Ever wondered how tennis can transform lives? Join us as we discuss the inspiring stories behind Wheel Serve NC!

We were thrilled to interview Kelly Flouhouse and Helen Leonard, who are the Co-Executive Directors of Wheel Serve NC. Wheel Serve NC was created to grow, promote and support wheelchair tennis.

If you would like to participate or donate please visit their website to learn more! Wheel Serve NC.

Here’s A Complete Transcript of Our Conversation with Helen Leonard and Kelly Flouhouse

Carolyn: 0:20

Hi, this is Carolyn, and I’m here with Erin and we’re doing this podcast in person, which is a 501c3 nonprofit whose purpose is to grow and support wheelchair tennis in North Carolina. We have been wanting to have them on the podcast for a long time and we met them at USTA Southern’s awards ceremony. But I believe Erin met Helen first. How did you meet Helen?Erin: 0:41

Helen and I actually met years ago I want to say it was 2018, 2019, somewhere around there and we happened to play a singles match against each other very competitive match at state, at the state championship, and she actually mentioned at that point that you were working with wheelchair athletes and I had never even heard of wheelchair athletes playing tennis and I just thought that was really cool.Erin: 1:01

It stuck in my mind. And then in 2021, the four of us that are sitting in this room together Kelly and Helen won an award for wheel serve and seed that year, and Carolyn and I won an award at USTA Southern for our podcast, and we started talking again. And then I remember looking at you and saying, wait, didn’t we play a match? And I remember you telling me about how you were working with wheelchair athletes back then and I thought it was really neat that you know. It just kind of all came full circle that we met so many years ago and I didn’t know that we would ever cross paths again. And now we’re sitting in a hotel room, you know, recording a podcast together about a business that you created out of working with wheelchair athletes. I just think that’s very cool.Carolyn: 1:41

Yes, and I remember. At that award ceremony, kelly’s acceptance speech brought everyone to tears. It brought the house down. Yeah, it brought the house down, so thank you both for being here. Kelly, can you start off and maybe tell us that story and how you met Helen and created Will Servancy?Kelly: 2:16

Thank you so much for having us here today. I had a diving accident in 2015. I was just an average person, you. It ended up being too shallow, so I hit my head, broke my neck, and what happened was thankfully, I had friends there and they were able to kind of balance me in the water and lifelight came, took me to the hospital and it was at that moment that I regained consciousness and knew wow, life is going to be very different. I knew right away that there was no sensation below my collarbone and I just knew that moment.Kelly: 2:51

Like you know, you go one way or the other, and I was going the other way and what transpired was a year of six months in the hospital, six months in a skilled nursing facility, and then what would have been a victory is to being discharged home. But once I got home, I was just surrounded by certified nurses, assistants and isolated in the community and I thought man, I’m young, I’ve got a long life to live. I was like I don’t see a purpose in living in this life. How can I do this forever? And I’m a very type, A purposeful person, and I still wanted to be that and I wanted to move forward, but very afraid to move forward and so, thankfully, I was introduced to a hospital based wheelchair tennis program and I had such nervousness about it that I actually had to tell my mom, so that she would keep me accountable, that she would make me go, because otherwise I wouldn’t have gone. And to set the scene, I’m in a power wheelchair with very limited upper body movement, almost no hand function, so I wasn’t driving at the time and I was paying for transportation, so $75 to go for a ride. So I paid $75 to go to that tennis court and with total fear and because I don’t see, when I look in the mirror I see a person with a disability.Kelly: 4:15

At that time, how could I be a tennis player? And I was a very athletic person before. And so I rolled onto that court with as much trepidation as possible and thankfully I was fortunate to see Helen Leonard, a long-term volunteer, and a bunch of wheelchair athletes zooming around that court, living, laughing, driving, working in relationships. And it was at that moment leaving that court living, laughing, driving, working in relationships and it was at that moment, leaving that court that day, that I was like life has meaning, life will go on, I will have a purpose, what I can do on court is what I can do off court.Kelly: 4:54

