Tennis Europe and Special Olympics are delighted to announce a new partnership agreement that will promote greater opportunities in tennis across Europe for people with intellectual disabilities.
The agreement was announced with the signing of a proclamation between President of Tennis Europe, Mr Jacques Dupré and Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia Regional President Mrs Mary Davis during the 2012 Tennis Europe Annual General which recently took place in Lyon, France.
"We are very pleased to join forces with Special Olympics to raise awareness and support for tennis players with intellectual disabilities” stated Jacques Dupré, President of Tennis Europe. “Tennis Europe greatly admires the work of Special Olympics in empowering children and adults with special needs every day to transform their lives through participation in sport. We are committed to playing our part so that more and more can experience the joy and benefits of tennis”.
The tennis community across Europe is getting behind the Special Olympics movement. In 2010 Spanish champion Rafael Nadal developed the More than Tennis programme in collaboration with Special Olympics and The Rafael Foundation with the equal aim of supporting personal development and promoting inclusion.
According to Mary Davis, Managing Director of SOEE: “Partnerships with sporting federations such as Tennis Europe are key to our ability to reach and include more people with intellectual disabilities as well as recruiting more coaches and volunteers. We are very excited about the new opportunities collaboration with Tennis Europe opens up that will help us meet the growing momentum for tennis in our movement."
Tennis is just one of 31 Olympic-type winter and summer sports of which Special Olympics offers year-round training and competitions. The movement, which serves more than half a million athletes across Europe and Central Asia, and nearly four million across the world, is keen to grow its number of registered players in this sport as well as recruit new coaches and volunteers.
For more information on Special Olympics visit www.specialolympics.org