2022 Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Spotlight: Binh Tran

When my grandparents emigrated from Vietnam, they came with four kids, a bag of clothes and a dream. Though they came here with mostly physical assets, the dream was fully hypothetical. They were unsure what was to come and the only thing present to help was the drive to survive. As refugees of war, they were extremely poor and everything they ever knew in their life was left back home. 

For the first few years of being in the States, my grandmother would work long days while my mother, her siblings and my grandfather were in school getting an education. After a long school day, they would come home to help my grandma sew and repair clothing as a way to put food on the table. Growing up, my mother and her siblings were very limited to leisure but the one activity that held them together was the game of tennis, due to the inclusiveness of the sport. 

Before coming to the states, my grandfather was in an accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. Though the accident crippled him physically, mentally he overcame unthinkable obstacles and continued pioneering the success of himself and his family. My grandfather would spend hours out on the tennis court, making sure his kids learned the game and excelled. Understanding and overcoming the mental struggles of the sport pushed them to realize that anything is achievable.

Among her siblings, my mother was the only one to carry the game into her adult life. After dominating Varsity tennis in high school, she carried her skills into USTA league play as she entered her adult life. In her tennis career, she’s dominated many tournaments in both singles and doubles at both the 3.5 and 4.0 levels. I often was brought along which eventually led me to picking up the game. With the amazing connections my mother was able to make, I was able to receive training from some of the best coaches in the state of Texas. Most of this wouldn’t have been possible without the help of entities such as The Asian Olympics & USTA. They paved the way for many asian americans and their families to future success.