Originating in Japan in 1984, blind tennis is enabling the blind and visually impaired to partake in this exciting sport.

The game is played on a smaller tennis court with a lower net, junior rackets with oversized heads and an audible ball containing a bell.  Players are allowed 2 bounces of the ball if  they are visually impaired and 3 bounces if they are blind.  One of the key adaptions of the visually impaired is their ability to localise sound, so when it comes to tennis, this makes it easier for them to make contact with the ball.

We run sessions for children on Saturdays during term time. The sessions are run weekly and it is advised that you attend as many as possible so that you notice an improvement in your game, ‘practice makes perfect’!

We will provide all of the necessary equipment you will need to take part including rackets, balls and nets.  You will need to wear something comfortable to play in, including trainers or plimsoles to wear on court.

We have some very happy customers:

"My daughter certainly enjoys her tennis and is sad when it is the holiday and there isn’t a session. We have observed significant improvement in her hand eye co-ordination, and more importantly, in her confidence and self esteem when participating in physical activity, which carries over into school. She is now much more keen to try new or challenging physical activities. As parents we believe it is essential that she finds physical activity that she enjoys, in order to maintain her fitness and health, something which can be very challenging with a visual impairment. Physical activities on a level with her sighted peers will become more difficult as she gets older, so being able to have a sense of belonging and an opportunity to be active with others who have similar difficulties, is invaluable.

Her tennis lessons are also something she talks about a lot at school, and she uses her special ball in PE lessons, which is of great benefit in educating other children and adults about the importance of including those with disabilities in physical activity."

"Visually impaired tennis has been great for my daughter as she has been able to develop her hand to eye coordination within a small group of similar children. She thoroughly enjoys coming to tennis each Saturday and when I asked her why she simply smiled and said “it was fun”.

During the coaching my daughter has developed steadily and progressed from missing most of the balls she attempted to hit to a position where she can now participate in a short rally. She is slowly understanding the rules of the game and how standing or holding her racket in a certain position will depict how the ball is returned.

My daughter is also hearing impaired and the small group helps her immensely as the coaching is nearly one to one.  I can see that she enjoys the lessons as she remains engaged with the coach throughout each session, despite the acoustic challenges of the venues!

My daughter was reluctant to participate in tennis lessons before this opportunity arose as it is difficult to compete with non visually-impaired children. This experience has allowed her to try a new sport with similar ability children, which she is thoroughly enjoying."