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life. It

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was a warm September afternoon in

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Queens, New York, and

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the air was steamy and

0:56

electric with anticipation. Stepping

0:59

up to the service line in

1:01

the enormous tennis stadium was

1:04

a 19-year-old athlete who was

1:06

drawing a lot of

1:08

attention. Her

1:11

name was Corey Dion Goff, but most

1:13

people called her Coco. Corey

1:15

was her dad's name too, and he was

1:18

usually the one watching her with a laser

1:20

focus from the stands. Only

1:22

as she got ready to hit her power serve, she

1:25

saw that her dad was not in his usual seat. Where

1:29

could he be? There

1:32

was no time to search through the crowd. There

1:34

was just Coco, her racket, and

1:37

everything that her father had given her to

1:39

make it to this day. But

1:44

would that be enough?

1:53

I'm Julia Kwamia, and this

1:55

is Good Night Stories for

1:58

Rebel Girls. A fairy tale. The

2:00

audience about the real life

2:02

rebel women. To inspire

2:05

us. On this

2:07

episode, Cocoa and Corey

2:09

guess and incredible father

2:12

daughter Tennessee Love Support

2:14

and Women Together. Cocoa

2:23

was born on March thirteen

2:25

Two thousand. And. Four in Delray

2:28

Beach, Florida surrounded by loving

2:30

parents and grandparents. Even

2:33

when she was a baby's cocoa with us and

2:35

on the move. Has.

2:37

Led us as and ran into the

2:40

family or mom. Candies was once a

2:42

very impressive track and field. And

2:47

Dad Corey had. Played basketball in

2:49

college. Corey

2:51

remembers washington tiny to go to

2:53

three or four years old and

2:55

running around the track with her

2:58

all that has hookers leg for

3:00

much smaller and she cried when

3:02

she couldn't test the bigger. Said

3:06

course I didn't have. This is

3:08

gonna be interesting. She's got some

3:11

kind of determination. The

3:17

family moved to Atlanta, Georgia. when cocoa

3:19

was young. As

3:22

athletes themselves or parents encouraged cocoa

3:24

to play a sport. So

3:27

of course she tried oh

3:29

lot of them. She

3:33

ran track. Played basketball and

3:35

it's a mess. And

3:38

though she loves them all. Nothing sounds

3:40

like a perfect fit. But

3:43

then she tried some. Cocoa

3:47

was fascinated by the game and

3:49

all. The concentration certain and

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sponsor they've reply She ran

3:53

thrill Cillizza playing began training

3:55

with the tennis stay in

3:58

and day. By

4:00

the time she was eight years old, Coco

4:03

told her parents she wanted to become

4:05

the greatest tennis ball in the world. And

4:08

her parents said, you can.

4:13

But becoming great was

4:15

going to take some big changes.

4:19

The three of them decided to move back

4:21

to Florida when Coco was in second grade.

4:25

This way they could live with her grandparents

4:28

while Cory became her full-time coach

4:30

and Candy became her home school

4:32

teacher. They were grateful

4:34

to be able to lean on their family

4:36

for support to help Coco

4:38

go faster in her dreams. Coco

4:42

loved spending time with her

4:44

family, cracking jokes and watching

4:46

movies together. At home

4:48

she was goofy, silly and

4:51

always smiling. But on the

4:53

court she was

4:55

focused, serious and not

4:57

afraid to be aggressive. I'll

5:01

take what I want. I

5:04

like to hit easy. For

5:13

years, Coco and Cory worked hard

5:15

every day on the court. And

5:18

by the time she was 10, Coco

5:20

was playing so well that the coach of

5:23

one of the best tennis players of all

5:25

time, Serena Williams, took

5:28

notice of her. Coco traveled all the

5:30

way to France to train with him

5:32

for a year. He

5:35

saw something special in her. A

5:39

confidence and drive you didn't find

5:41

every day in someone so young.

5:45

He knew Coco was going to be

5:47

great. And

5:49

she was. In

5:52

2017 she made headlines at

5:55

just 13 years old. Coco

5:58

was only 1. in

6:00

history to reach the US Open

6:03

junior final. Then

6:06

had this rising star come from. People

6:09

seemed to think she had materialized out of

6:11

thin air. But

6:13

her dad Corey made it

6:15

clear that Coco's success was

6:18

no accident. Instead, it

6:21

had come from years of tenacity and

6:23

hard work. She

6:25

might be overnight popular, but she's

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not an overnight success, he

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said. Hey,

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grownups. Shout out to

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Claritin for supporting this episode and providing

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us with samples. Listen, I

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used to be miserable with allergies from about

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the beginning of April till the end of

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August. Sometimes my

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best friend was a cold washcloth over

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my face. I couldn't taste

6:52

my food because my nose was so stuffed up.

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I couldn't go for a run because my eyes

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were so itchy. Luckily

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the symptoms of allergies, we can live

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been taking Claritin D for my

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allergies for years and it's been

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an absolute life changer. I

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can go for hikes, cut the grass,

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clear. Use as

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directed. He

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didn't is agreeable do well. Luckily

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the rebel. Girls, And if, if

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no, completely three, that's right, you. Can

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listen to the entire library

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of good night stories for

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rubble girls. Had free plastic

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up at school. features like

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activities, trivia simply less and

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more apparent tested and kids

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find out more at girls.com/audio

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and download The Rebel Girls.

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Up today! Thanks for listening! Cocoa

8:39

loved having her dad. On her team.

