Wheelchair Tennis Player Makes High School Team

Sophomore Lily Lautenschlager has made history as a member of the Lincoln East High girls reserve tennis team. She is the first girl to be playing in a wheelchair on a high school tennis team.

“Some people were surprised I was trying out, I got some weird looks wondering why I was here,” she remembered. “I impressed people because I pushed myself and was able to keep up with the majority.”

Lautenschlager had to earn her spot on the team. She played challenge matches against other girls trying out and won around half of them, she said. In wheelchair tennis, the main difference is that balls can bounce twice instead of once. Other than that, most of the rules remain the same. Her main goal was to make a team. Now that she did, she can move ahead with other goals for the season.

“My goals are to give 100 percent and work as hard as I possibly can,” she said.

“When I saw her play, I was impressed,” said Alex Colbo, the reserve tennis coach for the Spartans. “I’m going to be a great advocate for her and my goals for her are the same as for everyone else on the team; to improve and to be the best teammate and opponent.”

Varsity coach Chris Stock said tryouts lasted four days. The coaches had many questions about the rules she would play with, as well as her opponents since they were able-bodied and she was not. Lily also plays other adaptive sports including wheelchair basketball, power soccer and adaptive dance. She started playing adaptive tennis last year at Woods Tennis Center in Lincoln.

“Lily is a great kid, she has a terrific personality and she is assertive with her movement, she just dove right in,” he said. “My goal is for her to get acclimated with tennis and find her role with the team. She told me her favorite sport is basketball. I’m hoping to make tennis her priority.”