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Coria and the girl from Japan

5K views 14 replies 10 participants last post by  alita 
#1 ·
I first want to thank Fedeze14 for his help in this, because something really special happened today I wanted to share with you all.

In yet another story of how tennis reaches outside the lines, here is a story that involves a certain player who has now been sidelined away from the game for as long as his amazing 3 year run of top 8 finishes from 2003-2005. But such is the imprint El Mago leaves in his tracks (as we all know!!) :) :worship:

The first part is relevant, which is that the KingCoria site I run is the only english-language Guillermo Coria site on the web. So to the point, I received an email a few weeks back... and like many things we get on the web telling a story of woe, I thought it was a prank or a virus. But as I read the letter over, and then over again, I began to believe it was entirely real. The details were too specific, and the desperation a little too palpable.

A woman was writing from Japan that her young daughter had cancer, and had only 1 month to live. During her time in the hospital, the daughter had been watching tapes of Coria's inventive racquet-magic play from 2003-05, and using it as inspiration for her own battle. Knowing Coria was also out with troubles of his own over the past few years, she proceeded to sit in her bed watching, while making 1,000 paper birds, which is believed in Japan to bring good luck.

The mother wanted to grant her daughter this last dream to come true, and so since she only spoke Japanese & English, the KingCoria site was her only way of making contact. Since I don't have direct access to reaching him, I went on a trial-laden search of non-answers including sending this to the contacts I had at Forocoria & MySpaceCoria & others. But the month was nearly up this week, and fimally I decided to try another tact. I knew our very own Fedeze14 was actively involved with Forocoria & that since he spoke spanish, he would do a better job than I could.

Well alas, he put me through to the moderator there and we finally REACHED Guillermo, spoke with the woman in Japan over the phone, and arranged to deliver the 1,000 birds to Coria. Meanwhile, Guille is, as I type, scanning personal pictures to send to this poor girl, who from the pictures from her mom looks to be about 10-12 years old.

I am really touched by all of this, as it was quite dramatic as we neared the one month mark since I had received the initial correspondence, and was not sure if the girl was even still alive at this point. After weeks of dead-ends, including connecting the mother to the Vilas Racquet Club in Buenos Aires (where Guille is known to practice, but where they only spoke Spanish, so nothing happened), this last-ditch effort finally found a way through!! The 'month' was almost up!! But a dream did come true today. :)
 
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#2 ·
Wow, that really is a beautiful and touching story, thanks for posting it. Just further proof (if it were even needed) of what a great guy Guille is. :) That must have brought real comfort and hopefully some happiness to that girl in her last days.

That makes me really proud to be Guille's fan...:sobbing:
Best wishes to the girl and her family!
 
#3 ·
That's such a nice "story"! Well, it's not a story, I just can't find a better word. There have been other stories likes these as regards to disabled people and the like, with their attraction to Guillermo. Guille seems to be a guy that struggling people can identify with, although there are other tennis players in the same situation. It's just different with Guille. It's a big thing to do something nice for people. Thanks daze and fedeze.

and there's no power or strength except with God. Hopefully the girls last days will be painless and happy =)
 
#5 ·
Hi!! everybody! I´m Barbara the moderator of forocoria!!
When I read the mail about Mai, I promised the family and Mai, that I would make her dream come true, So I talked with some tennis players, a tennis player in particular, that is a friend of mine and helped me so much, because he talked with Guillermo coria Coach. Another tennis player was chatting with me and at the same time with Coria, so Coria told him this " please give to Barbara My e-mail and say to her that she writes me as soon as possible" So that night I sent to him an E-mail and yesterday he responded me and made Maia dream come true. jajjaaj He asked me to translate his Mail to english because he can´t speak english at all jajaj he is very funny and sweet as well. So this story has a happy ending. And I wanna thanks Guillermo Coria, forocoria, my friend Mariano, those reporters who helped me too, another tennis players as well.. everybody!!!!!

Thank you stavo too, because without you, this wouldn´t have happened, you are the person who let me to contact with Mai.

Thank you!!!!! thank you fede!!!! I Love you:)
 
#6 · (Edited)
here is finally the story at tennisweek...they started to write it but then said i should write it 'first person' instead.
http://www.tennisweek.com/news/fullstory.sps?inewsid=6628323
:)
Wow, I didnt know the part about you chatting with a player who was also chatting with guille! That's terrific, would have been great for the story! jaja... i guess we'll just have to deal with it as-is, however!!


Coria And The Girl Who Made Paper Birds Take Flight By Stavo Craft
Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Every once in a while, there is a story of how tennis reaches outside the lines and bleeds into peoples lives in ways you might never expect. Such a story began to unfold when I received an email a month ago at KingCoria.com, a site I created as a way for English-language fans and media to get the kinds of detail about a magician of tennis, Guillermo Coria, which would otherwise only be available to the Spanish-speaking public.

