{"id":32046,"date":"2024-07-01T13:14:49","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T03:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/?p=32046"},"modified":"2024-07-01T13:14:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T03:44:49","slug":"the-inaugural-blind-and-low-vision-tennis-league-concludes-its-first-season-at-the-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/news\/2024\/07\/01\/the-inaugural-blind-and-low-vision-tennis-league-concludes-its-first-season-at-the-drive","title":{"rendered":"The inaugural Blind and Low Vision Tennis League concludes its first season at The Drive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Making its debut six weeks ago, the <strong>Blind and Low Vision Tennis League<\/strong> has officially concluded its first season on Wednesday 26 June at <strong>The Drive.\u00a0<\/strong>This sporting initiative is the first of its kind within Australia and Tennis SA are proud to continue to grow within the Diversity and Inclusion space and providing more opportunities to everyone of all ages and abilities.<\/p>\n<p>The Blind and Low Vision Tennis League offered six weeks of regular match play and two weeks of finals for 17 players aged between 14 to 58 across various sporting classes and abilities.\u00a0The players have been grouped into four teams, each named after animals with a vision impairment: the <strong>Blue Bison&#8217;s<\/strong>, <strong>Green Giant Panda&#8217;s<\/strong>, <strong>Purple Possum&#8217;s<\/strong>, and <strong>Red Rhino&#8217;s<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-32049\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/06\/BLV-League-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"311\" height=\"414\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/06\/BLV-League-2.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/06\/BLV-League-2-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/06\/BLV-League-2-576x768.jpg 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 311px) 100vw, 311px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The League has been generously supported by a $2,000 donation from the <strong>Ken McGregor Fund<\/strong>, offering the opportunity for players to compete at a local level.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We were thrilled to provide the opportunity to showcase the inaugural Blind and Low Vision Tennis League at The Drive, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of Tennis SA&#8217;s mission and we are determined to continue to provide a safe and inclusive environment for players of all ages and abilities to showcase their talent and passion for our sport,&#8221; <strong>Tennis SA CEO Debbie Sterrey<\/strong> says.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A shout out to all the volunteers who came out every week in support of this initiative and congratulations to all the players on a wonderful first season.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Grand Final saw the completion of the first season, with the Blue Bison&#8217;s and Red Rhino&#8217;s fighting for top position and the Green Giant Panda&#8217;s facing off against the Purple Possum&#8217;s to claim either third or fourth place. The night brought about incredible displays of tennis from all teams and the very first tie breaker of the season between\u00a0<span class=\"ui-provider a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z ab ac ae af ag ah ai aj ak\" dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Lachlan Wallace<\/strong> (Rhino&#8217;s) and <strong>Bo Buakhao<\/strong> (Bison&#8217;s)\u00a07-6 (18-16) with Bo claiming the win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Blue Bison&#8217;s started the night off in strong form over the Red Rhino&#8217;s which resulted in a 5 &#8211; 34 to 1 &#8211; 22 victory.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tennis SA School Development Coordinator Jack Crispin<\/strong> says, &#8220;I am proud to be part of a successful first season of the Blind and Low Vision League, it&#8217;s been a lot of hard work to get this off the ground, and to be able to create an inclusive competition for all the players. It&#8217;s been a privilege to be able to see the enthusiasm and commitment not only from the players but the support staff that have helped out along the way and collaborated in making this league possible.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>First Place: Blue Bison&#8217;s<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-32051\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/06\/image00001.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"348\" height=\"464\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Second Place: Red Rhino&#8217;s<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-32053\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/06\/image00005-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"467\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Third Place: Green Giant Panda&#8217;s<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-32054\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/06\/blv-league-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"353\" height=\"471\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/06\/blv-league-4.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/06\/blv-league-4-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/06\/blv-league-4-576x768.jpg 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 353px) 100vw, 353px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Fourth Place: Purple Possum&#8217;s<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-32055\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/06\/blv-league-6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"351\" height=\"468\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/06\/blv-league-6.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/06\/blv-league-6-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/files\/2024\/06\/blv-league-6-576x768.jpg 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 351px) 100vw, 351px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>View the full Blind and Low Vision League below:<\/p>\n<table style=\"height: 182px\" width=\"532\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Team<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Points<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>MR<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Blue Bison&#8217;s<\/td>\n<td>51<\/td>\n<td>8.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Red Rhino&#8217;s<\/td>\n<td>28<\/td>\n<td>4.67<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Green Giant Panda&#8217;s<\/td>\n<td>27<\/td>\n<td>4.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Purple Possum&#8217;s<\/td>\n<td>14<\/td>\n<td>2.33<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Making its debut six weeks ago, the Blind and Low Vision Tennis League has officially concluded its first season on Wednesday 26 June at The Drive.\u00a0This sporting initiative is the first of its kind within Australia and Tennis SA are proud to continue to grow within the Diversity and Inclusion space and providing more opportunities [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6355,"featured_media":32044,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6355"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}