So what was so special about Helen is that she has such a warm. She gives such a warm invitation to any new coming player onto the court and, of course, all the regular players. But that’s her true passion is the new players, and so she welcomes you on the court. And I had never played tennis besides, you know, a few times before, but you know, she put that racket in my hand, the recreational therapist transferred me to the chair and within you know, 10 minutes I went from a person in a power chair to a person in a sport chair with a tennis racket taped to my hand and ready to play tennis. And Helen showed me that, you know, there are so many capabilities that I would have never thought to have.Erin: 5:41

So, helen, tell us your story and your background about tennis and how you got involved.Helen: 5:45

So I grew up playing tennis just at a recreational level. I was one of five children. My dad built a tennis court in our backyard when I was 12. We really didn’t know what we were doing, but I remember my dad pretty much built it himself with my brothers and my sister and I. We put the surface down, we painted the lines. It was also. This was way before sport courts were a thing, but we had a basketball goal at one end and we would skateboard on it. We would play different games on it. But I was the one of the five children who really loved tennis and so I have played tennis all my life.Helen: 6:23

I actually, when I graduated from college, moved to Wilmington, north Carolina, and met my husband, who was also a lifelong tennis player. Our first date was actually playing tennis in 1989. And we just love the sport and love doing that together. So fast forward. We have two daughters who played junior tennis and, again, none of us have won any big trophies or awards or anything but tennis has just given a lot to us in life. We’ve also had the opportunity to move around with my husband’s career and made several moves over the past 30 years, and whenever we move to a new community. You know, tennis is something that immediately connects us with people who we have things in common with. So I’ve always felt just very grateful for the opportunity to play, and at a recreational level, and it just gives me so much joy.Helen: 7:14

So, as Kelly mentioned, I was volunteering for this hospital-based program in Charlotte and met several players you know along the way, and then one week they brought someone new in and I was excited because they were bringing a female and there were not a lot of women in wheelchairs playing tennis through this program. I think maybe it’s more intimidating for women who don’t want to, you know, set themselves up to fail. So anyway, kelly came on the court like she mentioned, and she doesn’t really tell the story like I remember it, but she rolled onto the court and I could tell she really didn’t want to be there and she just kind of had this sour look on her face and I said, well, have you ever played tennis before? And she said no and I said, well, well, you know, here’s what we’re going to do. I said I’m going to just put you at the net and I’m going to feed some balls right to your racket. We’re just going to learn how to hit a forehand volley. And let’s just see, and a lot of times when people first come out, particularly after they’ve had an injury, you know, there’s a lot of swinging and missing. Well, I start feeding these balls to Kelly and she’s hitting every one of them in the middle of the racket sweet spot. You know, down the line cross court. So I said, oh, that’s really good. I said let’s move back to the service line and I’m going to just toss you some balls and we’ll hit some forehands.Helen: 8:27

And again, according to her, she had never played tennis. So I’m hitting some balls to her and she’s hitting these great shots over the net. I mean, like 80% of her shots are going over. And I was like this is amazing, this is really amazing. Well, what she didn’t tell me was that she had been a college athlete before her accident, not playing tennis, but another racket sport. Not a racket sport, but eye hand coordination needed with softball.Helen: 8:52

And you know, so we became quick friends as well as all the other players in the program.Helen: 8:58

And you know, over the years I would come in on a we played on Tuesdays back then and I would come in and we’d talk about our weeks and I would say oh well, you know, my husband and I played in a mixed doubles league this weekend, or we went to a tournament with my children.Helen: 9:15

And you know, one day she said to me you know, I hear you talk about this and I don’t know why that doesn’t exist for wheelchair athletes.Helen: 9:24

