Elsie is an 11 year old who has a range of conditions including Muscular Myopathy, Central Sleep Apnea, Oligodontia and Tourette’s disorder. Elsie uses tennis as a way to strengthen her muscles and to support with her tics. She is already showing that she is very talented and incredibly dedicated and hardworking. Elsie trains for several hours per week and plays in a tournament most weekends. Due to her disability her learning of technique and skill is much slower than that of children her age so her mum applied for funding through the Dan Maskell Tennis Trust to allow her to have individual coaching sessions with a top level coach.
This year has been particularly challenging for Elsie and her mum, as mum has been in hospital for several months with grade 4 stage 4 Burkitts Lymphoma. It was really important that Elsie could continue with her tennis during this time, not just for her tennis progression but for her mental health. The Dan Maskell Trust were so happy to be able to support Elsie and her mum through such a difficult time and are so proud of what Elsie is achieving – this year at age 11 she won the under 12 Warwickshire County doubles trophy. It is Elsie’s dream to defy all odds and obtain an American scholarship as tennis is her happy place. We certainly think she can achieve this and will be watching her progress closely.
Elsie’s story is just one of the many moving and inspiring cases we hear about every year and continue to support through our grant aid funding. If you want to donate to help us support more players like Elsie, please visit the ‘how you can help’ section on our website.
