{"id":13463,"date":"2017-09-19T17:40:15","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T08:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/?page_id=13463"},"modified":"2024-06-28T09:41:28","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T00:11:28","slug":"blind-tennis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/players\/diversity-and-inclusion\/blind-tennis","title":{"rendered":"Blind and Low Vision Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tennis South Australia is committed to providing opportunities to play for all participants, including those who are Blind and Vision Impaired. Modified equipment such as tactile lines, smaller racquets, bells with a bell and smaller court dimensions are utilized in Blind Tennis to ensure participants can engage in our great game.<\/p>\n<p>With one of the biggest BLV Tennis programs in Australia, Somerton Park coach Nick Bradley has been leading the space for many years, providing opportunities for juniors and seniors.\u00a0 Offerings include the opportunity to represent South Australia and even Australia.<\/p>\n<p>Tennis South Australia is fortunate to have a very strong relationship with the South Australian School for Vision Impaired.\u00a0 This is showcased through yearly programs, culminating to a full day of tennis activities and incorporating one of the worlds first junior tournaments for BLV athletes.\u00a0 This relationship is further evident with the South Australian School for Vision Impaired winning the award for Most Outstanding School in 2020 on the back of their strong program and links to Somerton Park Tennis Club.<\/p>\n<p>Take a look at the current <strong>Blind and Low Vision Tennis Pathway<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/?p=26197\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Blind Tennis - Behind the News\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/T9sYnTu67Ho?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>View the flyer on Blind and Low Vision Tennis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/DI-20-002-Disability-Tennis-A5-Promo-FA-Blind_NB.pdf\">here\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>Eligibility<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>There are 4 classifications\/categories of Blind and Low Vision Tennis:<\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"17%\"><strong>Classification<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"49%\"><strong>Eligibility criteria<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"33%\"><strong>Tennis Australia events<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"17%\">B1<\/td>\n<td width=\"49%\">Visual acuity poorer than LogMAR 2.60<\/td>\n<td rowspan=\"4\" width=\"33%\">\n<ul>\n<li>State Blind &amp; Low Vision Tennis Tournaments<\/li>\n<li>Australian Blind &amp; Low Vision National Tennis Championships<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"17%\">B2<\/td>\n<td width=\"49%\">Visual acuity ranging from LogMAR 1.50 to 2.60 (inclusive)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"17%\">B3<\/td>\n<td width=\"49%\">Visual acuity ranging from LogMAR 1.0 to 1.40 (inclusive) OR visual fields less than 10 degrees diameter and visual acuity better than 0.5 (B4)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"17%\">B4<\/td>\n<td width=\"49%\">Visual acuity ranging from LogMAR 0.5 to 0.9 (inclusive) OR visual fields less than 40 degrees diameter and visual acuity better than 0.5.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>Where can I play?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Somerton Park Tennis Club<\/u><\/strong> hosts Blind Tennis sessions which is a fantastic way for adults and kids who are blind or have low vision to experience the game of tennis. Participants use audible tennis balls on modified courts, play with smaller racquets and follow rules that are relaxed for fun and enjoyment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Junior Training Session:<\/strong> Wednesdays from 4:00pm &#8211; 4:45pm<br \/>\n<strong>Open Training Session:<\/strong> Tuesdays from 6:15pm -7:15pm<\/p>\n<p>Contact Nick Bradley: <a href=\"mailto:Nicholas.bradley.0818@gmail.com\">Nicholas.bradley.0818@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>Hope Valley Tennis Club<\/u><\/strong> have recently introduced a Blind and Low Vision Tennis Program in conjunction with Nick Bradley to work with the existing program and provide more opportunities to participants across the metropolitan area.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Term 1 2024<br \/>\nJunior Training Session: <\/strong>Mondays from 4:00pm &#8211; 4:45pm<br \/>\n<strong>Open Training Session:\u00a0<\/strong>Mondays from 4:45pm &#8211; 5:30pm<\/p>\n<p>Contact Josh Crowe: <a href=\"mailto:croweyrocks@hotmail.com\">croweyrocks@hotmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Blind and Low Vision Tennis League<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Tennis SA are proud to announce the debut of an unprecedented sporting initiative, the<strong> Blind and Low Vision Tennis League,<\/strong> set to broaden local competitive play opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>With a commitment to expanding diversity and competitive play opportunities in the sport, Tennis SA unveiled this pioneering league in 2024, with the first season offering regular match play for 17 players aged between 14 to 58 across various sport classes and abilities.<\/p>\n<p>The season launched with a welcome event and activities to announce teams, followed by six weeks of minor round weekly matches and two weeks of finals. The players were grouped into four teams, each named after animals with a vision impairment: the Blue Bison&#8217;s, Green Giant Panda&#8217;s, Purple Possum&#8217;s, and Red Rhino&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p>To view the results of the 2024 competition, please\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/matchcentre.tennis.com.au\/divisions\/49301\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If you are interested to hear more about the 2025 Blind and Low Vision Tennis League, please contact<strong> Jack Crispin<\/strong>,\u00a0Metro School Development Coordinator:<\/p>\n<p>P: 0466 526 618<\/p>\n<p>E: <a href=\"mailto:jack.crispin@tennis.com.au\">jack.crispin@tennis.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For further information on the league, you can view the league guide <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/05\/BLV-League-Guide-1.pdf\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tennis South Australia is committed to providing opportunities to play for all participants, including those who are Blind and Vision Impaired. Modified equipment such as tactile lines, smaller racquets, bells with a bell and smaller court dimensions are utilized in Blind Tennis to ensure participants can engage in our great game. With one of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5870,"featured_media":0,"parent":55,"menu_order":13,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13463","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5870"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13463\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}