I think secret of my longevity is that I
haven’t really been hit that much my
style of fighting is that boxer which is
more movement
and I don’t brawl with a person so I’m
not really exchanging these punches and
getting hit a lot and I feel that’s one
of the main reasons why I’m still in
this game my father is a dancer and he
still teaches dance and growing up I
always wanted to be a dancer emulate my
father and my goal in life was to be
that prima ballerina even though there
were no black prima ballerinas around I
was going to be the first for me dance
was always telling a story without words
you know if you’re sad you’re happy
watching it will change how you feel and
that resonated with me as a young child
because I was shy growing up so for me
not to say anything but to tell you
everything that’s what dance meant to me
[Music]
[Music]
to become a grandmaster was a big dream
of mine when I was growing up it turned
out there were no black grandmasters
around which doesn’t make any sense
I wasn’t bent on becoming the first
black Grandmaster I wanted to become a
grandmaster that’s what mattered I was a
fan of all these great players through
history and the word Grandmaster just
resonates no matter where you are in the
world but in chess it’s just you know
goo the gods of Mount Olympus he’s good
I’m sure I’m going to lose the first
game you all come together to visit my
dad on a Sunday he would cook us
pancakes and we’d sit around and play
all kinds of games that he was a great
games player he was sharp
he’s always predicting different things
in games and explaining to us the logic
of how you figure things out and not
really got us into the seriousness of
games in the analytical side of games
and trying to play well and not just
horsing around and putting putting
pieces down or putting dominoes down if
you made a mistake we’d all call you on
it and we’re really thinking about
exactly what we should be doing so that
was important to us and I think that was
a big part of us being more competitive
and learning to be analytic in
everything we did my family is highly
competitive and it’s just something that
as a youngster I knew that I just want
to beat my brother’s I think that’s it I
think
just growing up with these older
brothers who are always doing something
and I was the only girl I was the
youngest child and I wanted to run with
the boys you know you can’t tell me that
I couldn’t do what you’re doing
my brother Maurice was a year older than
me he was in every class before me and
if I went into that class the teacher
would say oh yeah maurices sister oh and
no he’s such a great student if I got an
ID he had gotten a 95 so I always tried
to beat him
Venetia was shy it took unleash a while
even to get out of her shell she was
always the baby sister she was always
the one who had to protect she was the
one who played the worst I remember in
the games national fishing she’s she’s
maybe the most competitive of all of us
[Music]
me being in that ring with someone is
being able to move that piece along
which is my opponent to the spot we’re
not just kidding me against you it’s
pitting me against how I can control
whatever you do
I came to America when I was 12 years
old and my mother had raised enough
money I also figured out getting our
papers getting our green card in place
so that she could bring us all up I knew
I had a mom I knew my mom existed I saw
her a few times
but to actually finally know that I was
going to live with her be with her be
raised by her be in the same house with
her was a dream it’s really a dream come
true and I remember bragging to my
friends in Jamaica that I was going to
go to the United States and live the
life and when we came to United States I
had lots of hopes that we’re gonna live
in a penthouse apartment with a pool on
the roof I remember when we got on the
airport and we were driving down the
boulevard and I saw a garbage on the
streets that I didn’t expect and then we
pull up to this two-story building and
on the corner or four burnt-out
buildings I looked around was like burnt
out buildings garbage on the street ugly
looking building robots of living and I
look at my mother and I said who are we
visiting and she was so hurt by the line
she looked at me she said this is we
gonna live
my mom raised us as a single parents you
know that you had to do everything for
yourself
my mom is working I have to go to school
come home do everything that you want
done get it done so I think growing up I
was self-sufficient and always had a
purpose Roundhill was just gunshots
every night that’s what I remember
I’d be inside studying chess and the
gunshots would be going off somewhere
you could hear them off in the distance
it’s like the drug dealers were letting
everybody know who runs the neighborhood
and he just wanted to be inside you had
to be inside I think that chests allowed
me to focus on something when that
environment was just disgusting to be
