SPECIAL OLYMPICS ADAPTIVE TENNIS
Free Weekly Clinics
Special Olympics adaptive tennis is offered for people with intellectual/developmental disabilities ages 5+. The clinics are level-based, providing specialized small-group instruction for beginner players picking up their racket for the first time to advanced tournament-level players, and everyone in between. Volunteers support coaching staff in working one-on-one with players who may need additional attention and support.
The program is open to all players with intellectual/developmental disabilities; players are not required to be registered with Special Olympics Maryland in order to participate. JTCC is proud to partner with Special Olympics Maryland to provide additional, year-round training opportunities for players who are eager to learn and play tennis!
Session IV runs Monday, April 1 – Sunday, June 9 and clinics are held at JTCC (5200 Campus Drive, College Park, MD 20740).
Click Here to Register for Spring Session IV
ACEing Autism
JTCC is excited to announce a new partnership with ACEing Autism, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering children with autism through affordable tennis programming. The partnership will include JTCC offering weekly tennis clinics tailored for players ages 5-18 on the autism spectrum. Please check back for more information regarding upcoming sessions.
Regional Competitions
JTCC offers opportunities for adaptive players from around the state and the Mid-Atlantic Region to compete in level-based tournaments.
Special Olympics Maryland Interscholastic Unified Tennis High School State Championships
JTCC hosted the prestigious state championships for unified high school tennis for the second year in a row in November. The tournament hosted 200 athletes competing from 16 schools, an increase from 2021 which featured 150 athletes from 12 schools. 20 JTCC high-performance junior players volunteered to help matches run on courts and assist players in scoring.
Special Olympics Tennis Celebration
The first event of its kind, 22 athletes and nine coaches from DC, Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware came together to JTCC in December for a day of training and competition. After a group warmup led by Charlottesville’s Dr. Marty Block, the players split into training groups for tailored drills based on their levels. After lunch from Jersey Mike’s, the players returned to their groups for competitive games and matchplay, with the event culminating in a target competition to win prizes. It also provided coaches from around the section with the chance to learn new drills and strategies for coaching adaptive athletes from each other.
Lloyd Raupp, Chris Raupp’s father, said, “I was driving Chris and a few other players home from the event and listened to them talking about it in the car and realized that Special Olympics is about so much more than just sport.”
USA Games Spring Training
Special Olympics Maryland invited eight athletes from Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia for a spring training event as a leadup to the USA Games in June. The event featured instruction from JTCC coaches on doubles strategy and coached singles and doubles matchplay.
Questions? Contact Gabby Hesse at ghesse@jtcc.org or call 301.779.8000 ×132.