“Access Sport has allowed us to deliver. The support in setting up the initial contact with the community, the communication and administrative help has been spot on"

To mark the International Day of Disabled People, Access Sport is celebrating our continuing partnership with the LTA Tennis Foundation, delivering disability-inclusive activities across the country.

Launched in 2023, Acez empowers local tennis clubs, parks and venues to deliver new disability-inclusive activities. The programme focuses on supporting disabled young people aged five to 25. 

Having received ‘Innovate’ grant funding in 2023, the LTA Tennis Foundation recently awarded a ‘Scale’ grant to Access Sport which has been invested into the Acez programme. This has supercharged our efforts to support more disabled young people to participate in inclusive tennis.

We have now built a network of over 27 tennis clubs running Acez sessions across the country, including sessions in David Lloyd, Long Ashton Bristol.

Launched with our support these weekly sessions in Long Ashton have gone from strength to strength and now offer a group of disabled young people access to regular inclusive tennis.

One parent of a regular participant said:

“My son has tried community tennis lessons before and quite simply faltered. His previous tennis class experiences impacted his confidence. Now, with a completely different, kind and inclusive approach at these sessions, he is enjoying playing and beginning to progress in his tennis. This has had such a positive impact on his general self-confidence and well-being.”

As part of the Acez programme, we have provided hands-on training to ensure the coaches and volunteers leading these sessions have the confidence, skills, knowledge and equipment to deliver inclusive tennis.

To make sure the sessions serve the community for the foreseeable, we have recruited an army of volunteers passionate about inclusive tennis.  Recruiting from the club’s previous participants, we have engaged Rhys and Holly. Rhys has Down-Syndrome and is a Level One qualified coach and Holly is also a Level One coach with a Developmental Language Disorder.

Rhys completed his Level 1 tennis coaching qualification in 2019 and now predominantly works at Cotham Park Tennis Club where he helps coach a variety of sessions. However, Rhys jumped at the opportunity to support these new sessions in Long Ashton.

Rhys said:

“I would say I love coaching because it means teaching kids mini tennis, matches, games and forehands rallies! So, that is so fun!”

Coach Dave added:

“It’s been really invigorating to challenge myself to create success with different people with different needs. It’s been a fantastic opportunity to bring Holly and Rhys in to complete the chain from people playing to qualifying to coaching.”

And Long Ashton is just one example of a club that has engaged with this growing Acez family. Moving forward we want to reach over 50 community clubs, supporting them to start new inclusive sessions for local disabled young people.

Jonny Fenner, Access Sport Tennis Development Manager, said:

“This partnership with the LTA Tennis Foundation has opened up so many opportunities for Access Sport! With their support, we have started to build a national network of tennis clubs committed to inclusion. It’s amazing to see the appetite for Acez, I look forward to growing the programme and reaching more and more disabled young people.”

Tom Gibbins, Head of Development for the LTA Tennis Foundation said:

“We were so pleased when Access Sport decided to apply for a Scale grant, after seeing the success of the Acez Tennis in its pilot year. We can already see the positive impact the funding is having, and we look forward to continuing to watch the programme grow and open up the sport of tennis to more disabled people.”  It’s clear that as Access Sport embarks on this exciting journey, they are creating a brighter, more inclusive future for tennis.

Together with LTA Tennis Foundation, we are committed to breaking down barriers, inspiring the next generation and ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, can experience the transformational benefits that playing tennis can bring to their lives.

Interested in learning more about Acez Tennis?
You can click the link below to get in touch with Access Sport.

Changing Sports, Tennis >