“Volunteering with the inclusive group, you get that love for tennis back because you see them engage and it's such a pure feeling of joy. They don't have those anxious feelings, because they are in that moment”

Access Sport’s Changing Sports Tennis programme focuses on filling a gap so disabled young people are no longer overlooked when it comes to participating in this terrific sport.

Saltford Tennis Club is a community club led by a team of volunteers. Our team partnered with the club to launch new pan-disability Acez tennis sessions for local young people.

In the article below, Tom, a volunteer at these sessions explores the life-changing impact of community tennis and his passion for inspiring others to pick up a racquet.

Article by Tom from Saltford Tennis Club.

I started playing tennis at school. I would have been seven years old. A club came into the school and started basically doing PE lessons. At the end of the term, they went, “We're from this club come down and have a go”. For me, joining a club was a big thing. Being autistic, I struggled with that school environment, and I'd been in and out of school quite a few times. Playing tennis and being a member of a club was completely different to being in a school environment, and it was about the only time in the week that I actually behaved for an hour. It was something not just that I enjoyed but something that was engaging mentally and physically. It's been incredibly valuable, not just in the sense of I'm running around for an hour, but in the sense of that communication, that interaction, it's been massive. Tennis is a constant in my life.

I went to a few different clubs. They all folded. It gave me a lot of anxiety because I knew I wanted to carry on playing. I had to keep finding a club then you have to keep building relationships with people which I find quite difficult. I went to Saltford Tennis club in 2022. We came down to Saltford, there were people to meet and welcome us to the club when we first joined, which was massive. There was a real community feel, and they just made you feel part of the club from day one, which isn't necessarily something that happens at every club.

It's a very different attitude at Saltford to community and to tennis in general, because a lot of clubs they're very rigid. I don't know if it's necessarily the case now, but a lot of clubs I went to before, you had to join as an adult member. You had to have a playing contest to show that you were good enough to join as a member. That is completely against the ethos of this club where everyone's welcome and you come and have a go. There was a sense that people genuinely cared about people. So for me, that was like a sense of, right? I need to join this club.

In October, I started volunteering at the SEND inclusive sessions that were supported by Access Sport.  I really wanted to be involved in to be able to give back. I wanted to make sure that other people engage in the way that I had. There's this misconception that autistic people don't have empathy. I think it's more difficult to empathise with some people because you don't understand them. With our inclusive tennis group, while I don't necessarily understand all the challenges of feeling different, of standing out, of not being able to engage. It is something that I can definitely empathise with.

There was quite a range of different needs in the inclusive tennis group and mobility is one of them. You can see the way that they now move around, the fact that they're focusing on a ball and their balance is much better. It's not just the mental benefits it's the physical benefits. The session we did on Saturdays, they started rallying over the net. When we started the sessions, they couldn't hit the ball. Now they're rallying over the net and that's one of the benefits you see. Also, the progress in fundamental life skills like; when we're queuing, when we're waiting for things, they're much better at sharing and taking turns. They are engaging with each other more too. The first couple of sessions. There was no conversation at all and now they're sociable with each other. Just being around happy people and seeing the impact on the parents and the kids is brilliant.

It has been a learning process. Access Sport made us think about how we approach everybody so kids coming into a different environment feel at ease. We show them around the club, then introduce the people who need to remember their names and make sure they're okay. We make tea and coffee during the sessions for the parents. The other thing we do is enable siblings to take part too. So, you can have it as a whole family activity or the parents can be hands-off if they want. Also, from a personal perspective some of the parents will have that sense when I’m volunteering there's someone else like their child. The same with the participants going oh, there's someone like me volunteering and with the parents, we can sort of share experiences.

Before volunteering I’d been really struggling with my anxiety, particularly in education, and that was sort of coming through in my tennis as well. I think it was difficult not playing during COVID and coming back not at the level that I was before and feeling really tense. Volunteering with the inclusive group, you get that love for tennis back because you see them engage and it's such a pure feeling of joy. They don't have those anxious feelings, because they are in that moment, and it makes you think. Why did I start playing tennis? You start playing because it's fun and because you get that enjoyment from it.

From a personal perspective, it’s had a big impact on me. I have a sense of belonging to the club and I've developed a lot of confidence being here, helping with these sessions. It's one of those things that you just feel really good after you've done it, because you see that happiness from the participants. You see the parents just relax. It just makes you feel good about yourself, having done something like that.

We have a waiting list to volunteer with the inclusive tennis sessions because everyone gets so much out of it. I think it should be a national strategy to try and get people from different backgrounds into coaching roles or volunteer roles, because it's very difficult for people to sort of go for it. We run a session for an inclusive group, and I've got no experience at all but having that lived experience does  definitely help.