honor, now a large flowering tree). He had a nail driven into his leg because he wouldn't call a white man "sir" on a golf course. He had nothing. He moved to Compton, worked menial jobs, eventually worked his way to having his own security company. He had the idea to train future children to play tennis, because there was money in it. He subsequently trained Venus and Serena, unconventionally, while raising them (with his wife) to reflect what he describes as values that were strong in past eras - including love of family and poise under stressful circumstance. You can see where his goals in raising them mirror the same goals most of us have in raising children - for them to be happy AND to understand how to take responsibility for their own lives.

Not everything possible is here - Oracene/Brandy (the mother) isn't featured at all, and there are a few hard question that could be asked that aren't. But what is here is interesting and inspirational. The DVD has a nice set of extra interviews and extra footage.

Rating:
Summary: Inspirational
Review: A look "behind the scenes" and behind the hype, at the Williams family. The story is augmented by footage of a training session at their compound, and old home movie footage of Venus and Serena.

The story is one that's not often told in perspective, and is really pretty interesting. Father Richard Williams had a rough life. He grew up poor (in rural Louisiana), with his absent father living down the street and providing nothing. He watched one childhood friend get run down by a white woman in a car, apparently intentionally. (Williams shows us the tree he planted at the time, in his friend's honor, now a large flowering tree). He had a nail driven into his leg because he wouldn't call a white man "sir" on a golf course. He had nothing. He moved to Compton, worked menial jobs, eventually worked his way to having his own security company. He had the idea to train future children to play tennis, because there was money in it. He subsequently trained Venus and Serena, unconventionally, while raising them (with his wife) to reflect what he describes as values that were strong in past eras - including love of family and poise under stressful circumstance. You can see where his goals in raising them mirror the same goals most of us have in raising children - for them to be happy AND to understand how to take responsibility for their own lives.

Not everything possible is here - Oracene/Brandy (the mother) isn't featured at all, and there are a few hard question that could be asked that aren't. But what is here is interesting and inspirational. The DVD has a nice set of extra interviews and extra footage.