Lydia's Successful Weekend at a GB Visually Impaired Tennis Camp

“Lydia returned from her training weekend buzzing with ideas and enthusiasm. Cheshire Tennis will continue to support her and plan to help establish a Cheshire based Visually impaired camp early 2026” said Jayne Huxley-Grantham, EDI Lead Cheshire Tennis.

Lydia was one of six coaches to be selected to attend the GB Visually Impaired Tennis Camp run by Louise and Frankie. Here's Lydia's report on how it went:

"I was lucky enough to be one of 6 coaches selected to attend the GB Visually Impaired Tennis Camp run by Louise and Frankie. I arrived on the Friday night to the NTC ready to be up and raring to go on the Saturday morning. A quick breakfast and then we were straight on court for 9am.

Day 1 of tennis camp the players are in category B2-B5. This meant players varied with their partial sight and some players were allowed three bounces of tennis balls and some had one. A full day of tennis camp getting individual time with all of the athletes helping work on whatever goals they needed to in their game. It was amazing how receptive the players were to the coaching. They were happy to receive guidance. Tennis camp finished at 5pm and we met up with the B1 players who were attending camp on the following day and we all went for some dinner out. We got back late, and set up the court for the B1 players, as they require tactile lines and the court space is different.

On Sunday, we met for breakfast at 8:15am and were back on court with the smaller group of 4. These players are B1 category and have no sight. We did lots of drills to help with tracking the sound of the ball before we started hitting. This day was very special, it was one of the players Tracy’s birthday. Jack Draper was at the tennis centre and joined in with the tennis camp for Tracy’s birthday and played in for 90 minutes. He even tried with the blacked out glasses so he could see how tough it was.

The tennis camp was amazing, it’s absolutely incredible how amazing the players are able to have rallies and do amazing serves with 0 sight.

I’m super inspired coming back to Chester with my own players. Having learned different drills and games. To help be a better VI coach. I’m super grateful to have been selected! Thank you LTA and Cheshire Tennis."

Congratulations on your hard work over the weekend Lydia, we can't wait to hear what your new knowledge and inspiring ideas around VI tennis!