Check Out Lou Welch’s Story

Tennis has been a passion of mine since I can remember. In my youth, I practiced for hours each day and was thrilled when I made the middle school team, then the high school team, and, finally, my college team. During all these years, I made many friends within the tennis community. In college, I majored in Therapeutic Recreation and felt I could help others find their passion as I had found mine. My first job was working in a psychiatric hospital in the adolescent unit. After several years, I moved into marketing in the business world and eventually into pharmaceutical sales. Though I enjoyed all my jobs, my heart was always with helping others. Evenutally, I married, had two children, and focused on home life. As my children entered high school, I began looking for a part-time job that would allow me to keep family life commitments while using my talents to help others.

Around this time, I ran into Kelly Gaines, Executive Director of NC Tennis, whom I knew from my college tennis days. Kelly knew that I loved tennis and had majored in Therapeutic Recreation. She mentioned a potential opening with Abilities Tennis of North Carolina (ATANC) and explained the job would be creating tennis programs for people with intellectual disabilities. The job was ten hours a week, with the opportunity to grow into something much bigger. It was another year before I would get the job. The first year was very stressful for many reasons; in fact, I almost resigned. Today, I look back and am so thankful I persevered, and I use this example to encourage others to forge through tough times to see what is on the other side. It is now eight years later, and I have found my purpose in life. Working in the tennis community to provide programming to people with few opportunities to play tennis is more than rewarding. The job goes beyond tennis and has little to do with tennis. It is about building community, creating socializing opportunities, and improving physical fitness and overall well-being. The families I meet and work with are the best in the world. Often people will say how hard it must be to have a child with special needs, and I don’t disagree, but the blessings may astonish people. Our “athletes” teach us more than we can teach them. They bring joy and happiness that seem to come only to those with an intellectual disability. Their gift to us is that this joy and happiness are contagious. Our volunteers get so much from the program, and we often have more volunteers than athletes.

Abilities Tennis has grown from 4 clinic locations to nearly 30 clinic locations and from 2 tournaments to 7 tournaments, all of which span the entire state of North Carolina. There are many other programs, including exhibition matches at professional tournaments. A highlight of my job was our invitation to attend the US Open in 2019. ATANC was chosen as the first adaptive program to do an exhibition on Arthur Ashe stadium before the Novak Djokovic vs. Juan Ignacio Londero match, with one of our athletes flipping the coin. Most recently, Abilities Tennis athletes performed at the Billie Jean Cup in Asheville, NC. ATANC also hosts a statewide qualifier tournament for the Adaptive National Tournament, which takes place in the fall at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. As the program has grown exponentially, I am beyond thrilled to work now with my talented sister-in-law, Nancy Steed. As a team on behalf of Abilities Tennis, we work so well together, blending our talents with the shared focus of helping provide even more opportunities for the over 500 Abilities Tennis athletes across the state.

Abilities Tennis seems to touch everyone who comes in contact with the program. The stories are endless as people reach out to me from all over the state to tell me about their experiences. One of the most recent interactions was with a teacher who asked, “What is happening with Abilities Tennis?” One of her special needs students who was distant and not engaged in class became more energetic and focused after beginning tennis with Abilities Tennis. The teacher wants all of her special needs students involved. It doesn’t get much better than that!

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The biggest challenge I faced in this job was in 2019 when USTA/Net Generation chose ATANC to be the first adaptive program to do a demo on Arthur Ashe during a night match. The first task was to raise 50K to pay for the trip. Next, organizing twenty-five athletes and twenty-five traveling companions to take a bus to New York City for two days was a logistical dilemma. The trip went off without a hitch and is now a feat I will forever be proud of. One of our athletes, Brogan, flipped the coin for the Djokovic/Londero match, and all of the athletes did a ten-minute demo on Arthur Ashe.

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Honestly, perhaps my biggest risk-taking was accepting this job. When I read the job description, I was overwhelmed and thought I couldn’t possibly do this job. As I reevaluated, I decided that if I took it one step at a time, I could eventually figure it out. I also believed there could not be another job more suited for me and my gifts. Not working for 17 years while I raised the kids certainly played into my insecurities. It is challenging to be out of the working world, and reentry is taxing. Fortunately, the ATANC board was excellent. Jessie Taliaferro, the president, was my mentor. She walked me through each step of the way, encouraging and guiding me. I will forever be grateful to our board and to Jessie for their guidance.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.atanc.org/

• Facebook: Abilities Tennis Association of North Carolina