people n the news family circle cup tournament hits...

The ChronicleThe Chronicle8 - April 2, 2014

PPEOPLEEOPLE IINN TTHEHE NNEWSEWSFamily Circle Cup Tournament Hits Full Stride

becoming a marvel in her owntime” luminary’s Family CircleCup throne comes from a hun-gry and talented group of chal-lengers, including Ms.Williams’ famous sister, VenusWilliams, the 2004 Cup victorand the tournament’s No. 2seed for this year, JeleenaJankovic, who won the event in2007.

This year’s tournament isloaded with more past Cup

Defending Family Circle CupChampion Serena Williamsrelaxes while entertaining ques-tions at the Tennis tournament!sAll Access Media Day on March31, 2014. photo:!Hakim Abdul-Ali

champions including NadiaPetrova, who won in 2006, andJellena Jankovic, the 2007champion, who lost to Serenain last year’s championshipmatch. Completing the formerchampion brigade’s list andready to reclaim the 2014 Cupare Sabine Lisicki, 2009’s Cupwinner, and Sam Stossur, whowon in 2010.

Seasoned pros like SoranaCirstea Sara Errani, and

Sloane Stephens are ready todo battle in their quest to winthe Cup also. Add to those stel-lar pros the names of MirjanaLucic-Baroni and BarbaraZahlavova Strycova amongmany other durable contenders,and you have a powerfulglimpse of what’s been happen-ing on Daniel Island since lastweekend with many more tick-ets available for the remainingevents and final tournament

matches. The action is electric.According to the Cup’s

advance announcements, thisyear’s event features severaleager newcomers who are morethan willing to ascend up theladder of professional tennisstratum and seeded rankings.Among them are (and were)Kiki Berten, Victoria Duval,Shelby Rogers, EugenieBouchard, Christina McHale,Grace Min, Alison Riske,Taylor Townsend andMadison Keyes. There are sev-eral other highly skilled playerswho are and were in attendancefor this event competing totheir heart’s content for the sakeof victory.

As of Monday’s action, GraceMin beat Zarina Diyas, 6-1, 6-2,in what many considered a mildupset. Madison Brengle lost toMichelle Larcher DeBrito,6-4,7-5. Taylor Townsend wasdefeated, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3, byJarmila Gajdosova.

All these winners qualified toadvance for further play in theweek’s future main matches.

North Charleston Fire Dept.Selects New Batallion Chief

Charleston Native TerrenceL. Richardson has been pro-tomed to Batallion Chief of theNorth Charleston FireDepartment. A promotionalceremony was held on March21, 2014 in the CouncilChambers at City Hall ofNorth Charleston for the fire-men that were promoted tonew positions.

Richardson began duty of thenew position on February 17,2014. He is in charge of four sta-tions on the southside of NorthCharleston and is responsiblefor incident command at thesestations. He also oversees thedaily activities and daily roster-ing of the personnel on shift.

Richardson is a 1989 graduateof Burke High School. InSeptmeber of 2011, he earned anAssociates Degree of FireScience at Columbia SouthernUniversity in Orange Beach,Alabama . He is also a marineveteran. Terrence is a memberof Cathedral of Praise onAshley Phosphate road inNorth Charleston.

Terrence L. RichardsonTerrence is married to the for-

mer Jennifer Wilson and theyhave two children, theirdaugther Olivia(15) and sonReese(10). He is the son of Joeand Mary Frances Richardson.

Carlotta Redish Elected to SCSU Board of TrusteesThe South Carolina General

Assembly elected a 25-yeareducation veteran to the SouthCarolina State UniversityBoard of Trustees. Dr.Carlotta Redish, assistantsuperintendent for Personneland Student Services forSpartanburg School DistrictSeven in Spartanburg, S.C.,joined the board on Feb. 5.Redish holds the 5th districtseat.

Dr. Carlotta Redish “I con-sider it to be an honor to serveon the board of trustees forSouth Carolina StateUniversity because of its richhistory. “Doctors, lawyers,engineers, architects, greatteachers, civic leaders andSupreme Court justices havegraduated from SouthCarolina State University,”said Redish.

