Talking Tennis with… Helen Abbott, inclusive tennis champion and co-founder of Walking Tennis
Meet Helen Abbott, co-creator of Walking Tennis (now an official LTA-backed sport) and a truly inspiring hero of inclusive tennis…
“Inclusive tennis should be considered as equal to any other tennis coaching programmes. The social capital – the health and social benefits to the community as a whole – are huge and are not yet fully appreciated.”
Helen Abbott is one of the great unsung heroes of British tennis. At Talking Tennis we like to say that tennis is ‘for everybody’ – and Helen is someone who has proven, through her tireless work and dedication, that it really can be.
For many years she has brought the gift of tennis to people who might never have thought it possible to get on a court. She has established and run a huge range of inclusive tennis activities, including: visually impaired and blind tennis, wheelchair tennis, tennis for adults with learning disabilities and for children with special educational needs, special sessions for people with mental health issues, Down’s Syndrome and for people with an acquired brain injury… And much more besides!
In recent years Helen was responsible for co-creating Walking Tennis, a form of inclusive tennis that has been now officially adopted by the LTA for national rollout. We spoke to Helen about the story of Walking Tennis – and you can read more about her amazing life in inclusive tennis and links to further resources below…
When did you first fall in love with tennis? Tell us a little about your personal tennis playing background…
I started playing tennis at the age of eight. My parents were very sporty and I played a lot with my brother in the back garden: I always enjoyed the battles. I used to enter tournaments in the summer with my brother. I never got anywhere but that didn’t matter as I knew I enjoyed playing and would be able to play tennis throughout my life.
I was lucky enough to have tennis lessons in the summer holidays at Purley Tennis Club in Surrey. I was the secretary of the junior section when I was 15 and it was then, I suppose, that I realised the importance of giving back to your club as a volunteer.
Later I played tennis with my friends when our children were babies. We would put the prams in a row by the court while we played. I was always involved volunteering at the club and eventually I became Women’s Captain and then a club director.
How did you get involved in inclusive tennis?
I trained in Remedial Gymnastics and Recreational Therapy (which converted to Physiotherapy in the mid 1980s) ) at the University Hospital of Wales in the late 1970s. This training ignited my passion for using sport in a rehabilitative way, and so for 34 years I worked as a physiotherapist, specialising in mental health and getting patients to engage in an active lifestyle. Tennis was part of that: we have run a session with Knowle Tennis Club since 2004.
I retired in 2012 and then did my level 1 and level 2 LTA tennis coaching qualifications. I was on the pilot course run by Judy Murray for She Rallies and delivered some Miss Hits courses. I started working alongside Access Sport in 2013 having been a volunteer at the London Paralympics and then as a volunteer at The Special Olympics in Bath in 2013.
Throughout my time I’ve been inspired and supported by some amazing people working in inclusive tennis, such as Mandy Stonier, who was at Writhlington Tennis Centre before I started. Mandy has been a great ambassador for wheelchair tennis in particular, as well as an incredible support for women and girls tennis through She Rallies. She has continually encouraged and supported the work I have been doing within Avon Tennis.
How did you come to develop Walking Tennis?
I think I had always wanted to do something with tennis to make it a really accessible, rehabilitative activity, so I was constantly looking out for ideas.
Some early forms of ‘walking’ tennis had already been around for a while. Two very experienced inclusive tennis coaches I work with – Mark Bullock and Fiona Murphy (of charity Double Bounce) – were doing an adapted version of touch tennis, but without giving it a really structured format.
In early 2018 I was running a similar kind of session – touch tennis with walking – at Coombe Dingle [the University of Bristol sports complex]. I advertised it at that year’s Bristol Walkfest which brought more participants in. It seemed obvious to me that there was so much more that could be done with it, so I enlisted Peter Coniglio, a performance coach and exercise specialist.
Peter and I worked on some ideas and started to give ‘walking tennis’ a proper format as a sport in its own right. We really went for it at the 2019 Bristol Walkfest, delivering five sessions a week throughout the month of May at different locations. This generated lots of interest and we started other sessions at the clubs at Henleaze, Knowle, Downend and Frenchay.
