Special Day For Children At Lacoste Special Needs Tennis Clinic

Children’s laughter could be overheard from courts 4, 5, and 6 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium today as over 80 special needs children participated in the Lacoste Special Needs Tennis Clinic. In partnership with Dubai Duty Free and the Clark Francis Tennis Academy, the 2 hour clinic served up lessons, lunch, and a visit from two top WTA doubles players for children from Al Noor, Dubai Centre for Special Needs, Rashid Pediatric Centre, and the Dubai Autism Centre.

A unique program, the Lacoste Special Needs Clinic is one of the few that invites multiple special needs schools to participate on the same day, broadening the overall experience for the children. Ikram Jalali, Senior Manager of Physical Education at Al Noor commented on how his students were enjoying the day. “It’s a great opportunity and a lot of fun for the kids. We’re here in the morning until the evening matches starting at 7pm.”

For several of the schools, these tennis clinics are something they look forward to all year. As a teacher from Rashid Pediatric Centre shared, “This is our second year coming to the clinic, and as you can see, every time they come out they have so much fun.”

The children were delighted to be joined by WTA players Cara Black and Raquel Kops-Jones who took to the court to lend a helping hand, sharing tennis tips and plenty of high-fives.

Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman of Dubai Duty Free, the tournament owners and organizers, was impressed with the clinic and the obvious enjoyment of the participants, commenting “To see these people take to the courts is inspirational. Some of them have had to endure some hardship in their life and it is so good to see the smiles on their faces today,” he added.

Today’s Lacoste Special Needs clinic follows the Tennis Emirates Clinic held yesterday and the Dubai Duty Free Kids’ Day, which took place on Monday.

Tournament Director, Salah Tahlak highlighted the fact that the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships is not just for the elite players. “Tennis is a sport that everyone can play and we are delighted that we can offer opportunities like today’s clinic to such wonderful people, and it’s great to see them having so much fun” he said.

The second special needs tennis clinic sponsored by Dubai Duty Free will run on Wednesday, 27 February during the ATP tournament.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, which continues until 2nd March, is owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free and held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Tickets for the event are on sale from the Box Office at the Dubai Tennis Stadium, Garhoud which is open from 9am to 9pm daily. Grandstand ticket prices range from 50dhs for opening rounds to 450dhs for finals, with season tickets also available.

For further information about tickets, prices and the tournament phone the call centre on +971 4 4172415.

Emirate:  Dubai

Date: Feb 20, 2013

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