“On that tennis court I don’t feel blind, I feel like an equal. It’s like I’m walking along a beach that goes on for miles and miles and miles.”
Lisa McLaughlin’s life changed forever when, aged 20, she woke up one morning and, in her words, felt like she was looking through a frosted glass window.
The Holywood native went straight to the hospital and, by lunchtime, had been diagnosed as being blind.
Literally overnight, she had lost her sight, with doctors believing it was likely a result of her being born three months premature and the blood vessels in her eyes not having had the chance to form properly.
“I was fully sighted right up until I woke up that morning but by 2pm I couldn’t see anything at all,” explained Lisa, who is a member of Windsor Tennis Club in Belfast and coached by Simon McFarland.
“It was life-altering. I basically had to learn how to do everything again, to walk and, as ridiculous as it sounds, to learn how to feed myself again without spilling it over myself.
“It was hard to deal with but, fast forward 20 years, here I am representing Ireland at the World Games.”
Indeed. In truly remarkable fashion, one of the new things 40-year-old Lisa learned to do is play blind tennis. She first picked up a racket five years ago, having never played when she was fully sighted, and soon found herself being selected for Ireland.
This week, she is part of the Ireland tennis team that is in Birmingham to take part in the International Blind Sport Federation World Games, where she will go up against players from a range of countries, including Mexico and Italy.
“Tennis gives me something to focus on,” Lisa says. “Once I am on that court, it is like my freedom and my independence come back.
“I have this area where I just know that I can run and go from A to B, and feel safe doing it without any hurdles in the way.”
‘Our ears are our eyes’
For those unfamiliar with blind tennis, the rules and concept are largely the same as regular tennis but played on a slightly smaller court. The ball is, roughly, two and a half times bigger than a regular tennis ball, is made of a much softer material and has a bell or rattle inside it. There are no modifications to the racket.
There are different classifications, according to the players’ level of sight. Lisa is a B1 classification, which means the ball is allowed up to three bounces, while there is just one bounce allowed for the B4…
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