We realised we were on to something, so we set up a website and social media channels and, with encouragement from other coaches and people within the LTA, tried to work out how it could be scaled up. We did a lot of filming of sessions and exercises, and then we created the Walking Tennis Association CIC, with Peter and myself as directors, along with a business coach, Christine Barratt, who also became a director.
How does Walking Tennis work and who is it for?
Walking Tennis is essentially just like normal tennis in terms of scoring and so on, except that no running or jumping is allowed, you use a smaller court and modified balls, and the ball can bounce twice (so long as both bounces are still inside the lines) so there’s more time to reach it.
The game was designed so that anyone can play it regardless of age or fitness level. It’s great for people who have dropped out of the sport they love due to injury, or who believed tennis was never for them after they had tried it at school.
It’s also perfect for people who have become inactive, have mental health issues, or have a long term health condition like arthritis or Parkinson’s which prevents them from playing the normal game. It really is for anyone and can be adapted to fit the needs of the group.
See also: A guide to Walking Tennis - including the rules and tips for playing
How have you seen Walking Tennis improve people’s lives?
Over my career I have seen many lives positively affected by tennis of all kinds.
During the pandemic so many people told me what a lifeline Walking Tennis has been for them, motivating them to get out regularly for a purposeful activity. ‘Fun with a sense of achievement’ was how one player described it, and lots of people have said how much their fitness, agility and general happiness have improved since taking it up.
At the clubs lots of little friendship groups have sprung up that extend beyond the tennis sessions, and I know how much these mean to people. The group at St George in Bristol are always there, whatever the weather!
How did the LTA come to take an interest in Walking Tennis?
Once the pandemic started Walking Tennis sessions came to an abrupt halt, but we continued working to get the format recognised by the LTA. We were very encouraged by a Zoom call I organised with coaches across the country, linking in with the She Rallies ambassadors.
Jo-Anne Downing, the LTA Product and Programme Manager was on that call and in April 2021 she and Sam Richardson came to Bristol to participate in a session and experience the game for themselves. We were finalists for the LTA Presidents Award 2021 and Walking Tennis had endorsements from Judy Murray and Scott Lloyd, so it was really being recognised by then.
The transition to the LTA occurred in mid 2021 when it appeared on LTA Rally as one of their products. I did a Q&A video for the coaches; we closed our website and our social media and we dissolved the CIC in January 2022. So the handover is now complete.
Helen receiving the Unsung Hero Award for Avon Tennis from the LTA’s Lesley Cundy in 2021
What would you like to see happen in the future for Walking Tennis?
I’d love Walking Tennis to grow nationally and internationally, becoming a fully and widely recognised walking sport. Walking Tennis festivals and regular tournaments would be amazing.
At the grassroots level, I want to see many more venues open up their courts for Walking Tennis sessions; and to support coaches and volunteers to lead them.
In fact, I would like to see Walking Tennis become embedded within tennis clubs as an activity that all players can transition to. It’s perfect for club players to move seamlessly into later in life or after injury, as it can be played competitively, recreationally or as a rehabilitative activity.
See also: Setting up a Walking Tennis group at your club - 9 practical tips
Finally, looking beyond Walking Tennis, what are the biggest challenges you face as someone who runs grassroots inclusive tennis? What can counties and the LTA do to help promote and support it further?
The biggest challenge is to coordinate coaches, clubs, volunteers and external organisations to work together and own an activity, especially once it has been established and the original founders or helpers might have stepped back.
I would like to see LTA make the training for inclusive tennis more easily accessible and to encourage coaches to shadow ongoing sessions. Coaches need that in-depth, hands-on practical experience to give them confidence in delivering inclusive sessions. There is an LTA pilot mentoring scheme, which is great, but this now needs scaling up and funding to encourage more coaches to get involved.
Above all, inclusive tennis should be considered as equal to any other tennis coaching programmes. The social capital – the health and social benefits to the community as a whole – are huge and are not yet fully appreciated.
