Eri-Internationalsports.org in one of its first article for our website, told you the story of a young man who is excelling at a very fast pace in his tennis career. The University of Texas standout is not the only tennis player in his family. His sister Winta Woldeab was also a standout tennis player at Helix high school in San Diego. Winta Woldeab is currently part of the women’s tennis team at Columbia University. She was born and raised in Southern California, where her parents settled after immigrating from Eritrea. She comes from a very humble family. Her story serves as a motivation for many student athletes to stay committed in their academics as well as sports. To keep working hard, and following your dreams you must be truly committed to bettering yourself as a student and an athlete, Winta is such an example of that combination.
Going back to her high school days in only her second year she was chosen to be one of the top players in the district. During her incredible high school career the Helix standout reached the San Diego Section singles semifinals in just her sophomore year.
When Helix Charter High won the San Diego Section Division II team tennis title in 2017, it was the first championship in the sport in the school’s 66-year history be it boys or girls and Winta’s contribution was huge. Her coach at Helix strongly believed at the time that Winta had a great future. He went on to say, “She has a powerful and accurate serve, solid ground strokes and covers the court like a gazelle, coming to the net to unleash a wicked overhead slam or racing back to hit a sizzling backhand that barely clears the net or a lob that forces her opponent back, playing right into her hands. Winta has been playing since she was 6 and followed her brothers across the street to practice at Helix, so she is a factor on the Junior National level. An older brother Senay also played at Helix and the parents Tewolde and mother Semainesh stress education first in their household where Siem and Senay had excellent grades as they both stress academics first, resulting in a 4.8 GPA for Winta. “Coach Jay Diaz, who has been at Helix for the last 12 years, says the two boys have been among the best players he’s ever had, Winta (which means “wish” in Tigrinya, the language of Eritrea) is by far the best he’s seen.”
Eri-internationalsports.org wishes Winta much success as she continues to pursue her career in Tennis at Columbia. She chose Columbia because of its great balance between academics and tennis as he selected Columbia over offers from Harvard, Princeton, Rice, and San Diego all excellent schools.
Article and picture contribution Steve Brand & The San Diego Union Tribune & Columbia University.
Article and picture contribution Steve Brand & The San Diego Union Tribune, Columbia University.
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