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PARALYMPIANS INSPIRE NEW PLAYERS AT NEC
WHEELCHAIR TENNIS CAMP
The second of three NEC Wheelchair Tennis
Camps for 2005 took place at the City of Nottingham Tennis Centre
last weekend (12th - 13th March), with some
of Great Britain's Athens Paralympic Tennis Team on hand to guide
and inspire more than 20 new players in one of the fastest
growing wheelchair sports in the world.
The developmental two day NEC Wheelchair Tennis Beginner and Quad
Camp, sponsored by telecommunications and electronics
giant NEC (UK) Ltd and organised by The British
Tennis Foundation, gave new players the opportunity to learn
the fundamentals of the game, including basic racket strokes and
wheelchair manoeuvrability.
Those attending the Camp included several Quad players - players
affected in three or more limbs - who could have asked for no
greater inspiration than having Athens Paralympic Quad Singles
Gold medallist and Quad Doubles Silver medallist Peter Norfolk to
lend the benefit of his expertise, and of course exhibit his
medals.
Joining Peter was David Gardner, another member of the Great
Britain Paralympic Team, who joined the coaching team after
recently gaining his Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) Level I
Development Coach Award (DCA).
Martin McElhatton, Chairman of the National Wheelchair Tennis
Association, led the coaching during the weekend, assisted by
Stuart Wilkinson, coach of British Men's No 1 Jayant Mistry, Mark
Bullock, Wheelchair Tennis Development Officer for the
International Tennis Federation, and Sandy Lund, of the LTA's
Schools Department.
These same four core members of the coaching staff return to
Nottingham Tennis Centre this weekend (19th - 20th
March) for the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Junior Camp, the third and
final NEC Camp to be staged in Nottingham during the past five
weeks. And with 34 young players from all across the
country set to attend, the coaching staff this weekend will be
boosted by former British international player and now qualified
DCA coach Jason Ward.
Catering specifically for Under 18s, this Camp will follow the
same basic format as the previous NEC Wheelchair Tennis Ladies
Camp, held in February, and the Beginner and Camp, with the
opportunity to try out a specifically designed tennis chair and
get plenty of practice playing various racket strokes, as well as
playing some fun games.
Lynn Parker, Disabilities Tennis Manager at the British Tennis
Foundation, said: "In past years we have found some very
promising players through our NEC Wheelchair Tennis Camps and
this year has been no different. To complete our three
Camps with over 30 eager young players is fantastic for the sport
and means that for the third successive year we will have had 70
players in total attending our NEC Wheelchair Tennis Camps.
"As with all our Camps, the aim is to generate further
interest in the game and encourage the players to carry on
playing into national and international competition. We have
already had players who have attended our two Camps over the last
few weeks entering some of the Divisions at next month's National
Championships in Gloucester. Hopefully some of this
weekend's Juniors will be keen to do the same, and may even
return to Nottingham in the summer to play in one of the events
at the British Open."
The British Open, which this year takes place from 25th
- 31st July, is one of only four tournaments on the
2005 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour to have Super Series status, the
equivalent of Grand Slam. It is also one of two world
ranking events on the NEC Tour that the British Tennis Foundation
organises at the City of Nottingham Tennis Centre, with Divisions
for up and coming players taking place alongside the Main Draw
events for the world's top players. The Wheelchair Tennis Tour is
also sponsored by NEC through its corporate support of
initiatives for people with disabilities.
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