USTA Florida organizes innovative tennis workshop for the blind and visually impaired – USTA Florida

USTA Florida hosted its first tennis workshop for the Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI), marking an important step toward expanding adaptive tennis opportunities across the state. The training, held Oct. 4 at the USTA National Campus, focused on preparing coaches and community tennis leaders to provide inclusive tennis experiences for individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

BVI tennis is a modified version of the sport that relies on sound and feel. Key modifications include a larger, softer ball with bells or rattles, allowing athletes to hear where the ball is coming from. It also includes smaller courts with tactile lines and a variable number of bounces allowed depending on the player’s visual classification. These adjustments make tennis accessible to players with a wide range of visual abilities, from completely blind (B1) to visually impaired (B4).

The workshop was led by USTA Florida Adaptive & Wheelchair Play Coordinator John Russo, who emphasized the importance of building community through sports. “I feel like the BVI community is looking for sports and events that can create a community for them,” he said. “My goal with the BVI workshop was to train people. This will allow us to offer community coach training so we can start hosting provider clinics in the near future.”

Currently, Florida has no active BVI tennis clinics or providers, but the hope is that this will change very soon. USTA Florida plans to launch its first BVI tennis program in Orlando, with the goal of expanding to other regions in the future.

The training brought together a diverse group of participants, including five individual participantsvisually impaired people who traveled from across the state, four certified coaches and seven USTA Florida employees. Russo credited Greg Lindberg for helping to bring the workshop to Florida and for connecting him with Dana Costa and David Dilettuso, proponents and trainers of adaptive tennis.

This marks a giant step in building a statewide BVI tennis network. By educating coaches and raising awareness, USTA Florida works to ensure that tennis is truly a sport for everyone, regardless of skill or background. For more information about USTA Florida’s adaptive tennis programs, visit ustaflorida.com/adaptive.