Little did I know how creating that bridge would open the door to the kind of drama that has taken place over the course of the last few weeks. Considering this story also concerns a player who has now been out of the limelight for as long as his three-year run in the top ten of men’s tennis, it is an especially moving testament to the unusual degree of impact the Argentine maestro has engendered. While Guillermo Coria has not reached a semifinal round match since 2005, the bridge he has already built reaches across continents.

Proof arrived on February 27, when I received an email out of the blue, and like many things we get on the web telling stories of woe, I thought it was a prank or a virus. But as I read the letter over, and then over again, I began to believe it was entirely real. The details were too specific, and the desperation a little too palpable.

A woman was writing from Japan that her young daughter had cancer, and that doctors said she had only one month to live. During her time in the hospital, the daughter had been watching match tapes from three and four years prior of Coria's inventive brand of racquet-magic trickery, and using it as inspiration for her own battle; a call and a will to fight.

Knowing Coria was also out with troubles of his own over the past few years, she proceeded, even in her own state of peril, to sit in her bed watching Guillermo’s resourceful play, while making 1,000 paper origami birds. An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand cranes will be granted a wish to bring good luck.

Out of respect for the privacy of the family, I will not divulge much of the details of the correspondence, or the names of those involved, but what the mother desired was to grant her daughter this one last dream to come true. And as she only spoke Japanese and English, the KingCoria site was her only way of making contact. She simply wanted her daughter to know she had found a way to get these handmade birds to her hero.

Since I don't have direct access to reaching Guillermo Coria, I went on a trial-laden search of non-answers from a number of sources I had been in touch with over the years. I had largely given up, though I did connect the mother to the Vilas Racquet Club in Buenos Aires where Guille is known to spend time practicing, but the language barrier there stood in the way of any real communication.

As the month came nearly to an end, something made me go back to the email, and although I had already tried to reach a contact I had at Forocoria — a Spanish language site where Coria himself had posted messages to fans in the past — I decided to make one last ditch effort by approaching someone from Argentina that I often tennis chat with, who I also knew was connected to that website. Likewise judging that the content of the email was for real, he put me in touch with the site moderator, Barbara Hopital.

Barbara is the real hero in this, as when I finally reached her, she held strongly to the conviction, "We must make her dream come true!" and she sent out a litany of emails to track down El Mago. As he naturally doesn't always respond to or read emails sent from websites, and none of us really knew where in the world (literally) he even was at this time, our prospects were uncertain. I was not even entirely sure this young girl was still alive.

But motivated by hope, in what now seems like a meteoric day, we finally REACHED Guillermo, who immediately responded by scanning personal pictures to send to this far-away fan in need, knowing there may be only days left. Barbara called the mother’s cell to share the exciting news and made arrangements to deliver the 1,000 paper cranes to El Mago. Meanwhile, Guille wrote her a personal email that Barbara could translate for her into English.

Now, in the past few days there have been times when this brave girl from Japan has not been able to wake, but at the time of writing, I am happy to say she is still holding on. But I take great consolation in knowing that she has given and received a special gift, and a brush with real magic: that divine connection of inspiration in creativity, and acknowledgment in reciprocation. Despite the hype we give to all the great contests of the world, it is on the most intimate personal stages that the real battles are waged, and what it is all really about.

Needless to say, the ball is still in the court for everyone today who is reading this. And I know I am writing in a time of questions and hardship. But for what it’s worth in a microcosm, at the cusp of a month’s end, and after weeks of futility, some adventurers found a way through. And clearly a dream came true today.

Returning finally to the earth-bound world of tennis and the battles of the day, it so happens that Mr. Coria, quite by chance, has tentatively been considering playing an indoor event (his first of 2009) in the Kyoto Challenger of Japan, which starts March 9.

And so, the story for one of our sport’s true but wandering magicians will continue from there, with thoughts from us all to a little girl who has made paper birds take flight.
 
#11 ·
Awww, what a cute story :hearts:

:yeah: for Guille!
 
#14 ·
i kinda like what the tennisweek editor said, so i will share that comment;

'Really sad to hear... But I believe - and hope she would too - that to put out that much heart and soul has to help tip the karmic scales toward peace and hope for her and us all...'

aren't people amazing? :yeah:

just for the record, the mother in her original email thought she was not going to live to the end of february, so I am happy she did get a few extra weeks...which also had many highlights in them. :)
 
#15 · (Edited)
It's really touching. Thanks for sharing.
It's good of people who're trying to make this little girl's dream come true. and it's sad to hear the bad news, hopefully the little left peaceful in her last day..
 
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