The First Lebanese Sportswoman: Miss Vera Matar

Dark of complexion, honey-eyed, tall of stature, she draws the listener in with her sweet talk and her merry spirit, which bespeaks a bounding athletic spirit that represents the true athletic renaissance in the best possible way.

Miss Matar studied in Nazareth, but her champion's spirit and her love of sport did not come by way of school but by way of home. She was enamored of sport from her childhood, and often watched her brothers and sisters playing tennis on the house's private court, so that she grew devoted to it in the highest degree and practiced it constantly. Her friends saw her inclination and her aptitude and encouraged her greatly, and this encouragement of theirs came as the best spur for her to go steadily forward, supported by her own particular love of sport.

Miss Matar took part in several matches and won most of them. She held the championship of Lebanon for several years. Last year she was invited to the final matches held in Cairo, where she defeated the Egyptian tennis champion, who congratulated her on her victory, saying: "I played you twice before and beat you, but I felt that victory would be yours if I played you a third time."

Miss Matar was awarded the Lebanese Order of Merit at the great celebration held on July 20 last for the inauguration of the tennis court recently built by the Renaissance Sports Club. When the correspondent of The Woman's Voice asked her about her feeling on receiving the decoration, she answered:

"My astonishment was great, because I had never expected it at all, and because the government had not encouraged me with anything in the past. But when the well-wishers gathered around me and affirmed that I deserved the decoration, I felt an inner joy come over me. And now I feel a responsibility I never felt before, for it seems to me that I represent Lebanon and Lebanese sport."

The sports club recently chose her to travel to America and meet the Lebanese communities there, to take part in the new project its members have undertaken: the establishment of a fine, well-ordered sports club in Beirut in which the conditions of health will be provided. Miss Matar does not know the exact date of her departure, for she is awaiting the necessary government facilities; nor does she know how long she will stay or when she will return, for she will visit New York, Mexico, and Brazil during her absence.

Miss Matar has done a great service to the renaissance of women's sport in this country, for she has encouraged no small number of sports enthusiasts. She loves swimming and walking, and believes it necessary to accustom the child to physical exercise from an early age, so that its practice will come easily in later life. She believes, too, that parents do not do their share in encouraging the child to love sport, because they consider the purchase of sporting equipment a secondary matter. She pointed out the necessity of sending children to watch the games and encouraging them to take them up, instead of sending them to the cinema, which deprives them of the open air without any benefit. She believes as well that where morals are good, sport is the greatest agent for winning friends and drawing near to people. It is, moreover, the best aid in raising the individual's moral level, for it lifts up his thoughts, makes him forget his cares, his pains, and his grudges, and gives him health and strength — especially as the climate of this country favors exercise throughout its various seasons.

When the correspondent of The Woman's Voice asked her whether she would take part in competitions in the Americas, she answered:

"I hope the opportunity will allow me to, for it would be a source of pleasure to me to show what the Lebanese woman can do to those who do not know her, or to those long absent from her."

The magazine "The Woman's Voice" offers its warm congratulations to Miss Matar and wishes her the fulfillment of her hopes on her coming journey.