The Silver Fund: Promoting Wheelchair Tennis in Developing Countries
Increasing the opportunities available to hundreds of children and adults with a disability for an active and rewarding lifestyle through wheelchair tennis.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Sport
Tennis
Year the initative began (yyyy)
2002
YouTube Upload
Project URL (include HTTP://)
Positioning of your initiative on the mosaic diagram:
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Stereotyping that excludes
Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?
Include through sport
If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic:
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Name Your Project
The Silver Fund: Promoting Wheelchair Tennis in Developing Countries
Describe Your Idea
Increasing the opportunities available to hundreds of children and adults with a disability for an active and rewarding lifestyle through wheelchair tennis.
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
Increasing the opportunities available to hundreds of children and adults with a disability for an active and rewarding lifestyle through wheelchair tennis.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field?
The purpose of the project is to establish sustainable wheelchair tennis programmes in nations in the developing regions through the provision of tennis equipment and technical expertise and the identification of local partners who will take the programmes to self-supporting levels. The ITF is the international governing body of tennis and in this position it also provides a leading role in the administration of wheelchair tennis. Wheelchair tennis is one of the fastest growing and most proficiently run disability sports in the world, with a complex circuit structure, team competitions, rules and international ranking system. In 2002, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of wheelchair tennis the ITF introduced the Wheelchair Tennis Silver Fund, with the aim of establishing wheelchair tennis projects in countries that are not able to embrace it. The Fund is responsible for its own fundraising and the resources are spent solely on development projects. The ITF believes that this initiative is a unique project.
What are the existing barriers, the biggest problem, your innovation is hoping to address/change?
Through this initiative the ITF has established successful, ongoing programmes in countries such as Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Indonesia, Colombia and Bolivia but the number of countries that do not have the means and infrastructure to develop wheelchair tennis is still
considerably high.
BARRIERS:
- Low incomes of people with a disability
- Negative attitudes to people with a disability
- Lack of technical expertise
- Lack of tennis wheelchairs
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
Initial visit by an ITF expert, provision of tennis equioment, provision of tennis wheelchairs, provision of resources, follow up visit, engagement in ITF programmes eg the development team, NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour Events, Invacare World Team Cup, Regional Games etc
How do you plan to grow your innovation?
By providing more equipment and sources of information for coaches/leaders to understand and promote wheelchair tennis to a large number of new players.
Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
Increasing the opportunities available to hundreds of children and adults with a physical disability for an active and rewarding lifestyle
What impact has your innovation had to date/or what is your intended impact? Exactly who are the beneficiaries?
Successful programmes have been established in 21 countries across Europe, South America, Africa and Asia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, North Africa and the Middle East.
How many people have you served directly?
The Silver Fund Project has benefited hundreds children and adults with a physical disability on 4 continents.
How many people have you served indirectly?
The ITF working with local partners such as National Paralympic Committee and National Tennis Federations to train local coaches, visit rehabilitation centres and schools for the disabled, conduct teaching sessions and clinics, etc.
Please list any other measures reflective of the impact of your innovation?
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What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact?
- Low incomes of people with a disability
- Negative attitudes to people with a disability
- Lack of technical expertise
- Lack of tennis wheelchairs
- Lack of competitive opportunities at a local level
- Low levels of awareness
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
The project is financed through donations from Foundations and ITF funding.
If known, provide information on your finances and organization.
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What is the potential demand for your innovation?
Experience suggests that demand is high. Several countries have approached the ITF requesting additional support. There are a large number of people with a physical disability worldwide that would benefit from participating in sport.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability?
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The Story
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
As the international governing body of tennis, the ITF plays the leading role in the administration of wheelchair tennis, the fastest growing and most proficiently run disability sport in the world. The Silver Fund, set up in 2002 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of wheelchair tennis, is responsible for its own fundraising, with resources spent solely on advancing wheelchair tennis in developing countries.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material.
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How did you hear about this contest and what is your main incentive to participate? (this is confidential)
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Affiliation (please list all that apply)
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Comments
Hey Mark,
great to see you on changemakers. It was great to meet you at the IPC Sport Forum and hear about the activitities the ITF does with paralympic athletes. Can you say soemthing about how the Silver Fund helps secure facilities for wheelchair tennis for athletes using wheelchairs? This is often a big problem in developing countries where tennis is a sport where only the wealthy can have sport memberships to access courts. Can you also tell us how you cooperate with other changemakers projects using sport with athletes in wheelchairs - for example the mobility wheelchair project, paralympic shool day or the projects in Kenya and Zambia to advance sport for persons with disabilities.
All the best from Berlin!
Heather Cameron
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
Heather
Thanks for your comments. The ITF works through the Tennis Federations in each country accessing the tennis facilities used by the National Federation. Through various intiatives the ITF tries to support through the provision of equipment, information and advice. It is not possible in all cases. The ITF work with a number of partners both formally and informally to promote the sport of wheelchair tennis. We try to share information on all the work we are doing so that any other agencies can make use of our contacts. We can provide publicity information and of course access to our website. We have done some work in Kenya and have contact with Zambia and would be happy to try and cooperate with their projects. A great success story for tennis is in Nigeria where many players are playing on the National Stadium courts. They recently had a national tournament for 150 players. The Tennis Federation run the programme.
Mark Bullock
ITF Wheelchair Tennis Development Officer
The ITF is to be commended for establishing the Silver Fund, Mark, and for its even earlier support of wheelchair tennis around the world. To have created wheelchair-tennis competitions in twenty-one nations is no mean accomplishment, and I'm certain that this has made a considerable difference in the lives of those who've been able to compete only because of the ITF's efforts.
I was wondering how a tennis wheelchair differs from other sports' wheelchairs, such as those used in basketball? And what is the approximate cost of fabricating these chairs?
Steve Byars
Marshall School of Business
University of Southern California
Steve
Thanks for your comments. A tennis wheelchair is very similar to a basketball chair. A basketball chair has a 'bumper bar'. For developmental purposes the same chair can be used for both sports. Also at an introductory level every day wheelchairs can also be used. Tennis wheelchairs can be produced locally in developing countries for a few hundred dollars. The ITF has worked with local producers in many countries to produce low cost chairs - Bolivia, Colombia, Indonesia, Romania, Sri Lanka, Zambia...
My personal opinion is that a key to the development of wheelchair tennis for new players is the use of low compression balls that allow players to play the game from an early stage, including from an everyday chair.
For more information visit: http://www.tennisplayandstay.com/
Kind regards
Mark Bullock
ITF Wheelchair Tennis Development Officer
www.itftennis.com/wheelchair
Hi Mark,
Your programme sounds very impressive and it looks like the ITF is really reaching out to developing countries to promote and develop wheelchair tennis.
I'm interested to know about different approaches to inclusion that you may have come across in some countries. Recent efforts to mainstream disability sport with able-bodied sport are now quite well-known and implemented in developed countries.
In some of the projects you have developed, can you elaborate on the structures that you have to work within and maybe some of the barriers you have come across in setting up a project in a new country. For example, I imagine that some places would have a national disability sport association or committee whilst in others you may work predominantly with the able-bodied tennis association.
What is the ITF's approach to inclusion?
Best regards,
Jackie Lauff
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
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