ANNIKA Blog

ANNIKA Foundation joins the 1-year anniversary celebration of Healthy 100 Kids

On Friday, July 22, the ANNIKA Foundation joined the 1-year anniversary celebration of Healthy 100 Kids, a children’s wellness initiative powered by Florida Hospital for Children, on the lawn outside the new Walt Disney Pavilion. Participants and families of the program gathered for the celebration, enjoying healthy snacks, fresh lemonade and beautiful weather. As ambassador for Healthy 100 Kids, Annika signed autographs, joined participants in a mini-workout and spoke to the children about the importance of being active and healthy. The ANNIKA Foundation is proud to be a part of this initiative, which has positively impacted more than 300 Central Florida families to date.

My secret to an Effortless Swing

One of the most common questions I have been asked throughout my professional career is related to my swing. The most popular question is, “Your swing looks so effortless; where do you get your power from?” I also hear, “How do you have such a repetitive swing, even under pressure?” Those are the types of questions and comments that led me to believe I should share all my tips here with you.

ANNIKA On Air - In case you missed it

Our little guy

It’s been a while since we gave you an update on our little guy, Will, so I thought it was time to fill you in on some recent changes. He has now been home for 2 months and it feels like the time has just flown by. He is four-months-old, weighs 11 pounds and is 21 inches long. We have been going to a few follow-up appointments and the doctors are giving him the thumbs up! We still get anxious at each appointment but the doctors continue to give us positive results which, as you can imagine, is so encouraging and exciting. He is maturing and developing nicely and as the doctors say, “he doesn’t know he is a preemie” so we will not remind him. Our fingers continue to be crossed that he continues to progress so well. He eats about every three hours and we are delighted that he is starting to miss a feeding at night. That, of course, means more sleep for us and here’s hoping we will be a little less sleep deprived!

Ava loves her little brother and it is so cute to see the interaction between the two. He responds positively to her, which encourages her to want to stay around him and tell him more stories. I just can’t even imagine how much fun they will have when they are both a little older!

Below are some recent photos of our little man. Thank you again for all of the support and courage that you continue to send our way. It has made a world of difference and every time we look at our son, we are constantly reminded that he is a miracle. THANK YOU!

Healthy 100 Kids celebrates first birthday with Annika

By Marni Jameson, Orlando Sentinel 4:19 p.m. EDT, July 18, 2011

How can something growing get smaller? When it's a program successfully treating childhood obesity. As the Healthy 100 Kids Program at Florida Hospital for Children approaches its first birthday, the community is invited to celebrate the program's shrinking success. To date, 300 families have joined the kids' wellness program. Of those youths involved for at least six months, 75 percent have reduced their BMI and 24 percent have maintained theirs.

Program ambassador and Hall of Fame golfer Annika Sorenstam will kick off the free birthday event, and take part in the fun, refreshments and entertainment from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Friday at the hospital. Community members, patients and friends are invited to the event.

Here are some other milestones the program is proud of: Of the 178 patients involved in the program for six months or more, 50 percent have decreased their waist circumference and 35 percent have lower fasting insulin levels, according to hospital spokeswoman Sara Channing. A comprehensive pediatric wellness initiative, Healthy 100 Kids helps children and their families battle obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and other health and lifestyle issues. In the last 30 years, the number of children in the United States who are overweight or obese has doubled, from 15 percent in the 1970s to nearly 30 percent today. In kids — as well as adults — excess weight can bring on high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, asthma, heart disease and depression.

