We offer Skills, Singles, Unified Doubles and Traditional Doubles Teams (where both team members are Special Olympic athletes). Training consists of basic tennis skills with the goal of advancing each player to mixed doubles with a Unified Partner or to Traditional Doubles.
Like mainstream tennis, Special Olympics Tennis gives athletes the opportunity to learn and perform a variety of skills that can be played throughout life. In addition to offering traditional singles and doubles events, Special Olympics offers an individual skills program to allow athletes to train and compete in basic tennis skills before advancing to playing tennis matches. These skills include racket bounce, “ups,” forehand volley, backhand groundstroke, serve-deuce court, serve-advantage court and alternating groundstroke with movement.
| Coaches | Head Coaches – Princess Clemente and Dukki Moon Sport Director – Shelly Bogasky |
| Season Dates & Times | Practices: Sundays, starting August 2, 2026 to October 11, 2026 Qualifiers: State Games: Fall Fest – Saturday, October 17, 2026 at Mt. St. Mary’s (Emmitsburg, MD) Signup Begins: Sunday, July 5, 2026 at 6 PM |
| Athlete & Volunteer Registration Expiration Date | Sport’s State Games competition date: October 17, 2026 All Forms must be up to date before the signup date (first Sunday in July). The expiration date on an Athlete’s Registration form, or a Volunteer’s certification, must be after the above State Games competition date to participate in the upcoming season. |
You can find the official Special Olympics Rules, Fact Sheet, Coaching Guide, and other resources at this link: Special Olympics Tennis.
Athletes will need to provide their own tennis racket. SOMO does have a few that we can lend out if needed. SOMO will also provide tennis balls. Athletes should bring a water bottle to practice as it can get very hot on the courts.
SOMO will provide new athletes a SOMO shirt for Tennis Qualifiers and State Competition. Athletes must also wear black tennis shorts and tennis shoes with white socks for competition.
Location: Practices will take place at two locations. See ‘Important Details’ section above and be on the lookout for communications from the Tennis Coaching Team about where each practice will occur.
Timing: The Coach will assign athletes to practice sessions based on ability. There is no practice Labor Day weekend. Athletes should arrive 15 minutes early to allow time to check in and be prepared to warmup.
Activities: Practice will begin with warmups, then athletes will be broken into groups for skills and match play.
The State Competition for Tennis is held at Special Olympics Maryland’s Fall Fest at Mount St. Mary’s (16300 Old Emmitsburg Rd., Emmitsburg, MD 21727) in Mid-October.
Athletes must attend 8 practices, the required qualifier, and one other qualifier to be eligible for competition at Fall Fest. Athletes must also have no unexcused absences from practices.
Athletes can participate in other SOMO sports so long as the athlete can maintain full practice participation in all of their sports.
