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Photo credit: Sue Daragan
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This year’s third annual SPUD Tournament was hosted June 22-23 in Belton, South Carolina at the Belton Tennis Center. The format of the SPUD Tennis Tournament is unified doubles, matching a special athlete with a unified partner in doubles competition. The tournament brought out more than 80 attendees total and each team had an athlete partnered with a volunteer.
USTA South Carolina Executive Director John Sheffield was a volunteer partner at this year’s SPUD Tournament. When asked how his experience was, John said, "It was very positive no matter what the score was. The players would cheer on their opponents when they would miss a shot or a serve. It was very inspirational, and I think we all can take something from that alone."
Michelle Campanella, Manager of Junior Recreation Programs at USTA South Carolina also volunteered and said, "Everyone was so positive and accepting. I definitely could bring this mindset into my own game."
The tournament play was held on Friday and Saturday with a player’s party on Friday night. After play ceased on Saturday afternoon, there was an awards ceremony where all players and partners received trophies. The awards ceremony consisted of the partners getting out on the center court and forming an arch for the players to run underneath. Partners and spectators said this was their favorite part of the whole tournament. After each team had run under the arch, two sportsmanship awards were given out to a male and female player.