Wheelchair tennis player first to be included in WA able-bodied league

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Wheelchair tennis is a popular sport, but the small pool of participants in WA means strong players struggle to find a competitive match. Now one wheelchair athlete is smashing down barriers, by joining an able-bodied men's team.

Transcript

00:00Wayne Arnott has always loved tennis, but in the last decade he's had to learn a vastly

00:07different game.

00:09After losing his legs, he's embraced wheelchair tennis and is Australia's Over 35s champion.

00:15And now he's the first wheelchair athlete to play in the state pennants competition

00:20against able-bodied players.

00:23It's all about the practice and all about trying to improve the game and trying to get

00:26more and more people aware that wheelchair athletes are athletes the same as a normal

00:31tennis player.

00:32In wheelchair tennis, the rules are modified to allow the ball to bounce twice before a

00:36player hits a return.

00:39In Mr Arnott's case, it's a hybrid.

00:41He gets two bounces, but his opponent only one.

00:44A good tennis player, he's a nice bloke, he should be received well.

00:47Even the people I play against, they're all welcoming.

00:49There's not anybody that comes and says, I don't want to play against a wheelchair player.

00:52And the governing body is helping to drive change.

00:56When we saw that Wayne needed to have a bigger opportunity from a competitive play landscape,

01:02we saw a really great reason that he could join into our summer league competition.

01:06While the enthusiasm for inclusion is there, there's a lot of ageing infrastructure at

01:10clubs in WA, and that can mean accessibility is a problem.

01:14It is a challenge with some of the ageing infrastructure.

01:17It's something that Tennis West is working really closely with the clubs, with local

01:20governments in particular, to seek funding to upgrade facilities.

01:24And Mr Arnott's home club of Safety Bay doesn't have disabled toilets, with Rockingham Council

01:30committing $320,000 to make the clubrooms wheelchair friendly.

01:36Mr Arnott is reluctant to describe himself as a trailblazer, saying he just wants to

01:40raise awareness.

01:41Whether it's pickleball, paddleball, whatever, there are sports that people can play.

01:46Playing the long game for inclusion.

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