Wheelchair tennis growing in Los Angeles and The Valley

According to the International Tennis Federation (ITF), Wheelchair Tennis is one of the fastest growing wheelchair sports in the world. Wheelchair Tennis was founded in 1976 when Brad Parks first hit a tennis ball from a wheelchair and realized the potential of this new sport. Since then the sport has been regulated internationally under the ITF and parks was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame last year. In 1998 the United States Tennis Association (USTA) assumed responsibility for wheelchair tennis in America from the National Foundation for Wheelchair Tennis. Since then the USTA has become the first National Governing Body of both Olympic and Paralympic tennis governing Paralympics, Para Pan Am Games, and World Team Cup. Many local and regional Wheelchair Tennis organizations have sprung up and in the LA area and the San Fernando Valley it’s the Woodland Hills based West Coast Wheelchair Tennis Association (WCWTA) that’s dedicated solely to physically disabled, wheelchair tennis athletes.

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Integrating very easily with the able-bodied game Wheelchair Tennis can be played on any regular tennis court, with no modifications to the size of the court or the size of rackets or balls. The sportfollows the same rules as able-bodied tennis as endorsed by the ITF, with the only exception being that the Wheelchair Tennis player is allowed two bounces of the ball.

Jerry Russell is the founder of West Coast Wheelchair Tennis Association. The highly decorated singles and doubles champion has been playing wheelchair tennis for 21 years. After his motorcycle accident many years ago he felt something important was missing in his life. He was introduced to tennis and never looked back. “Wheelchair Tennis gives me a much better workout than the gym,” says Russell. He adds, “Tennis got my juices going again!”

The WCWTA web site states with 3 US Open doubles championships under his belt, “Wheelchair tennis has provided Jerry with not only the thrill of competition, but has given him the opportunity to meet others, and make lifelong friendships all over the world.”

The mission of WCWTA is to educate, promote, and encourage physical, mental, and emotional fitness, independence, and a better self-image through wheelchair tennis training and competition for the physically disabled, wheelchair-bound population in our community. Russell is taking this mission very seriously and provides trainings opportunities for his members and for any wheelchair bound athlete in the area.

One of these trainings opportunities is workouts and drills Saturdays from 1:00 to 3:00 pm at Balboa Park in Encino. Run by professional tennis teaching pro Daryl Ahrens since January of 2011, and sometimes by his assistant Jamie Macias, this is quite a popular event that attracts players from all over the Greater Los Angeles area. Ahrens has been coaching High Performance Juniors for 15 years and he loves teaching Russell’s group. “This group always mans up, no complains ever. Nothing you throw at them they can’t handle. They come out and work as hard as any junior I have ever coached.”

Russell explains that funding is always the biggest challenge for his group. He’s charging $5 per player but is real generous when people don’t have the money, especially in this economy. “We are always hitting up family and friends for money and received two small grassroots grants from the USTA. We used that money wisely and now have three extra tennis wheelchairs and plenty of racquets. But what we always need are funds to help paying for instruction, as well as accessories like grip, tires and tubes.” When a wheelchair player pushes the wheel racquet in hand, the racquet handle always rubs on the wheel and tears up the grip.

Wheelchairs suitable for tennis are the biggest expense item for any athlete. The official wheelchair for WCWTA was designed by Mike Box, the former head of engineering for Colours Wheelchair. Box is a well known name in Wheelchair technology and he is able to manufacture cost effective chairs for WCWTA.

Ten year old Paul Shin who has Spina Bifida, is relatively new at Wheelchair Tennis. He was the youngest participant at the 2011 USTA-ITF Junior Wheelchair Camp in Mission Viejo July 17-22. He said he loved that camp and really wants to go to the Saturday’s clinics. Mike Box made a special chair for his small frame and the little guy moves around on the tennis court like he was born there.

Wendy Pasinski only started playing Wheelchair Tennis two years ago. The stay-at-home mom of two says the training at Balboa Park has improved her tennis 10-fold. “The drills are helping me learn control and the exercise is much appreciated, of course. But most of all, I’m having fun!” Pasinski is participating in singles and doubles at the 2011 US OPEN USTA Wheelchair Championships in St. Louis Aug 30 – Sep 3. She and Russell are also generally donating their time for community outreach, such as playing “Run and Roll” with local tennis groups like the California Social Tennis Network in Studio City. "Run and Roll" is the same as "One-up One-down" tennis, where a wheelchair player plays with an able bodied player against similar team in doubles.

Jerry Russell is proud that his players like the training and have already shown a lot of improvement. “I want to show the community our Saturday activities and hope to be able to raise some money to build the program.” With sufficient funds he would buy…