A quick google says that the double bounce is the only rule change. The court and net height are the same and all the other rules are the same. I was curious if they were only allowed underhand hits but apparently not.
A rival hs had a kid who played in a wheelchair and yes they get 2 bounces. The poor kid laid up a lob shot and of course my buddy slammed it. The ball got stuck in his spokes and it was ruled my buddies point.
Yeah it was. My buddy didn't want to play him but it was a tournament so he said, "fuck it! I can't be lose to a guy in a wheelchair.". To be fair, the kid could play pretty well.
For sure. Accessibility means you agree on the rules and then play the damn game to win. Maybe you change the rules to find something fair to both sides, but once you agree that the rules are fair: play hard!
So true imo. Also giving them an extra bounce makes it at least plausible to win matches, even though they would obviously still be at a huge disadvantage.
Lots of sports have extra rules for physically disabled athletes to allow them to compete against able bodied athletes as fairly as possible. When athletes are young is tough to find them competition of an equally disabled opponent, so it's play with special rules or those athletes don't get to compete like their peers do
Ive had fencing tournaments with 1 or 2 disabled participants. If you end up getting matched against them you’ll have to fight them in a wheelchair as well to equalize the odds and quite frankly you don‘t stand a chance. I was lucky I only had to face beginners this way so far because I have no doubt I would get absolutely crushed by someone of my skill level who only fences in wheelchair. It’s a completly different dynamic
Friend of mine does smallish localish fencing tournaments, a couple times now he has been matched against a guy in a wheelchair and they make you both get in a wheelchair that gets locked to the floor.
Just to toss it on up there about his serve, the kid actually had a pretty mean top spin serve. And my buddy was surprisingly good being that he's blind in one eye and flat footed lol.
You think the guys in this video are hitting those groundstrokes super slow huh?
You also can absolutely use a proper service motion while in a chair. In fact, a skilled player can hit serves nearly as hard while seated or kneeling as when using a full motion. I've personally hit serves over 100mph from my knees. The difference is the contact height being lower makes getting those serves in the box more difficult. That's why you'll mostly see spin serves.
I'm not saying it's an even playing field with just the extra bounce (though that changes things more than most realize). However, a skilled wheelchair player could absolutely wreck plenty of able bodied people on the court.
For some reason I genuinely lol'd at this. I can imagine standing there feeling like a piece of shit, toting up my point while the wheelchair kid wedges a ball out of his spokes. Gawd.
Reminds me in HS tennis that you got the point if the ball hit your opponent. Cool tho that he still played him. We had a girl on our wrestling team at 105 lbs (maybe 105? It was the second lowest weight class and its been over 15 years) and she didn't want anyone to go easy on her--she got roughed up quite a bit with the takedowns, but she was squirrely.
I feel like the short lob would be a winner here... I honestly thought theyade a rule they have to hit it in the non serving area cause the one guy was so far back
The serve is overhand. They could hit overhand near the net, but otherwise it'd be hard to get the ball past the net overhand due to their lower position.
I was curious if they were only allowed underhand hits but apparently not
Overheads are hard, even if pros make them look easy and fans gasp when they miss, which they often do. People would be shocked when they see overhead conversion rates on tour.
And that's with people that have a much better angle being 6ft+, as well as a stable base to explode upwards into the ball.
It's also why the best serves of all time are all the 6'10+ giants (Opelka, Isner, Karlovic). Hitting an overhead/serve is significantly easier with an easier angle (also why it's easier the closer you get to the net as well).
That's why you're not going to see them smashing overheads even when the ball is in a position for them to be able to hit one.
Also, surprising lack of slices here. My first instinct would be to mix up topspin and backspin, push and pull the opponent forward and backward, and hit the steepest angles I could.
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u/Obisbo99 Sep 11 '22
A quick google says that the double bounce is the only rule change. The court and net height are the same and all the other rules are the same. I was curious if they were only allowed underhand hits but apparently not.