Olivia has been blind since birth due to retinopathy of prematurity, a complication that can occur among some premature babies, which has resulted in Olivia only having limited light perception in her left eye.
Like most kids her age, Olivia who is 10, loves her sport, particularly tennis. She plays at Eildon Park Tennis Club in Rowville, which is an inclusive club and creates positive experiences for everyone who wants to participate. She enjoys being involved with the club and learning new tennis skills.
Her current coach, Simon, says that "Olivia has been making fantastic progress in her tennis development. She is very committed to her weekly tennis lesson and has great fun working her way through the variety of activities. Her sister, Zoe also joins in to create group games and challenges. We hope that Olivia can keep going from strength to strength and potentially look into more opportunities like camps and competition in Blind Tennis when she is older”.
Olivia’s mum Mei-Fern, is pleased that Olivia can participate in the sport of her choice thanks to the support of Blind Sports & Recreation Victoria and the Eildon Park Tennis Club. She said “Blind tennis offers Olivia an opportunity to learn to be active in a sport and develop coordination skills with her hands and legs”.
Coach Simon and Stefan are very supportive and committed in ensuring the program is inclusive for Olivia. She is pleased and appreciative to have POWA tennis coaching undertake the challenge to start blind tennis openly and undergo training with the support of Blind Sports and Recreation Victoria.”
Article written by Susan Marshall with approval and input from Stefan Woolley & Mei-Fern.
