My Blog Blurb

My name is Stephanie Yamada. I am nineteen years old, and am from a Japanese heritage. My parents, as well as my two older sisters were all born in Japan. My parents decided to move to Australia as soon as they had their second child for a taste of a different lifestyle in 1988. I was born and raised in Sydney in 1996. I mainly lived in the North Shore of Sydney, in a suburb named Chatswood. My hobbies include playing with my dog, hiking, cooking, road tripping, being with friends, shopping, playing sports, and being at the beach.

My current long-term goals include travelling to each continent, go to every known music festival in the world, obtain a major from UCSB, getting ranked in doubles for NCAA’s, find a career I love, and maintain healthy relationships with my family and friends back in Australia.

From the age of five, I was a sport enthusiast, and played tennis, soccer, cricket, touch football, softball, and baseball. However at the age of thirteen, I was forced into concentrating on one sport - tennis. Due to my devotion for tennis, I was never interested in school. I realised the importance of an education in my final year of high school at Methodist Ladies College, Sydney, and cut back on the time spent on training. This is my first year at University of California, Santa Barbara. I chose this university for its well-known academic greatness and to proudly represent the UCSB women’s tennis team and compete against other competitive universities. Currently I am tossing up majoring between Communication and Psychology. Although it is incredibly hard being here away from my family and friends back home, as well as the heavy time commitment towards both the education and tennis, I could not have picked a better university and know I have made the right decision.