Tyler Prosthetic Orthotic Associates of Texas held their inaugural First Volley adaptive tennis clinic on Saturday, October 13 and knocked one out of the court! Bruce McClellan, CPO and owner of POA was very pleased and talking about scheduling the next POA First Volley clinic and increasing attendance.
“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world” said McClellan.
McClellan and his entire staff were present for First Volley and worked to make it a great morning for everyone attending. All clinic attendees were given a free First Volley/POA-Texas t-shirt. Participants were fed balls to work on forehand, backhand and volley strokes and even a bit of live ball action.
Refreshments, t-shirts and Prince Sports’ “Hitting for Prizes” were just a part of the fun. All participants also went home with an Advanta tennis racquet, compliments of World Team Tennis and Billie Jean King. King donated 120 racquets to First Volley so that attendees can continue to hone their new found tennis skills. The hosting facility at Tyler Junior College's Murphy Tennis Facility provided a world class venue for attendees, volunteers and observers.
TJC students volunteered both their time and their expertise to make the day. The clinic brought together both orthotic and prosthetic patients who want to try their tennis skills, but need some specialized coaching to do so. The Orthotic & Prosthetic Assistance Fund, Inc. (OPAF) offers their First Volley clinics to orthotic and prosthetic patient care facilities across the country so that they may offer quality tennis instruction to their patients and their community. Led by First Volley Director of Tennis, Darren Kindred, the clinic not only gave the participants one on one coaching, but also gave the volunteer TJC tennis tech students a chance to work with adaptive tennis, a field they had not been exposed to before.
“We hope that we will be able to work with more of the tennis management programs across the country to bring adaptive tennis to students and future teaching pros. Their influence on the game of tennis is huge and will be instrumental in how this program will grow” said Robin Burton, OPAF Executive Director.
“Our thanks to POA Texas and all their folks for hosting First Volley for Tyler and East Texas,” said Burton.
Kimm Ketelson of TJC added, “I hope this can become an annual event. It is a wonderful thing to do in tennis.”
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