VI Tennis in SY!

Welcome to the second edition of our newsletter. The Club is now in its second year of being a member’s club and we have grown from strength to strength!

It has been an exciting and eventful year so far, and we have a lot more planned for the months ahead! Read on to learn more.

This year’s highlights include:

• The Club welcoming five new members, increasing our outreach in the community.
• Our members taking part in a wellbeing camp organised by our friends at Nuffield Health.
• Our members competing in regional tournaments at Loughborough and Newcastle.
• A fabulous summer picnic at Rother Valley.
• Attendance at the excellent Dan Maskell Coaching Camp in Newcastle
• Inclusion of visually impaired tennis in the Sheffield and District tournament.
• Team challenge competition
• Partnerships with and support from charities and local groups.

As we approached our second year, we had the opportunity to reflect on our first year and what we wanted to do better or differently in our second year. Fortunately, we weren't doing too badly, but a few items we thought we could improve upon.

We certainly need to reflect on the players’ experience within the Club. This reflection will surely help us keep a focus on what the Club aims are. Throughout this edition, you will notice quotes from players. These all make pleasant reading and give us confidence that the Club is doing well in terms of player experience.

We are well aware of the reliance on our lovely volunteers and their experience is equally valuable. We have had a quote from Liz, a regular volunteer, and I am sure that other volunteers share her sentiments.

We need to focus more on raising funds to sustain the Club’s growth and our contribution to the community we serve. We are looking at opportunities with the local blind society to reinvigorate our fundraising activities. Added to this, the Club is now registered as a non-commercial society lottery that allows the Club to sell fund-raising lottery tickets door to door, online, by telephone or face to face. Hopefully, we will have more news on our activities later in the year.

Quote

I was so pleased to discover the VI tennis club in Sheffield after having a few taster sessions.

 I’ve been playing now for a year or so and I’ve never regretted it for a moment. I’ve never been interested in playing sports, even at school. I love the social aspect and the buzz of getting the ball over the net!

 I've finally found something that I really enjoy!! 

Carol

Our members!

As we moved into our second membership year, five new playing members joined the Club. Welcome to Bilaal, Santosh, Fiona, Mick and Parveen. We also celebrated a milestone birthday – happy 70th birthday Lindsey!

One of our new members, Mick was keen to say, “as soon as I arrived, I was offered participation and coaching. It was straight out on the court playing with other B1 participants and assisted by a range of willing volunteers who were dedicated to us having fun, as well as learning the rules of blind tennis. The Club’s atmosphere is very up-beat, and everyone is helpful, focusing on having an enjoyable and physically active time.”

In the media – our Captain Nomski was interviewed on BBC Radio Sheffield with Becky Measures. Nomski tells Becky about the impact tennis had on his recovery. Great interview. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0fyp8lp

Poem

Balls fly around me in the air

And for once I’m not feeling scared

They’re soft, they jingle, bounce a few times

And I can actually hit them - blind!

I never knew how to hold a racket

And now I feel like a pro

My confidence is increasing

Fear doesn’t stop me swinging

With this much support around me

There’s so much exponential growth

The social side is what I came for

But now all I think about is my form

It’s easy to be so invested in the sport

When tennis club is so much fun!

By Parveen

Wellbeing day

Our friends at Nuffield Health (a healthcare charity) and our Club embarked on a pilot initiative to bring tennis and wellbeing services together in a pioneering tennis & wellbeing camp this year in April. The camp included tennis coaching, personal training, and fitness and stretching introduction. It is hoped that this pilot will be rolled out to communities within Hull who are often faced with barriers to access to health and fitness, plus other marginalised groups.

Some quotes from the day;

“A brilliant opportunity not only to meet new players at the start of their journey, but also to meet coaches who are new to coaching individuals with a vision impairment in tennis and in fitness”

“It was great to work with Jaggy & Ben (and to put Matt Elkington, the LTA Disability and Development Partner, through his paces!), both coaches gave some very constructive technical feedback and were great to hit with!”