If you go Where: Walt Disney Pavilion Lawn (in front of Florida Hospital for Children), 601 E. Rollins St. When: 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 22 RSVP: 407-303-KIDS (5437) by Tuesday, July 19

ANNIKA Academy to host LPGA Workshop

Tomorrow is going to be an eventful and exciting day at the ANNIKA Academy, as we are hosting the LPGA Southeast Section Workshop. My sister and Director of Golf Operations at the Academy, Charlotta, along with Kai Fusser, the Director of Fitness at the Academy and Mark Bereza, Academy Instructor and Certified Callaway Club fitter, will be presenting their techniques and philosophies on teaching, fitness and club fitting to 20 LPGA Professionals. It is an all-day event that the staff is very much looking forward to. They are taking a hands-on approach to the seminar and will really allow the Professionals to learn a lot while experiencing all that the Academy has to offer while we continue to Share our Passion. The instructors are looking forward to showcasing how simple and efficient the golf swing and workout can be, enabling the student to reach their full potential in a fun, consistent manner. They also will teach new exercises and drills to help improve specific aspects of an individual’s game. It will be a fun and busy day; we will post photos for you to check-out after the seminar is over!
 
Have a great week!   

Annika's Take: A rollercoaster U.S. Women's Open

The 66th U.S. Women's Open, which I think is the greatest championship in women's golf, turned out to be a strange week. It was very special for me to be on the grounds at the Broadmoor East Golf Course in Colorado Springs for a couple of days last week, since this was where I won my first LPGA event -- and my first major, and first U.S. Open -- back in 1995. The Broadmoor is a great venue and the course was in perfect condition for this year's event. It was set up to be a difficult test; the longest in tournament history at over 7,000 yards, and with a tough layout and fast, undulating greens that were extremely difficult to read. Like most other people, I thought it set up perfectly for a long hitter, and in my mind, world No. 1 Yani Tseng had a great chance to become the youngest player to earn a career Grand Slam with a win. That was before all the weather delays started.

In all, I think play was stopped for thunder and lightning five times and twice for darkness. All that stopping and starting and stopping and starting becomes very, very difficult not just physically but also mentally for the contestants. The toughest part, as a player, is not knowing--not knowing when you're going to get to play, how many holes you're going to get to play, how the course is going to play differently since the last time you were told to stop, and so on. That wears on your psyche. The players who do well under those circumstances are the ones who have tons of patience and don't get stuck in their decision-making but just allow themselves to go with the flow. In Yani's case, I think she just wanted it too badly. There was a lot of pressure on her for a young lady. With all the interruptions, I don't think she was ever able to really get it going, especially on the greens.

The two players who ended up fighting it out in the playoff on Monday, Korea's So Yeon Ryu and Hee Kyung Seo, weren't very long hitters but they both played solid, steady golf and putted really well. They looked confident on the greens and made the putting look simple, which says a lot about the way they were playing. So distance turned out to be a smaller factor in this tournament than I predicted it would; in the end, it was all about the short game.

Angela Stanford had a very odd week. She essentially had to play two rounds a day both Friday and Sunday, and didn't get to play any golf at all Thursday and Saturday. She started off great and then must have just gotten worn out at the end on Sunday. She began to hit a lot of shots low and left, which usually means your legs are tired. But I also noticed in looking at her previous stats that she's never had a good final nine in the U.S. Open.

It was a rough tournament for Paula Creamer as well; she played better than the rest of the field all week from tee  to green but just couldn't get the ball in the hole. Another player who had a tough time on the greens was Michelle Wie--she averaged over 34 putts per round. In general, Michelle was the biggest disappointment of the week for me. We keep talking about her potential, but that only goes so far. Now it's time to talk about experience and the mental part when it comes to Michelle, and that's the part of her game she has yet to showcase. Sometimes I get the sense she was more into golf before she started college. She seems to be going backward; she began to play in majors at the age of 12 and almost seemed more focused when she was in high school than she does now. I sometimes wonder if friends and other things are more fun for her now than golf is. And there's nothing wrong with that, it just makes me think she was pushed too hard to excel too soon. But we'll see what happens after she graduates; it's still true that she has more potential than anyone.

It was unfortunate that this great event, the only one slated for network TV coverage this season, with the same announcers who make watching the men's U.S. Open so much fun, ended up having such bad luck with the weather. It would have been nice to be able to watch more of the golf live on TV, and for there to have been a Sunday finish. But even though it ultimately came down to two Korean players that most Americans aren't very familiar with fighting it out in a playoff, Monday's action was an exciting end to the competition. To have the leader of the tournament, Seo, finish Sunday, and three players able to catch her come out and finish their rounds Monday morning made for some aggressive golf. Cristie Kerr, Angela Stanford and Ryu knew exactly what they had to do, and Ryu did it. That probably gave her an advantage in the playoff against Seo as well.

