Special Olympics Bharat held a tennis training webinar on September 7 and 8, opening a new chapter for the organisation, and adding tennis to its varied portfolio of sports in India.
New Delhi:
The nation-wide training focused on 55 coaches from 22 states of India and was led by Teresa Leitao, Director, Sports & Unified Sports Special Olympics, Brazil.
The informative webinar touched topics around the level of skills, type of court, divisions, scoring, and the modified rules to fit it into the ‘Unified' sports module.
Leitao has been organising tennis events for individuals with intellectual disabilities in Latin America and many other countries, since 2008, also having organised tennis tournaments at the 'SO World Summer Games' held in 2011, 2015 and 2019.
Leitao said: "Tennis applies to Special Athletes across all different conditions. They all can serve, play, volley etc. It all depends on how they are trained. The communication to the athletes must be very clear and consistent."