After a quick bite to eat and homework, he was in bed by 9 - and ready to do it all again the next day. That nine-year-old Roddick dreaming with a racket grew into a high schooler who was up at 5 a.m., practicing by 7, home by 2 p.m., then practicing until 7 that evening. He knows firsthand that in order for an opportunity to turn into a victory, self-discipline needs to be there, too. Today, Roddick encourages that same gritty tenacity in kids involved with the Foundation. I kept trying, even though it didn’t always turn up roses.” “But I think the way I handled it - the way I got up off the mat and went after it again each time - earned respect. “I think a big part of my history is defined by the victory I couldn’t get - the stuff with Federer and Wimbledon,” he says. But another characteristic also became synonymous with Roddick: perseverance. That humility and self-deprecating sense of humor combined with his fierce athleticism endeared Roddick to millions. There, I’d see one of our kids whose father didn’t come home or whose family was struggling to pay bills that month. I would have a heartbreaking loss at Wimbledon and feel sorry for myself for about one plane ride back to the States before getting home and heading to the Foundation. “There was always a sense of perspective. “I think I was lucky to have the Foundation’s work when I was young,” Roddick says. And the entire time, the Foundation was an anchor. 1 rankings, top 10 consistency, Davis Cup team leadership, and record-setting 155 mph serves stunned and thrilled the world, he also faced challenges and gut-wrenching defeats. While over the next several years, Roddick’s No. A charismatic new force in tennis had officially arrived. In 2003 at just 20 years old, he clinched two Masters titles and then won the U.S. The Foundation was still in its infancy when Roddick’s career skyrocketed. There is no such thing as a bad philanthropic effort, but trying to change the course of someone’s life as opposed to picking up the pieces afterwards did appeal to me. I had parents who gave me every opportunity to find my thing––that thing I was passionate about––very early on. “It’s what I could relate to the most,” Roddick says of his decision to make children the focus of the Foundation. So at just 18, Roddick launched the Andy Roddick Foundation. I wish I hadn’t waited so long to start my foundation, Agassi had said. As he stared down a future rife with pressure and expectations surrounding his jump into the world he’d been working toward his whole life, he remembered some advice his hero Andre Agassi had given him when Roddick had asked the legend whether or not he had any regrets. 1 ranked Junior tennis player in the world. Roddick was still a teenager himself when he decided to help kids. “One of them looked at Keith and said, ‘I can’t believe you actually can have a job doing this!’” He laughs and adds, “That’s the moment we want.” “We had Keith Kreeger, an artist who makes this amazing pottery and has his dinnerware in a lot of the big restaurants in town, come out and do a workshop with the kids,” Roddick remembers. The Foundation extends and broadens learning possibilities and puts students face-to-face with a broad range of local professionals, from scientists, chefs, and artists, to politicians and financial advisors during “Career Field Trips” to places such as Austin City Hall and PricewaterhouseCoopers. “Kids that have access to great opportunities don’t miss a beat when they go back to school, but those who don’t are playing catch up.” “The biggest learning gaps take place during the summer months,” Roddick explains. By creating its own nationally acclaimed summer camps, equipping other afterschool and summer camps, and impacting change for every single kid, the Foundation is creating new chances for kids to grow in literacy, STEM, art, and sports - all during months and times of day when statistics show they’re typically most at risk and falling behind. Roddick is talking about the kids participating in activities orchestrated by the Andy Roddick Foundation, his Austin, Texas-based nonprofit working to take the time children spend outside the classroom and turn it into real opportunities. And we’re going to give them every chance to find it.” That’s the moment we’re trying to hit with these kids. “That moment I had at nine, when I picked up a tennis racket and it clicked with me - it built my self-esteem and gave me a sense of self-worth at a young age because I could do something well. “Let’s expose these kids to everything, and let’s hope something sticks with them,” Roddick says. It turns out that one of the greatest tennis players of all time was born not just to pursue his own passion, but to help others discover theirs. These days, he’s devoted his life to recreating that moment, over and over again - but not for himself. Andy Roddick was nine years old when he realized what he was born to do.
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