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Goddess Nike, inspiration of the Pacific Northwest Senior Women's team
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Pacific Northwest Women's Team
© Garrett Ellwood
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By Tamara Ramos, USTA.com
Indian Wells, Calif. - In Greek mythology, Nike was a goddess who personified triumph throughout the ages of the ancient Greek culture. She is known as the Winged Goddess of Victory and is the inspiration to the Senior 3.5 team from Richland, WA.
After winning their region in May and earning a spot in the Pacific Northwest Senior Section Championship, captain, Judy Baston took a vacation from tennis. She travelled throughout Turkey and Greece. Everywhere she went the image of this beautiful winged goddess was seen in carvings, murals, statues and coins.
As Judy learned more about Nike, she felt the goddess could be an inspiration to her Senior 3.5 team back home. They were certainly familiar with Nike Inc. being from the Northwest and the women all sport the famous swoosh on their team uniform, but Judy wanted to pass along a little of the Nike goddess symbolism to her team.
While in a small shop in Delphi, Greece, she noticed a tiny figurine, actually sitting in the hand of a larger statue. It was a tiny bronze Nike Goddess of Victory. She immediately fell in love with it but purchasing just one for the team wouldn’t suffice. She wanted all of the team to have their own to carry in their bag. The shopkeeper offered to hand-make 15 of the tiny statues and ship them to her back in the states.
The Nike Goddesses arrived just in time to join the team at their Section Championship where they were victorious. Of course, Nike has travelled this weekend to Indian Wells and was held tight in the hand of captain, Judy as she watched her team win their 3rd set tie breakers and secure a 3-0 record. At dinner tonight, co-captain Lea Hawkins vows to place Nike in the center of the table as they strategize for their semi-final match on Sunday.
The goddess Nike is seen with wings in most statues and paintings, to remind people that victory is fleeting. So far the women from the Pacific Northwest are savoring their victories and hoping for two more on Sunday.