Secret's out::Heraldtribune.com
I met Sekou Bangoura Jr. at last year's Easter Bowl and when I heard how accomplished he was at not only tennis, but golf, chess and piano, it wasn't long before I had an assignment to write a story about him for SMASH. (It appears in the March edition of SMASH under the title Renaissance Kid, but unfortunately there is no link available).
That got him on Sports Illustrated's radar and Jon Wertheim has a story about him in the works, as Bangoura's hometown newspaper notes in this feature story.
I doubt there will be a link available for that either, but subscribers to SI should be on the lookout for it.
5 comments:
Yes Sekou may be a nice renaissance kid but the future of US tennis he is not. The dad is a differnet story. His unsportmanship like conduct at tournaments has gotten him many letters to the Florida section. My son only played him twice and won both times but the dad was out of control. Are you aware of this? Seems like SI reporetrs need to do a better job at research.
I hesitate to even publish this comment because it is a)anonymous and b)completely at odds with my own experience.
I have seen Sekou's father at many, many matches of his son's and have never seen him behave remotely "out of control." Quite the opposite in fact.
I know people in the Florida section's office and they have always praised the family.
Maybe this is a case of mistaken identity?
The previous blogger is correct about SI's need to do better research. Sekou's is a nice kid. But heavily promoted too by his ambitious father. The golf stories have completely blown out of porportion by SI and others. Not only is he not a "Top 100" junior golfer as reported by SI and others he doesn't even start regularly for his high school golf team
Yes, Sekou junior is a great kid, and wonderful tennis player.
It is also true that his father is crazy during some matches. It is also true that the father has had many complaints at USTA Florida. I should know, I have sent in two complaints myself.
The father claims to have coached all these pro's....Agassi, Courier, Garner, The William Sisters and on and on. Not true. Maybe when he was a ball feeder at Bolleterri's, but that is it.
He claims that his son is top 100 in the country in golf. Not true, look up the rankings for yourself. Not only is he not in the top 100, you can't find him ranked at all. Not in the country, not in the state of Florida, not even in his district.
Having said all this, and believe me, there is so much more I could have said, maybe it takes a crazy parent to produce a great athlete. If so, Sekou Jr. will be a great tennis player.
Sekou Jr. is a very quiet, nice young man. He is a very smart tennis player. I enjoyed watching his matches, and liked to see him win. Usually his dad does nothing during his matches. But his dad can be vocal, and unsportmanship person during a close match, espeically against high ranked player. You may hear him call out different names. In two occasions, I saw the father's fingers were rubbing his ears (on different ones, at different times) when the junior looked at him. Who would know, what that meant. At this stage, Sekou Jr. is good enough to win any tough match on his own. He is smart, and mature enough to handle any situation during the match. I wish him the best.
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