Kyle Taulman didn’t want to play wheelchair tennis when he was 9 years old.
Then a resident of Steamboat Springs, the now 19-year-old University of Colorado at Boulder student just couldn’t get into a sport tailored to able-bodied people. The coaches at the program didn’t understand how to teach the adaptive version of the sport.
When the Rocky Mountain Tennis Center and the 5430 Kids Tennis Foundation first introduced their wheelchair program last year, his perspective of the sport changed dramatically.
“During COVID, I was looking for something to do and I saw that there was actually a wheelchair tennis camp,” Taulman explained. “When I was younger and I played, I didn’t really enjoy it very much because I was taught able-bodied tennis. … They don’t teach the same mobility that we would get in wheelchair tennis so when I tried wheelchair tennis at the beginning of last summer with these guys, I was like, ‘Oh! I finally understand how you’re supposed to move in tennis.’”
The program has grown to serve a number of athletes in the area. Over the weekend, 26 players convened at the CU South Tennis Complex to learn, play and have fun in the sweltering heat. They welcomed top-tier coaches from all over the country, from Highlands Ranch coach Frank Adams to a Paralympic bronze medalist from the 2000 Sydney Games.
He may have represented the United States on the world stage at one time, but now Scott Douglas, 57, works as an associate professor at the University of Northern Colorado in the School of Sport and Exercise Science. He’s been helping out Kendall and Donna Chitambar, who own the RMTC, to instruct athletes and teach them all of the nuances attached to the wheelchair version of the sport.
Last year, he accepted a coaching job with CU’s new wheelchair tennis club team, which Taulman plays for. One day, he hopes to coach a future Paralympic gold medalist. For now, though, he’s happy sharing the sport with those who love it most.
“It’s just summer camp,” Douglas said of the weekend festivities. “Then we have our regular training sessions at Rocky Mountain Tennis Center, here all year round. In the winter, we have the bubble and we play inside, but we’re trying to have ongoing programming. It’s not in-season during the winter, but it’s a great time to get better. I started in February, coming twice a week and really getting into it. We’re still building it, so it’s still kind of in its infancy.”
Tomas Majetic and Sabina Czauz, both 14, started the program together last year. Since then, they’ve learned to appreciate the sport more as they build their skills.
“My mom found it and brought me here,” Majetic said. “I like it more than when I started. It got more fun.”
“For the most part, it’s summer and I wouldn’t really be doing anything,” Czauz said. “It gives me a way to exercise more, especially since I can’t walk that far. Also, it gives me something to look forward to if it’s kind of a bad week or whatever.”
Krista Ramirez-Villatoro, 22, began playing the sport in California when she attended UCLA. When the pandemic sent her home, she tried her luck with RMTC’s program. Since then, she’s accomplished more than she ever could have hoped for with her original team.
“I think this is a lot more player development than just for fun, so we definitely get to work on our skills a lot more,” she said. “I appreciate that. I think it’s the difference between athletics and recreational tennis, so you get to learn how to have better game strategy and how to actually play matches.”
Jason Allen, who works as the national manager of research and education with the U.S. Tennis Association, has worked with the Chitambars for years. He came to Colorado from Orlando this week for the junior nationals tournament in Denver and decided to help host the summer camp.
He’s thrilled with the direction that the organization has taken and can’t wait to see where it’s headed.
“The Rocky Mountain Tennis Center and what they’re doing is literally, in my opinion, the archetype of how all tennis programs should be,” he said, “because they are a phenomenal tennis program in general that serves the public quite well across all facets, from grassroots beginner players all the way to high-performance players.
“Tennis is for everyone and all sports should be for everyone. Having a wheelchair tennis program and having an adaptive tennis program is a great way to round out your programming at a club and to be completely inclusive. Tennis lends itself to be the most integrative of all the disabled sports because, especially in wheelchair tennis, there’s no rule difference except for two bounces.”
![Former Colorado women’s basketball player Shelomi Sanders has found a new home. On Thursday night, Sanders announced that she is transferring to Alabama A&M. A walk-on with the Buffaloes the past year and a half, and the daughter of CU head football coach Deion Sanders, Shelomi put her name in the transfer portal earlier this month. For Shelomi, it will be a return to the Southwestern Athletic Conference. She began her career as a walk-on at perennial SWAC power Jackson State – where her father was the head football coach – in the fall of 2022. When her father was […]](https://www.dailycamera.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BUF-L-CUWTa153.jpg?w=504 "Former Colorado women’s basketball player Shelomi Sanders has found a new home. On Thursday night, Sanders announced that she is transferring to Alabama A&M. A walk-on with the Buffaloes the past year and a half, and the daughter of CU head football coach Deion Sanders, Shelomi put her name in the transfer portal earlier this month. For Shelomi, it will be a return to the Southwestern Athletic Conference. She began her career as a walk-on at perennial SWAC power Jackson State – where her father was the head football coach – in the fall of 2022. When her father was […]")