8:41

He them though, she gets frustrated

8:44

that all they did was talk

8:46

about tennis. When they were hall

8:48

meetings in it he be given her tits and

8:50

point. Is

8:52

mom's candy were plant herself between

8:55

the sheets. Say you to have

8:57

to learn to talk to each

8:59

other and list. With

9:02

time they got better at balancing

9:05

tennis top and lifestyle. The.

9:07

Support of her parents meant everything

9:09

to Coca. Sometimes is

9:12

seek them out on the sidelines during

9:14

a match and when she spotted they're

9:16

familiar faces. of cool

9:18

com washed over her. And

9:22

then And twenty nineteen. Cocoa

9:24

got a big surprise. She

9:27

was sixteen. Years old and

9:29

had just received a

9:31

wild card to get

9:33

to play at Wimbledon

9:35

that see all this

9:37

and most prestigious tennis

9:39

tournament. In the world. She hopped

9:42

on a plane to London Not believe

9:44

in her lungs. But

9:49

her south only grew One surprised

9:51

Poco learned that in the opening

9:54

round. should be playing against

9:56

one of her biggest role

9:58

model five time Wimbledon

10:00

champion Venus Williams.

10:05

Venus had paved the way for black

10:07

female tennis players and Coco was

10:09

in complete awe of all she

10:11

had achieved. But was

10:13

Coco ready to take her on? On

10:17

the day of the match, Coco

10:19

walked down the corridor that led

10:21

into the arena. She

10:24

breathed steadily, blasting

10:26

music through her headphones to drown out

10:28

the TV cameras, the

10:31

clown and Venus Williams standing

10:33

there across the map. In

10:36

positions, waiting, ready. Just

10:40

focus on the tennis, Coco

10:43

told herself. The

10:48

match flew back. Coco

10:50

whipped the ball across the corridor

10:52

on her serve and dove, lunge

10:54

and reach with great accuracy on

10:56

the return. Tennis balls

10:58

hit their rackets lightning fast and

11:00

were sent flying back with huge

11:02

force. Coco

11:06

tried her very hardest, putting

11:09

everything she'd learned with her dad onto

11:11

the court. And

11:15

she won. She

11:19

lifted her arms over her head

11:21

in disbelief, her mouth open, tears

11:23

in her eyes. Coco

11:25

approached Venus at the nest. Thank

11:29

you for everything you've done. I

11:33

wouldn't be here without you. Coco

11:40

made history that day and got

11:42

one step closer to achieving her

11:45

dreams of becoming the very

11:47

best. And part

11:49

of becoming the very best meant

11:52

going to the Olympics Coco

11:55

qualified for the 2020 Olympics but

11:58

got COVID and couldn't compete. Still,

12:01

she pushed through the disappointment,

12:03

continuing to train hard, focusing

12:05

on the things she could

12:08

control. By

12:10

August of 2023, her

12:12

hard work once again paid off.

12:16

At just 19 years old,

12:19

Koko won two more huge

12:21

tennis tournaments, breaking records along

12:23

the way. There

12:30

she was on that warm

12:32

September afternoon in Queens, New York.

12:35

It was the final match before the quarterfinals,

12:38

and Koko was preparing to serve

12:40

against her competitor. Caroline

12:42

was Nyaki. But

12:45

on the sidelines, Koko's player box

12:47

was empty. Where was

12:49

her dad? Could she

12:51

make it through this moment without him? She

12:54

scanned the crowd for Kori one last time,

12:57

but then had to put the thought aside. This

13:01

was her moment. As

13:05

his daughter's match progressed, Kori

13:07

was nervously pacing laps around

13:09

the season. All the sweat

13:11

and tears and years of hard work. And

13:14

now here they were. He

13:16

just couldn't clip see. Even

13:20

from far away, Koko could

13:22

feel her dad's support. She

13:25

played her heart out on the court. And?

13:30

She won! Koko

13:36

went on to win seven more

13:39

matches, claiming victory at the U.S.

13:41

Open, and winning her first grand

13:43

slam title. She

13:46

fell to the ground and cried tears of

13:48

joy. Koko could not

13:50

hold back his own tears. That

13:53

day, Koko became the youngest

13:55

American woman to win the

13:57

tournament since the reign of the Indians. in 1990.

14:01

Thank you. First

14:04

to my parents, M and

14:27

Valli along the way, their

14:30

love of the game and

14:32

love for each other is what

14:35

keeps them going. Not

14:39

only when they will, but

14:41

also when

14:43

they will and all

14:45

the moments in between.

14:58

This podcast is a production of

15:00

Rebel Girls. It's based

15:02

on the book series, Goodnight Stories for

15:04

Rebel Girl. This

15:07

episode was narrated by me,

15:09

Julian Kwamein. It

15:12

was produced and directed by Hailey

15:14

Dankes with sound design and

15:16

mixing by Mumble Median. The

15:20

story was written by Abby Schur and

15:23

Sarah Weiss and edited by Hailey

15:25

Dankes. Fact checking

15:27

by Eliza Kirby. Our

15:29

executive producers were Joy Smith and Jess

15:32

Wolf. Original

15:34

theme music was composed and

15:36

performed by Eleztra Berjaki. A

15:40

special thanks to the whole Rebel Girls team

15:43

who make this podcast possible. Until

15:46

next time, stay Rebel.

15:58

Thanks for listening to this episode. Did

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you know there's a whole

16:03

world of Rebel Girls to

16:05

explore? Go to rebelgirls.com/more to

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check out our latest books,

16:09

t-shirts, crafting kits, and, well,

16:11

more. Visit

16:13

rebelgirls.com/more. Until

16:15

next time, stay Rebel. Have

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