Texas

2024 Henry Cox Adaptive Tennis Award

Congratulations to the 2024 USTA Texas Henry Cox Adaptive Tennis Award, recipient Adrienne L. Bransky.

Established in 2019, this award honors an individual or organization who over time has shown continued excellence, dedication, and service to adaptive tennis through playing, coaching, programming, sponsoring, or promoting tennis for those with intellectual and/or physical disabilities.

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What does receiving this award mean to you?

"Were it not for my sons Joshua and Matthew, I would not be in a position to receive this honor. My middle child, Josh, was diagnosed with autism at 14 months of age. As such, our family spent considerable time volunteering with organizations focused on giving back to the autistic community. Most efforts were dedicated to raising money to fund autism research. While we knew that people were benefiting, we yearned to do something where we could see the direct impact. In 2016, my older son Matthew approached me about working together to build a Dallas program location for ACEing Autism. He had seen a PSA for ACEing Autism on the Tennis Channel and thought it would be the perfect way to combine the two things we were most passionate about, tennis and autism.

"Seeing the positive impact we’ve had on the lives of our students and their families provides a profound sense of fulfillment. So does the impact we’ve had on the lives of our staff and volunteers. It reaffirms what I know to be true: that tennis is a sport for life that provides a wide range of benefits for those who play. It’s what gets me up in the morning and keeps me pushing to do more. Knowing that I’ve had influence over the direction of tennis as it relates to individuals with special needs is deeply humbling. Receiving this award is confirmation that our efforts to make the game of tennis more accessible to the special needs community have been well directed."

Presented at the 2024 Awards Luncheon at the Omni Las Colinas Hotel in Irving on Saturday, Feb. 10th:

Adrienne Bransky is the heart and soul of tennis for people with autism in the greater Dallas area. As an ACEing Autism Regional Program Director and the Dallas Community Program Director, she has changed the lives of countless participants and their families by sharing her love for tennis.

With classes for all ages and multiple locations across DFW, Adrienne has been at the forefront of making tennis more accessible and, more than anything… fun. Not only has she built a firm foundation of tennis for ACEing Autism participants, but a wider family around her programs with a shared vision for making the world more kind, more inclusive, more fun.

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