“For me, it was a fantastic day with a great deal of learning and sharing of experiences between players and coaches alike. The value of such an event was highlighted during the day by one of the fitness instructors who admitted that he was very nervous and not used to working with people with a visual impairment”

We are grateful to Nuffield Health for providing SYVITC with equipment and complimentary use of their tennis courts plus wellbeing support services.

Summer picnic

The Club organised a summer picnic that was held in June at Rother Valley. There was a risk of sharp showers and thunderstorms, but fortunately we dodged all of that. A good spot was found to enjoy some food, drink and banter. The group settled into some ‘old skool’ summer games, including an egg and spoon race and tug of war. It was a brilliant day getting to know a little bit more about each other and having fun!

Sheffield and District Tournament

Sheffield and district (S&D) LTA were pleased to include Visually Impaired Tennis to take part in their Annual Tournament. Following last year's celebration of the Centenary of this tournament S&D were delighted to be the first in the area to include such an event. With our Club’s help S&D were able to run 3 events;  B1 mixed singles, B2+Womens singles and B2+Mens singles. All events were undertaken as a round robin format. Well done to the winners, Sid Tambin (B1 mixed), Lindsey Green (B2+ Women’s) and Jon Prashar (B2+ Men’s) who were presented with their trophies on Finals Day by the President, John Clephan.  Also, well done to runner ups, Emily Cooney (B1 mixed), Fiona Hodgson (B2+ Women’s) and Santosh Ghosh (B2+ Men’s).

South Yorkshire Visually Impaired Club would like to thank Trevor Ward and the organisers for inviting us and we would like to say well done to all the players who took part (both sighted and visually impaired). A special shout out to all the volunteers, particularly those who helped to ensure that the visually impaired aspect of the tournament was undertaken in an efficient and hassle-free manner. And finally, a huge thank you to Hallamshire Tennis & Squash Club for hosting the event and then surprising the B2+ winners with a bottle of bubbly each.

Visually Impaired inclusion was a big success and S&D look forward to repeating this for years to come.

Committee News

The committee continue to work hard in the background to support the efficient running of the Club. The Club is seeking novel ways to raise funds, including crowd funding and setting up fund-raising partnerships with Sheffield Royal Society for The Blind. The committee last met in May and a further meeting is planned in August.

Quote

My experience being a VI volunteer has been a total positive one!

You are such a wonderful bunch, it’s a pleasure to be able to be part of your group!

 It’s been amazing seeing what joy tennis brings to you all!

 Liz—Volunteer

Money Money Money!

The Club has established a partnership with Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind (SRSB) to plan joint fundraising events. The first of which is planned for November and the second, in May 2024. More details are given later.

Support by various charities and groups has been invaluable. Greene King, Proud to Pitch In initiative has helped the Club secure weekly indoor tennis courts and coaching at Hallamshire Tennis and Squash Club. British Blind Sport via the Together Fund has helped the Club secure court time and coaching for Weekend sessions, plus weekly coaching sessions during the summer at Brentwood Tennis Club. A grant via SRSB (Peter Harrison Foundation) has also helped fund weekend court time. The LTA Open Court programme Grant has been used to purchase sound-balls.

Shout Out!

Shout out to Brentwood Tennis Club!

Brentwood Tennis Club remains committed to supporting disability tennis. They offer discounted membership to disabled tennis players and for the 2023/24 year, provided a further discount to the members of South Yorkshire VI Tennis Club. In addition to this, Brentwood provides our Club access to four outdoor courts on a Tuesday afternoon. It is really an inspirational place to be for disabled players and our Club just love playing there!

BBC Radio Sheffield - Make a difference award

Janiece, our Club Secretary and Co-Founder has been nominated for the BBC Radio Sheffield Make A Difference Award (Volunteer).  The presentation will be held in September.  Good luck Janiece!