At my local level, I really want and believe Avon Tennis can achieve this, but to make it work there is an urgent need for an employed Inclusive Tennis Development Officer within the county to coordinate and help to deliver such sessions. And that’s my aim right now; to work alongside Avon Tennis, local partners and the LTA to gain the necessary funding and official structure we need so inclusive tennis can not only be professionally supported, but most importantly, it can continue to thrive.
If you’d like to get involved in Walking Tennis and find a local venue, visit the LTA page here. For those in the west of England area, you can contact Richard Colman at richard.colman@wesport.co.uk
Further resources for other forms of inclusive tennis are below.
Helen (far right) with the Visually Impaired tennis group at Coombe Dingle, Bristol
Helen’s amazing life in inclusive tennis
“I was the secretary of the junior section when I was 15 and it was then, I suppose, that I realised the importance of giving back to your club as a volunteer.”
Helen’s tireless enthusiasm and hard work – most of it unpaid – makes her a true hero of inclusive tennis and an inspiration to countless people, not least coaches and volunteers. Here are just some of her past achievements and current activities…
Helen was the LTA Open Court Lead for Avon from 2013 to 2017 and then for Bristol until 2020. She is now a volunteer on the Avon Tennis Development Group as the Disability/Inclusive Lead
In 2014 she helped set up an Ability Tennis group at Cotham Park TC with the support of Access Sport. It has run successfully for over seven years
She established wheelchair tennis and Blind and Visually Impaired tennis groups at the University of Bristol at Coombe Dingle and still offers volunteer support
In a voluntary capacity she advises and mentors the coach at Bristol Parks Tennis to deliver Walking Tennis and SEND Tennis programmes at St George Park
She helped to initiate and still mentors a mental health tennis group at Eastville Park, Bristol
She is currently setting up a Parkinson’s Tennis Group at Thornbury TC with the Face2 Face Parkinson’s support group
She was instrumental in getting the LTA product TFK adapted for SEND Tennis, delivering a course at St George Park in Bristol. She has worked with Access Sport and Wesport to set up SEND sessions across the region
She set up a Down’s Syndrome specific tennis group with DSActive at DL Emerson’s Green
She worked alongside an employee from MENCAP to successfully help get Rhys Parry, a coach with Down’s Syndrome, through his Level 1 Tennis qualification. He is now employed by DL Emerson’s Green and at Cotham Park Tennis Club
She volunteers on the Ignitebristol.co.uk steering group to ensure inclusive tennis is included throughout Bristol
She sits on the Bristol Health Partners Active Lives HIT group to promote Walking Tennis; and works with Active Ageing and the annual Bristol Walkfest
She attends the Sight Support West of England VISPA quarterly meetings to discuss all the sporting and physical activity opportunities for those with a visual impairment, ensuring that Visually Impaired tennis is always on the agenda
In 2021 she was a finalist for the LTA President’s award and received an Unsung Hero award from Avon Tennis for her work establishing Walking Tennis.
Helen also supports, mentors and inspires many other tennis coaches who are keen to get involved with inclusive tennis. She loves to see their enthusiasm grow when they see the impact that their coaching can have on someone’s life.
Rhys Parry is now a Level 1 qualified tennis coach
Inclusive Tennis resources
Nationwide:
Activity Alliance – the leading voice for disabled people in sport and activity
Access Sport - charity helping young disabled and disadvantaged people to get into sport. A great resource for volunteers
Bright Ideas for Tennis – charity led by Danny Sapsford, bringing inclusive tennis to clubs nationwide
Dan Maskell Tennis Trust – raising funds for people with disabilities who play tennis
The LTA website offers more information about inclusive tennis, plus a Find your nearest venue feature:
LTA - Visually Impaired Tennis
LTA - Learning Disability tennis
Avon and the southwest
Wesport – a great sports charity that helps people become more physically active.
Bristol Walkfest - including Walking Tennis
Double Bounce - inclusive tennis charity in Plymouth
Connie, Ewan, Tom and Helen demonstrating that volunteering is a lot of fun - at The Wheely Good Tennis Club, Coombe Dingle
