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SPORTS
| October 8, 2003
Wheelchair Tennis
Teams hold first championship here
Coach Jim Hayes says he hopes
the tournament will draw people to learn more about the program.
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| The Shorthorn: Andrew Campbell |
| Nursing senior Sarah Casteel practices
Tuesday afternoon at the UTA tennis center. The team will
hold the Intercollegiate Wheelchair Tennis National Championship
Tournament here from April 30 to May 2. |
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By Britney
Tabor
The Shorthorn staff
UTA will see its wheelchair tennis team compete at home in seven
months when it plays host to the first Intercollegiate Wheelchair
Tennis National Championship Tournament.
Teams will play at the UTA Tennis Center from April 30 to May 2.
UTA was named the host facility for the event after Randy Snow,
a university alumnus and U.S. Paralympic wheelchair tennis gold
medalist, suggested the site in early September, coach Jim Hayes
said. Snow is a leading member of the United States Tennis Association.
“I think it will be good for our student body to come out
and support us. This will also be a good way to showcase our university
and what it has to offer,” Hayes said. “This will also
give able-bodied tennis players an appreciation for what the disabled
players are doing.”
The wheelchair tennis program has begun to prepare for the event.
Officials are asking members of the tennis association to serve
as tournament referees, while the courts have already been reserved.
Sophomore player Jackie Bartels said she is excited about the championship
being here. She hopes the event will give spectators an open mind
toward disabilities and wheelchair sports.
“It’s a chance to show that we’ve worked hard
toward all year, and it’s the next step for wheelchair athletics,”
Bartels said.
There will be four qualifying rounds throughout the country to compete
in the tournament here, and each team or player must play in at
least two tournaments that may include the qualifier round.
Those rounds will be in Baton Rouge, La.; Milwaukee, Wis.;and in
Arizona. The university’s teams will play their qualifying
round in Baton Rouge on Oct. 31.
Hayes said he’s proud to have the nationals here. The national
championship will show them that wheelchair athletes’ capabilities
are the same as able-bodied players — just in chairs, he added.
“What we’re doing with wheelchair athletics is leading
the nation with treating these guys the same way we treat able-bodied
athletes, and we’re setting the standard,” Hayes said.
“ By the end of the match, we want people to see that the
chair disappears and the disability disappears and it’s all
about their pure ability.”
Champions in the tournament will be named in three categories: singles,
doubles and mixed doubles. Forty-two schools are on the mailing
list, but the names of the final 15-20 schools to compete in the
championship tournament will not be released until qualifying rounds
are finished.
Bartels said she hopes the event will have support from the UTA
community.
Assistant coach Marie Stepanova said she is happy to contribute
to the event. She hopes holding the first championship here will
inspire other schools to organize similar tournaments.
“Our goal is to establish the same ranking as wheelchair basketball,
and this is the first step,” Stepanova said. “I hope
people will get familiar with the game, and I hope they will find
it enjoyable.”
Hayes said that even before the program was created a little more
than a year ago, students who attended UTA had a strong tennis background.
Alumni Steven Welch and Snow have gone on to receive gold medals
in the U.S. Paralympics. Hayes said the students representing UTA
in the championship are capable of following in the footsteps of
those who came before.
“You’re looking at future Olympians right here,”
he said. “In the mean time, they are players representing
UTA to win a national championship.”
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