45 www.ReadMPM.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.MountPleasantPodcast.com Special Olympics South Carolina (SOSC) athletes from across the state participated in a skills and drills tennis clinic on April 2 at the Credit One Charleston Open. The event featured 25 athletes from seven different Special Olympics South Carolina programs including Charleston, Columbia, Hilton Head, Aiken and Sumter among others. SOSC has been partnering with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) to host the event at COCO for 22 years, according to Kevin Macfarland, a Special Olympics volunteer who coaches the Rockin Racquets tennis team based out of the Mount Pleasant Tennis Complex on Whipple Road. It started out small on LTP Daniel Island’s Club Court with only the Charleston area program and has now expanded to two courts and encompasses all Special Olympics chapters statewide. Special Olympics North America has been working with the WTA to try and get the tennis clinics into all WTA tournaments. The event’s goal is to increase public awareness of Special Olympics adaptive tennis (focuses on accessibility and inclusivity in the sport) and inspire people to volunteer and potentially start a program of their own, he said. Macfarland cited one example of a couple from Michigan who came out and watched the demo one year, returned to Charleston during the summer to train with Special Olympics athletes and were then motivated to launch their own program back home. The athletes encompassed a mix of skill levels and ages from beginner to a full tennis player, and they worked on a range of drills such as forehands, backhands and volleys. A highlight for the athletes was when special guests including recently retired WTA player and Charleston native Shelby Rogers and current WTA world No. 5 Madison Keys joined them on court. Rogers demonstrated proper swing techniques and form and helped lead net volley drills. Keys showed up for the unified play portion of the event, in which a non-special needs athlete plays to a Special Olympics athlete’s level. “If your partner could have gotten to the ball, then you can,” explained Macfarland. “If they probably wouldn’t have hit it, then you would probably not. It’s so that you can play doubles, and do it BY COLIN MCCANDLESS Accessible to All Special Olympics SC and WTA partner for adaptive tennis our sports Special Olympics SC athletes and coaches pose with Shelby Rogers and Madison Keys after the tennis clinic.
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