blvd. | givers
Tennis, everyone A NEW CHARLOTTE NONPROFIT CREATES A STATEWIDE NETWORK FOR WHEELCHAIR TENNIS PLAYERS. by Michelle Boudin • photographs by Kelsie Elizabeth Photography
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ennis has always been the go-to sport for the Leonard family. Helen Leonard grew up playing on a backyard court her dad built. Her husband plays, and both of their daughters were on the team at Charlotte Catholic High School. The sport is so much a part of their family experience that when they moved to Charlotte in 2010 after her husband, Bill, took a job at Atrium Health, the couple immediately knew they wanted to get involved in the local tennis community. “Tennis has always been one of the things in a new community that’s opened doors for us and helped us form new relationships,” says Leonard, who lived in Wilmington, Pinehurst, Concord and upstate South Carolina before landing in the Queen City. It’s also been a way for the couple to give back. “When we moved to Charlotte, we volunteered with an adaptive sports program for tennis players. We had a small group of players, and we started playing weekly with them. Over several years, we realized there were limited opportunities for wheelchair tennis in Charlotte and in North Carolina.” It was through the Adaptive Sports and Adventures Program’s wheelchair tennis group that Leonard met Charlotte native Kelly Flohouse. The Piper Glen resident has been in a wheelchair since she broke her neck in a diving accident in 2015. “After recovery and rehab, I was living at home and isolated, and I was looking to get back into the community,” Flohouse says. “I realized this was a path for me. It empowered me — it showed me my capabilities, not my disability.” Last summer, Leonard and Flohouse began talking with USTA North Carolina about developing a statewide wheelchair tennis organization. They established Wheel Serve NC as a nonprofit in late 2020. The volunteer-run tennis association — Leonard and Flohouse are co-executive directors — offers a chance for people in wheelchairs to Helen Leonard, left, and Kelly Flohouse started Wheel Serve NC in late 2020. The Charlotte chapter of the wheelchair tennis organization plays weekly at Queens University’s tennis center.
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