Janice Suriano, a Special Olympics athlete, was a speaker at the Adaptive Tennis Committee Meeting during the USTA Annual Meeting and Conference in Weston, Fla. on March 16, 2013. Janice’s speech motivated the committee members, staff and other attendees to continue the charge of connecting players to Adaptive Tennis programs.
Janice’s coach, Nancy Wilkins, serves on the USTA National Adaptive Tennis Committee. Nancy reports:
I have been teaching tennis for 30 years. For 25 of those years, I have been working with Special Olympics. Some of the best times my family and I have ever had were times spent with our extended Special Olympics family. My experience with special needs friends has always been rewarding, but my experience at this year's meeting took the cake!
I had the opportunity to attend the USTA Annual Meeting and Conference which turned into a reunion for me and my friend, Janice Suriano, who has Down Syndrome. Janice, a student of mine for 20 years from Medford, moved to Florida 4 years ago when her parents retired. The Annual Conference was only an hour-and-a-half from their home, and I am a member of the Adaptive Tennis Committee. Can you see where this is going?
After an email to Jane Hines, the Chair of the Adaptive Tennis Committee, and a call to Chris and Tony, Janice’s parents, the wheels were turning. Janice was invited to speak at the National Adaptive Tennis Committee meeting and gladly accepted!
On Friday afternoon, Janice and her parents met me at the hotel. We were both very excited! Our group had lunch, chatted and checked out our conference room. On Friday evening, the Surianos attended the USTA Middle States section cocktail party as my guests. Janice absolutely worked the room -- she was a rock star! She shook hands and won hearts, not the least of which was USTA President Dave Haggerty!
Saturday was our big day. Our meeting was from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., with Janice not scheduled to speak until 11:30. She sat through the meeting, patiently waiting for her turn. The meeting was standing-room-only, largely due to all of the connections Janice had made the day before. When it was finally her turn, she stood up and spoke about how much she loves tennis and how it has impacted her life. Little does she know how many lives she impacted in just those 2 days.
After the meeting, we worked our way to lunch, Janice shaking hands all the way. Her parents and I just followed along riding her coat tails. What a ride! I have been to several USTA Annual Meetings, but my friend Janice sure made this one special!