Having two great young Korean players duke it out for the U.S. Open trophy just points to how global this sport has become, and that the growth of the game all over the world is continuing. They've made some great efforts on the other side of the globe to get girls to play golf. They're getting results, and we can learn from the way they're doing it.

Lastly, as the winner of the last 18-hole U.S. Women's open playoff ever played (against Pat Hurst at Newport CC in Rhode Island in 2006; the USGA changed the rule after that year), I wholeheartedly endorse the shorter, three-hole playoff. After playing 72 holes on the toughest course in the game, there's no need to go 18 more. Three holes, aggregate score, is perfect. And winning it with two birdies, the way Ryu did, leaves no doubt about who deserves the trophy.

 

Webcast #2 a success!

Hello!  I hope everybody is having a great week.  We hosted our second webcast yesterday afternoon at the ANNIKA Academy.  We were grateful the topic was one that kept us inside as it was quite the storm out there!

The topic this month was Club Fitting so I was joined by Mark Bereza, a certified club fitter and instructor at the Academy.  I hope some of you were able to watch as Mark explained the Callaway Performance Analysis System, which is the system we use to measure your club head and golf ball speeds, launch angle, back-spin, side angle, club path and attack angles.  After I hit a few balls, Mark helped select a club that was better suited for me and my swing.  Sure enough, once I changed clubs, there was a difference in the direction and distance of my next swings.  All-in-all, it was a success!   I hope those who were able to tune-in learned a thing or two from watching.  I also hope to see all of you out at my Academy sometime soon.  If I wasn’t able to answer your question during the webcast, please leave it in the comments and I will do my best to get to it now that there is more time.

Enjoy the photos and stay tuned for the announcement of next month’s webcast!

Annika's Live webcast is this Thursday!

 
Happy 4^th of July weekend!  This is such a fun time to spend with family and friends during the peak of summer.  I thought I’d share some tidbits about the holiday as a reminder of what exactly we are celebrating.  As you know, the 4^th of July commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776).  USA was declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.  Today, Independence Day is associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, picnics, concerts and family reunions.  I’ve already noticed a lot of people wearing Red, White and Blue at the grocery store and around town.  I can feel the excitement! 

I became a US Citizen in 2006, which is also the year I won my third US Open…how appropriate! J  That made it even extra special.  We have been in Tahoe the last few years but this year we will spend the Fourth with both of our kids here in Orlando at the pool, trying to stay cool in the hot Florida summer.  Ava will likely show off some of her new swimming skills while Will and her proud parents watch-on.   

Another fun fact is July 4^th is my Mom’s Birthday!  I hope she can see the fireworks all the way in Sweden!  What are you doing for the patriotic holiday?  I hope everybody has a great weekend; stay safe and enjoy the time with friends and family. 

Happy 4th of July.....

 
Happy 4^th of July weekend!  This is such a fun time to spend with family and friends during the peak of summer.  I thought I’d share some tidbits about the holiday as a reminder of what exactly we are celebrating.  As you know, the 4^th of July commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776).  USA was declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.  Today, Independence Day is associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, picnics, concerts and family reunions.  I’ve already noticed a lot of people wearing Red, White and Blue at the grocery store and around town.  I can feel the excitement! 

I became a US Citizen in 2006, which is also the year I won my third US Open…how appropriate! J  That made it even extra special.  We have been in Tahoe the last few years but this year we will spend the Fourth with both of our kids here in Orlando at the pool, trying to stay cool in the hot Florida summer.  Ava will likely show off some of her new swimming skills while Will and her proud parents watch-on.   

Another fun fact is July 4^th is my Mom’s Birthday!  I hope she can see the fireworks all the way in Sweden!  What are you doing for the patriotic holiday?  I hope everybody has a great weekend; stay safe and enjoy the time with friends and family.