Talkback UK is a charity that provides autism and learning disability support to people, providing them with continued personal development. The Dan Maskell Tennis Trust has just given a second round of funding to Talkback to help them deliver tennis not only to their members but also to people in the community who have a learning disability or autism.
They ran a really successful programme, which focussed on three areas. The first was a series of 8 sessions open to their own members as well as people from local day services and supported living homes, along with their carers. They were busy sessions including games and coaching from the team at the tennis centre. The sessions saw participants gaining confidence and improving social skills by playing with different partners.
They also sent their Everybody Active group and their staff team to coaching from specialist disability tennis coach Phil Hill at Halton tennis club where they benefited from playing on a proper tennis court rather than a community centre hall, which helped them to understand how to play and follow the rules of the game. Members gained skills in being able to hit the ball after one bounce, return it over the net and being able to sustain a rally. They also ran a Team Challenge competition which focussed on teamwork, social skills, how to cope with success and failure when winning and losing points.
The final part of the project saw them help two members to develop leadership and coaching skills. These were members who have progressed enough in the sport to be able to assist in the delivery of the session. They developed their leadership skills through helping to set up the equipment for the session and feeding balls to those members in the group who needed 1:1 practice. They also helped other players join in games and generally supported the lead coach.
The Dan Maskell Trust was delighted to hear how well the funding was used.
