Adaptive Tennis National Championships returns to USTA National Campus in 2022

"To be in this environment with others that, number one, care for them, who are going to be on the court, playing with them, having fun, and then for their parents and for their support systems to see that this is a possibility, [is] awesome."

Champions were crowned in four playing divisions at the close of three days of fun and good-spirited play. Hirshberg and her playing partner, Lawton Kugler, took home victory for USTA Southern in Division 3. They were joined by Brittany Tagliareni and John Richards, representing USTA Florida, who were Division 1 champions; Kevin Olin and Tyler Carroll, also of the Southern section, in Division 2; and Mark Segerman and Jim Lawson, of USTA New England, the winners of Division 4. 

But the action on the court was only part of the story of the weekend. USTA national staff also held a workshop to introduce the first-ever adaptive tennis cirriculum, which will support providers around the country as they seek to make the sport of tennis more inclusive for all.

The release of this game-changing cirriculum was the culmination of two years' worth of work by many in the USTA and outside of it, including Florida's Lisa Pugliese-LaCroix. Six years ago, Pugliese-LaCroix founded Love Serving Autism, and has since made adaptive tennis her life's work. With 30 Florida-based chapters and six in other states, the non-profit currently provides specialized, therapeutic tennis instruction to 575 children and 60 adults with autism spectrum disorders and other developmental challenges.

"This curriculum is specifically for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, which serves a large population in adaptive tennis," Pugliese-LaCroix, the 2022 winner of the USTA's Eve Kraft Award for her services to adaptive tennis, said. "About 90% of our registered adaptive programs are teaching this demographic.

"I think this curriculum is incredible because now coaches have access to a resource to be able to teach adaptive athletes and maybe to try something new as a coach for the first time. I've met many coaches in Florida who don't have this level of experience, and now they have a resource to use to both teach adaptive programming, and to be more inclusive in their classes.

"I'm thankful to the USTA for the opportunity to bring athletes here and to publish this curriculum so that coaches now have access to teaching individuals that have special needs ... I think that will change a lot in the industry."

All photos by Doug DeFelice/USTA.