“It is a stellar university, andI believe that SC State has thepotential to be the best institu-tion of higher learning in the

state of South Carolina,” shecontinued. In her current role,Redish develops managementobjectives and engages inlong-range planning in theareas of personnel and studentservices for the school district,which has more than 7,200students.

Prior to serving in theSpartanburg School District,she was employed as the asso-ciate superintendent forInstructional andAdministrative Services in theCherokee County SchoolDistrict. There she developedinstructional programs andintervention programs formore than 9,142 students.

Redish, who lives by the edu-cation philosophy, “childrenfirst,” has experience in k-12,secondary education and high-er education, which BoardChairman Dr. William Smallbelieves will be beneficial tothe board and university.

“We are pleased to have Dr.

Carlotta Redish

University of South Carolina.She later received an educa-tional specialist degree in edu-cational administration andinstructional supervision fromJacksonville State University.In 2010, she received a Doctorof Philosophy in child develop-ment-12 (educational leader-ship and policy) from theUniversity of South Carolina.

She is a member of severalaffiliations throughout thestate of South Carolina: theSouth Carolina Association ofSchool Administrators, theSouth Carolina PersonnelRoundtable, SpartanburgDowntown Rotary Club, theSouth Carolina Alliance ofBlack School Educators andthe South Carolina ReadingAlliance. Redish previouslyserved as a Content Fellow forthe University of PittsburghLearning ResearchDevelopment Center. She is amember of the Links, Inc. andJack and Jill of America.

Carlotta Redish as a memberof the board of trustees. Shebrings a vast amount of educa-tional experience to the board.Her experience, coupled withthe particular skills set of eachboard member, will prove use-ful as we continue to build astronger and increasingly rele-vant South Carolina StateUniversity,” said Small.

Redish received a Bachelorof Arts in political science andMaster of Education in sec-ondary education from the

By Hakim Abdul-Ali

Springtime is a very idyllictime of the year. And in theLowcountry that reality hitshome big time when the FamilyCircle Cup TennisTournament rolls around. Beginning this past weekendon March 29, 2014, this spectac-ular extravaganza featuringsome of the world’s best profes-sional women’s tennis playerswas already in full bloom withspirited and anticipated compe-tition. The finale is on Sunday,April 6, 2014, when this year’schampion will be crowned.

With world No. 1 and FamilyCircle Cup reigning champion,superstar Serena Williams,headlining this year’s showcaseof stars, the tennis tournamentfigures to be one of the very bestever. Serena’s presence bringsthe fans of tennis out to see herbecause of her dynamic andpotent approach to the game,setting the bar so high very fewknow what to do with her onthe tennis court.

You name it and SerenaWilliams has done it all on thetennis courts of the globe. Thewomen athletes’ all time moneywinner (more than 55 milliondollars earned), this celebratedqueen of tennis has won multi-ple Grand Slam single titles atWimbledon, the U. S. Open,the Australian and FrenchOpens among her numerousother single and doubles hon-ors added to her splendid pro-fessional athletic resume.

Thus far the crowds at theFamily Circle Cup have been abuzz over the 32-year-old Ms.Williams, who’s also a four timeOlympc gold medalist (threetimes in doubles to go alongwith a single title, posibility ofcapturing her third in a rowtitle. She previously won in 2012and 2013. The expectation ishigh for Serena Williams who,naturally, entered the touna-ment listed as No. 1 and is thetournament’s top seed.

It’s to be noted that Serenaalso won in 2008, and the maincompetition for “this fast

Sloane Stephens in amoment of reflection beforeanswering questions at theAll Access Media Day at theFamily Circle Cup TennisTournament. photo:!Hakim Abdul-Ali

Young Tennis star MadisonKeys answers questionsafter qualifying match victo-ry at the Family Circle Cupon March 31, 2014

photo:!Hakim Abdul-Ali

see pg 5B