Like Wimbledon.. but with wheels

Published on Thursday 24 June 2010 11:05

Anyone for tennis? Meet the disabled youngsters who serve up a lesson in determination every time they go on court

THERE'S the satisfying whack as ball connects to racquet and the players' determined grunts as they lunge across the court to volley, lob and drop shot. But then it is, of course, tennis season.

And while fans' attention is on world-beaters Nadal, Federer and Murray at Wimbledon, pals Ross McLaren, seven, and Ruairi Logan, eight, are astonishing their tennis coaches by simply managing to reach the ball and send it flying back over the net.

For the pair, disabled from birth, face a lifetime of being reliant on their wheelchairs to help them get around.

They are the youngest members of a city tennis club that has opened up the thrills of the sport to disabled wheelchair users of all ages.

"It's amazing to watch them play," grins Ross's dad Craig, who ferries the youngster from home in Eskbank every Sunday for the weekly training session at Craiglockhart. "The boys have done incredibly well. First they had to learn how to get across court in their chairs using one hand to push while the other holds the racquet. Then they have to try to hit the ball back.

"It's taken them around a year, but they are now managing to get rallies going. What's most important, though, is that they are loving it."

The pair play with Winning Wheels, a wheelchair tennis cub launched five years ago which recently received a 10,000 Lottery and Comic Relief funding boost to extend its activities and coaching facilities. While the adult section has around a dozen regulars, Ross and Ruairi are so far the only juniors.

Which is why now, in Wimbledon fortnight, Winning Wheels is hoping to attract more young players.

For George Heriot's pupil Ross, tennis is simply another sport to add to a list that includes swimming, judo and basketball. He does it all while coping with Central Core Disease, which seriously weakens his muscles.

"Ross's condition is so rare than only 20 other people in Britain are known to have it," explains Craig, 46. "Because it's rare, the doctors can't say exactly what the prognosis is for him."

Ross was two days old when Craig and wife Lesley, 44, realised something was wrong. "He was constantly curled up in the foetal position," says Craig.

By the time he was two, doctors had confirmed Central Core Disease. News of their son's disability was devastating but, says Craig, Ross has refused to let it stop his love of sport.

"He need calipers which bolt his feet and legs upright so he can walk with crutches. That said, he never stops: there's judo twice a week, swimming, basketball, tennis and horse riding as well as drama. I'm run ragged taking him all these places, but he loves being busy."

Ruairi's mother Angela McCulloch, 37, of Portobello, agrees the boys are hooked on the sport: "Ruairi absolutely loves it. It's not just that it's fun, there are other aspects too – it's a way of keeping fit and it's a chance for him to meet other wheelchair users, something which is very important.

"And it means I can meet up with people and talk to them about issues that affect us all."

Ruairi was just hours old when doctors told Angela – and Ruairi's dad Malcolm – that their baby had spina bifida, which occurs when the spine fails to form properly in the womb and goes on to affect the central nervous system.

"The first few years were traumatic because we didn't know how Ruairi was going to develop," says Angela. "When I think of all the things he can do now, I know he'll have a good life."

Ruairi is paralysed from the waist down, yet can get around using crutches. Like Ross, Ruairi, who goes to Tollcross Primary School's Gaelic unit, also crams basketball and swimming into his sporty week. But it's wheelchair tennis that they both seem to love most.

Players use specially designed lightweight wheelchairs with angled wheels to enable them to turn quickly. The rules are the same as ordinary tennis, except the ball is allowed to bounce twice to give players time to manoeuvre across court.

Winning Wheels member Johnny Fisher, 22, who like Ruairi has spina bifida, started playing wheelchair tennis when the club launched. Now he's fresh from his first tournament – with a win under his belt.

"Before then I didn't know you could play tennis in a chair," he says. "I did wheelchair rugby and basketball, but this is one of the few sports you can do that isn't a team game. In tennis, you're on your own, it's your fault if your game doesn't go well and it's because of you if it goes well. It is a demanding sport, but I love it."

Ian Hards, who helped start the Craiglockhart club, says it attracts disabled athletes from across Scotland. "We have one member who is an amputee who drives from Dumfries to play with us, he enjoys it so much. Others have gone on to play at a high level," he says.

"We've had great support from the Lord's Taverners, Lloyds TSB Foundation and HBOS and we've now got a dozen club chairs. There are four junior chairs – and more for teenagers – but Ross and Ruairi are our only juniors, so they're not getting used as much as we'd like. It would be great to see more kids enjoying the sport."

That would mean extra competition for Ross and Ruairi – not that they'd mind. "The boys would love to have other kids to play with," nods Craig.

"I can't understand why more disabled children aren't involved. Maybe they'll watch Wimbledon and decide to give it a go."

For full details of Winning Wheels, go to its Facebook page or contact Ian Hards at [e-mail] or on 07802 168274. The club is running a summer camp at Craiglockhart Tennis Centre for anyone wishing to try the sport. Juniors sessions are on Saturday and Sunday, 7- 8 July and for adults on the weekend of 31 July and 1st August. E-mail [e-mail]

A SMASHING GAME

WHEELCHAIR tennis was launched in 1976. It began after American freelance skier Brad Parks suffered a horrific injury which left him confined to a wheelchair.

Determined not to give up competitive sport,Parks took the idea of wheelchair tennis and developed it using a specially adapted sports chair and introducing the 'two bounces' rule.

Wheelchair tennis featured at the Paralympics in Seoul in 1988 as a demonstration event. Four years later in Barcelona, it featured in full competition.

The sport is hugely popular in Holland thanks to Chantal Vandierendonc who was a teenager tennis sensation when a car accident left her paraplegic. She reverted to wheelchair tennis and helped raise the profile of the sport in Europe to national level in the mid-1980s. Today many tournaments – including Wimbledon – include wheelchair tennis events.