ATHENS HOPEFUL TO HELP NEW PLAYERS AT NOTTINGHAM WHEELCHAIR TENNIS CAMP 

As host to the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships in July and the Nottingham Indoor tournament in November, the City of Nottingham Tennis Centre is intrinsically linked to the world of international wheelchair tennis.  But, this coming weekend, 21 ^st and 22 ^nd February, the focus will be on the next generation of home-grown wheelchair tennis stars as Nottingham Tennis Centre hosts the first of three weekend development camps sponsored by telecommunications and electronics giant NEC and organised by the British Tennis Foundation.

This weekend's NEC Wheelchair Tennis Beginner and Quad Camp gives players the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of wheelchair tennis, including basic racket strokes and wheelchair manoeuvrability, while also getting an introduction to matchplay through playing some fun games.

The Camp caters for players of all abilities, especially Quad (quadriplegic) players, who have reduced function or loss of power in one or both upper limbs. 

The coaching staff for the weekend include former World No 1 Quad player Mark Eccleston, from St Helens, Merseyside, who comes to Nottingham having just returned from Australia, where he reached two semi-finals in his first two tournaments of the year on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour. Eccleston is hoping that the road from Australia, via Nottingham, will lead to Paralympic glory in Athens later this year, but for now he is happy to pass on his knowledge to players of the future.

Among those who emerged from recent NEC Wheelchair Tennis Camps are Nottinghamshire's own David Phillipson , from Bingham, and Eccleston's training partners Jamie Burdekin and Carl Hird , who have each gone on to achieve national and international success in a relatively short space of time (see Case Studies on Page 3).

Head Coach for the weekend will be Martin McElhatton, Chairman of the National Wheelchair Tennis Association of Great Britain, while others joining Mr McElhatton on the coaching staff include Mark Bullock, former General Manager of Nottingham Tennis Centre and now the International Tennis Federation's Wheelchair Tennis Development Officer.

Lynn Parker, Disabilities Tennis Manager at the British Tennis Foundation, said: "We hope that this weekend's Camp will stimulate an interest in the game and encourage the players to carry on playing into national and international competition. Among them there may be a future home grown winner of the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships, which has been here at the City of Nottingham Tennis Centre every Summer since 1993."

The British Open, which this year takes place from 20 - 25 July, is one of only four tournaments on the 2004 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour to have Super Series status, the equivalent of Grand Slam.   The Wheelchair Tennis Tour is also sponsored by NEC through its corporate support of initiatives for people with disabilities.

This weekend's NEC Wheelchair Tennis Beginner and Quad Camp is the start of a series of similar Camps at Nottingham Tennis Centre over the two months. An NEC Wheelchair Tennis Ladies Camp will be held at the Centre over the weekend of 6 ^th /7 ^th March, with an NEC Wheelchair Tennis Junior Camp, specifically tailored to Under 18s, taking place on 3 ^rd - 4 ^th April.