I wasn’t outside all the time went to
school went to dance came back home
study and so the cycle continues
Oh
my story’s funny getting from dance to
boxing I had no interest in boxing
growing up and it wasn’t until I was
injured I tore my meniscus and that
stopped my dance career completely I was
I was studying at Alvin Ailey’s I was
dancing six to eight hours per day and I
couldn’t do that anymore
I went back to school to get my college
degree and just to keep in shape I
started doing karate and for me dance is
performance it’s all about performing
and every other sport for me is the same
critical game that made me finally cross
the divide was against an international
masters name is adria nicholas KO from
romania and i remember that afternoon
and I was ironing and in the process of
ironing I thought about my grandmother
who had passed on and I remembered she
used to always say jack of all trades
master of none and I always saw it like
a curse
so this burden of this phrase on my head
and then all of a sudden it occurred to
me that it wasn’t a curse and that she
was saying it out of love and right at
the moment when I realized that this
this burden I put on myself that that
would always come close but never really
succeed and I realized how stupid I was
to have this thought and that this is
woman who had long since been dead was
was just cajoling me to be excellent it
should be focused and would be great at
what you do I dropped iron I started
crying and I got myself together picked
myself up and went to the game and I was
playing the game and I remember
somewhere around mu 14 I just had this
incredible sense of calm come over
and it was like you know what no matter
what happens I’m going to be okay I
don’t when today it’ll be another
tournament I still have another game the
next day so it would be the next day and
I was just so calm it was eerie I play
the game and just beat him easily I
don’t feel like I’m 48 I don’t know what
48 is supposed to feel like I feel like
one foot in the grave I don’t think so
I’m not beat up so I will be fighting in
my fifties that much I know
[Music]
[Music]
I never want to sit still I never want
to be who I was yesterday
forget a year ago I don’t want to want
to be who I was yesterday I always want
to have some insight the next day that
says that’s interesting
Wow I mean think of it like that what
did I learn today that’s a big question
for me what did I learn today
[Music]
[Music]
haven’t really been hit that much my
style of fighting is that boxer which is
more movement
and I don’t brawl with a person so I’m
not really exchanging these punches and
getting hit a lot and I feel that’s one
of the main reasons why I’m still in
this game my father is a dancer and he
still teaches dance and growing up I
always wanted to be a dancer emulate my
father and my goal in life was to be
that prima ballerina even though there
were no black prima ballerinas around I
was going to be the first for me dance
was always telling a story without words
you know if you’re sad you’re happy
watching it will change how you feel and
that resonated with me as a young child
because I was shy growing up so for me
not to say anything but to tell you
everything that’s what dance meant to me
[Music]
[Music]
to become a grandmaster was a big dream
of mine when I was growing up it turned
out there were no black grandmasters
around which doesn’t make any sense
I wasn’t bent on becoming the first
black Grandmaster I wanted to become a
grandmaster that’s what mattered I was a
fan of all these great players through
history and the word Grandmaster just
resonates no matter where you are in the
world but in chess it’s just you know
goo the gods of Mount Olympus he’s good
I’m sure I’m going to lose the first
game you all come together to visit my
dad on a Sunday he would cook us
pancakes and we’d sit around and play
all kinds of games that he was a great
games player he was sharp
he’s always predicting different things
in games and explaining to us the logic
of how you figure things out and not
really got us into the seriousness of
games in the analytical side of games
and trying to play well and not just
horsing around and putting putting
pieces down or putting dominoes down if
you made a mistake we’d all call you on
it and we’re really thinking about
exactly what we should be doing so that
was important to us and I think that was
a big part of us being more competitive
and learning to be analytic in
everything we did my family is highly
competitive and it’s just something that
as a youngster I knew that I just want
to beat my brother’s I think that’s it I
think
just growing up with these older
brothers who are always doing something
and I was the only girl I was the
youngest child and I wanted to run with
the boys you know you can’t tell me that
I couldn’t do what you’re doing
my brother Maurice was a year older than
me he was in every class before me and
