Adaptive Tennis Set to Make its Debut at Hendrick Hudson
After the successful implementation of Unified bowling and basketball, Hendrick Hudson will now offer a third Unified sport: Tennis.
Unified tennis is scheduled to begin this October with the Hendrick Hudson athletic department taking the lead to create a league that includes multiple schools in Westchester County. Athletic director Tom Baker, who serves as Section One’s Unified Sports Chairman, said Section One will be the first section of 11 in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association to offer adaptive tennis.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for student-athletes participating in Unified sports,” Baker said. “We were really looking for a fall sport to offer our students. I really hope this will grow the way our Unified basketball and bowling teams have.”
Hendrick Hudson offers Unified bowling in the winter and Unified basketball in the spring, but tennis would be the district’s first Unified team to compete in the fall season. Unified sports combine athletes with and without intellectual disabilities to create teams for both training and competition. The NYSPHSAA says the inclusive activity breaks down stereotypes and fosters relationships among students.
Hendrick Hudson High School physical education teacher and tennis coach Bradley Fredman said the league has been several months in the making. Fredman, who will serve as the Unified tennis league’s coordinator, hopes anywhere from five to eight Section One schools will participate in a program he calls “groundbreaking.”
“It’s extremely rewarding to see this dream come to fruition,” Fredman said.
Prior to the start of school, members of the girls varsity tennis team participated in an adaptive tennis workshop at Premier Athletic Club in Montrose with Lisa Pugliese-LaCroix, the founder of the nonprofit organization Love Serving Autism. Pugliese-LaCroix came from Florida to work with several coaches and players and coaches on behalf of the United States Tennis Association’s Adaptive Tennis program.
The athletes who took part in the workshop will be among the founding members of the inaugural Section One Adaptive Tennis League, which is scheduled to begin in late October.
