The challenging sport of Wheelchair Tennis – The story one disabled girl in Iraq using the sport to get over the trauma of war
Disabled sports continue to grow and become more and more relevant as the years go by. It was first thought that disabled people could not function let alone become athletes. But over time, those with physical handicaps have defied the odds and become world
class athletes. One of the more interesting disabled sports out there is wheelchair tennis. It is hard to imagine just how it is played but the sport is very famous and growing in popularity every year. Recently a young Iraqi war victim has started to play
wheelchair tennis to try and get over her emotional scars. It will be a long and hard journey but she will hopefully get there one day using the sport.
In 1976, a man named Brad Parks invented competitive wheelchair tennis for disabled people bound in wheelchairs. The sport became very popular very quickly and attracted worldwide interest from disabled athletes who wanted to shed the image of disabled people
that was circulating in the media and in people’s heads. The interesting thing about the sport was that it really helped changing people’s perception of disabled athletes because tennis is a very physical and strenuous game and if someone in a wheelchair could
do it, then they might be able to do anything. The sport was introduced into the Paralympic Games of 1988 in Seoul as a demonstration event. In 1992, the sport became a fully fledged competitive sport in the Paralympics and by 2000 was so popular that it was
even included in pedestrian Grand Slams as a category of regular tennis.
Wheelchair tennis is essentially the same as pedestrian tennis and has similar rules except for two of them. The players use specially designed wheelchairs, similar to those used in the very popular sport of wheelchair basketball, and the other rule change
is that the ball can bounce twice before it is hit back over the net. The second bounce may even occur outside of the field of play. Other than these two rules it is almost identical to regular tennis, with the players serving and chasing after balls the same
way as able bodied players do in tennis.
In Iraq, a young tennis fan is charging with her desire to play tennis despite of the fact that she lost both her legs in a rocket attack. 21-year-old, Zainab Khadim Alwan, is a dedicated wheelchair tennis player and she is determined to improve her game
despite of the loss of her legs. In 2006, a rocket attack on her family’s house destroyed it completely and killed her sister and sister-in-law. During the attack she lost both her legs and went into severe depression. Her father and brother encouraged her
to overcome her sadness and when she finally did, she decided to take up tennis once again. The young tennis player trains three times a week and has not missed a single practice day in over two years of playing and training.
She is one of 2000 disabled athletes who currently play various sports in Iraq. With the levels of violence decreasing in the country over the last few years, several athletes are appearing and playing numerous sports in programmes set up by the Iraqi government
to aid the disabled. The biggest problem that the athletes face though is not being able to travel to Europe or the USA to play in international tournaments because they are denied visas. Alwan competed in a tournament in Turkey recently where she placed third
overall in the wheelchair division and it really helped in boosting her confidence. She restarted school, started training harder and even got necessary surgery on her legs which she had been putting off.
Sports can be hugely beneficial to those with disabilities and help them in gaining confidence, relieving stress, decreasing levels of depression and giving them a positive outlook on life. Wheelchair tennis is a great sport that is very beneficial in many
ways for its players. It has been a great help for Alwan’s life and it can also help other disabled people reach their individual potentials in life.
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