if I went into that class the teacher
would say oh yeah maurices sister oh and
no he’s such a great student if I got an
ID he had gotten a 95 so I always tried
to beat him
Venetia was shy it took unleash a while
even to get out of her shell she was
always the baby sister she was always
the one who had to protect she was the
one who played the worst I remember in
the games national fishing she’s she’s
maybe the most competitive of all of us
[Music]
me being in that ring with someone is
being able to move that piece along
which is my opponent to the spot we’re
not just kidding me against you it’s
pitting me against how I can control
whatever you do
I came to America when I was 12 years
old and my mother had raised enough
money I also figured out getting our
papers getting our green card in place
so that she could bring us all up I knew
I had a mom I knew my mom existed I saw
her a few times
but to actually finally know that I was
going to live with her be with her be
raised by her be in the same house with
her was a dream it’s really a dream come
true and I remember bragging to my
friends in Jamaica that I was going to
go to the United States and live the
life and when we came to United States I
had lots of hopes that we’re gonna live
in a penthouse apartment with a pool on
the roof I remember when we got on the
airport and we were driving down the
boulevard and I saw a garbage on the
streets that I didn’t expect and then we
pull up to this two-story building and
on the corner or four burnt-out
buildings I looked around was like burnt
out buildings garbage on the street ugly
looking building robots of living and I
look at my mother and I said who are we
visiting and she was so hurt by the line
she looked at me she said this is we
gonna live
my mom raised us as a single parents you
know that you had to do everything for
yourself
my mom is working I have to go to school
come home do everything that you want
done get it done so I think growing up I
was self-sufficient and always had a
purpose Roundhill was just gunshots
every night that’s what I remember
I’d be inside studying chess and the
gunshots would be going off somewhere
you could hear them off in the distance
it’s like the drug dealers were letting
everybody know who runs the neighborhood
and he just wanted to be inside you had
to be inside I think that chests allowed
me to focus on something when that
environment was just disgusting to be
I wasn’t outside all the time went to
school went to dance came back home
study and so the cycle continues
Oh
my story’s funny getting from dance to
boxing I had no interest in boxing
growing up and it wasn’t until I was
injured I tore my meniscus and that
stopped my dance career completely I was
I was studying at Alvin Ailey’s I was
dancing six to eight hours per day and I
couldn’t do that anymore
I went back to school to get my college
degree and just to keep in shape I
started doing karate and for me dance is
performance it’s all about performing
and every other sport for me is the same
critical game that made me finally cross
the divide was against an international
masters name is adria nicholas KO from
romania and i remember that afternoon
and I was ironing and in the process of
ironing I thought about my grandmother
who had passed on and I remembered she
used to always say jack of all trades
master of none and I always saw it like
a curse
so this burden of this phrase on my head
and then all of a sudden it occurred to
me that it wasn’t a curse and that she
was saying it out of love and right at
the moment when I realized that this
this burden I put on myself that that
would always come close but never really
succeed and I realized how stupid I was
to have this thought and that this is
woman who had long since been dead was
was just cajoling me to be excellent it
should be focused and would be great at
what you do I dropped iron I started
crying and I got myself together picked
myself up and went to the game and I was
playing the game and I remember
somewhere around mu 14 I just had this
incredible sense of calm come over
and it was like you know what no matter
what happens I’m going to be okay I
don’t when today it’ll be another
tournament I still have another game the
next day so it would be the next day and
I was just so calm it was eerie I play
the game and just beat him easily I
don’t feel like I’m 48 I don’t know what
48 is supposed to feel like I feel like
one foot in the grave I don’t think so
I’m not beat up so I will be fighting in
my fifties that much I know
[Music]
[Music]
I never want to sit still I never want
to be who I was yesterday
forget a year ago I don’t want to want
to be who I was yesterday I always want
to have some insight the next day that
says that’s interesting
Wow I mean think of it like that what
did I learn today that’s a big question
for me what did I learn today
[Music]
[Music]
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