Handicapped athletes from all over Switzerland

The Cham Tennis Club organised a tennis tournament for people with mental disabilities.

There was lots of activity in the tennis facility near St. Andreas in Cham last Sunday morning: 22 tennis players with mental impairments warmed up on Court 1, while the coaches meet for a short meeting and the numerous helpers received instructions for their task as ball boys and referees. The games then started on all three courts. The tournament was held in accordance with the Special Olympics guidelines: all participants were divided into groups according to strength classes, and each group played for one set of medals.

"Dreissig fünfzehn, trenta quindici (Thirty fifteen)," called the referees, because two tennis groups from Ticino also travelled to Cham. But the tennis group from Procap Sport Zug was also strongly represented, with two women players and eight male players, and visibly enjoyed playing in front of a home crowd.

The local mayor was also present
The tournament was organised by Manuel Hoppe (PromoTennis Zug), Michel Bätscher (Tennis Academy Seetal) and Max Meienberg (Procap Sport Zug) in cooperation with the Tennis Club Cham.

A player from Bern is happy about the group victory (from left): Yves (winner), Giordano, Flavio and Daniel.               Photo: PD

The Zug Tennis regional association and the municipality of Cham not only generously supported this tournament financially, but also in terms of personnel, and Georges Helfenstein, the mayor of Cham (Gemeindepräsident), was among the numerous spectators.

"I'm not doing so well today," said an athlete after the first game. In the end, she not only won the game, but also the gold medal in her group. Others were disappointed when they realised that they didn’t make it to the podium this time. But all the athletes were celebrated at the award ceremony  – and their beaming faces gave an idea of their anticipation of the next tournament.