It seems that all we have is these clinical setting programs, which was true. So we just started talking about that, probably over several months, as far as how we could create an environment for wheelchair tennis athletes that was similar to the environment that I enjoy community tennis and to our knowledge that did not exist. So we met one day with Amy Franklin, who was at the time with the North Carolina Tennis Foundation and she also lived in Charlotte and she was a big advocate of the program, the hospital-based program where we worked, and she asked us to have coffee one morning, and sometimes we think we should have never had coffee with her that day, but we did and she kind of had a vision for us as well and she heard what we were saying and she heard, you know, the obstacles that were in our way and she said I think North Carolina tennis would love to help you. And so that’s how the idea of Wheel Serve began.Erin: 10:26

So, from someone that’s always been interested in volunteering, obviously I, you know, volunteer for tennis. I’m wondering what it looks like to volunteer on a tennis court with wheelchair players. What do I do as an able-bodied person if I wanted to volunteer and come out for a clinic or help run a tournament or something else?Kelly: 10:45

So we are so grateful to our volunteers. They are the heart of our organization. Our volunteers come with a love of tennis and a love of people, and that’s really the only requirements we have. Everything that you need to know, you will learn on the court.Kelly: 11:01

I think there’s a lot of misconceptions and fear about working with a population that you’re not familiar with, and I think that is so natural. Before I was in a wheelchair, I would have had those same reservations of I don’t want to say the wrong thing, I don’t know what they can do. Should I ask for help? Should I say do you need help? Do I ask how they got hurt? All of these things are running through volunteers’ heads and I think you quickly realize in having a conversation with any of our players that we are just people that had a really bad day.Kelly: 11:35

Helen often says the only difference between the two of us is that I had one really bad day, and I think that’s so true and I am just a person sitting down. That is the only difference between me and you, and I think, if we can look at, the similarities are far greater than the differences. And so our volunteers we don’t require them to be trained in medical anything. I mean, we have common disabilities that you’ll see, mainly spinal cord, MS and people with an amputation but they come to the court just wanting to play tennis and we provide all of the equipment adaptive, adaptive as well as tennis equipment. It’s free to participate. We’re 100% volunteer run and we encourage anybody interested in volunteering to reach out through Instagram, Facebook and our website.Helen: 12:31

The thing I love about our volunteers is they truly 99% of them come because they love tennis and they want to share their love of tennis with all of these wheelchair athletes. And we’re all just a group of average players, you know, I think many times people think, oh, we’ve got to hire a coach, we’ve got to. And to me and Kelly and I always say this let’s put fun before fundamentals, and that’s what makes us all enjoy our time on the court. I will say, hands down, the wheelchair athletes in our programming and we have over 70 now in the state are just the most kind and considerate and positive and encouraging to everyone on the court, whether you’re in a chair or not, and encouraging to everyone on the court, whether you’re in a chair or not.Helen: 13:17

One of the things I like about the structure of our programming is that we play a lot of up-down tennis. So I, as an able-bodied player, would be the up person and Kelly, as a wheelchair athlete, would be the down person. So we mix players together. So it’s not oh, the wheelchair players are over on this court and the able-bodied players are on this court. No, oh, the wheelchair players are over on this court and the able-bodied players are on this court. No, it’s the same game. We play it together. The only difference is that they get two bounces if they need it. Other than that, it’s the same game and we’re all there for the love of the sport.Erin: 13:47

So I would get one bounce right and then my wheelchair partner would get two bounces.Helen: 13:53

Yes, Yep and Kelly and I actually played in a in a tournament in Wilmington, north Carolina. It was a couple of years ago and it was an able-bodied tournament. And this is something that we’ve tried to do with Wheel Serve over the last few years, is integrate some of our higher level players into able-bodied tennis. Because, you know, we have programming. We have six programs in the state and over 70 players, and our programs meet weekly or twice a month. So that’s, that’s great. But our players who fall in love with tennis want more. So, in my mind, why should we have to reinvent the wheel? No pun intended, but let’s take those players who have the skillset and let them integrate into tournaments or leagues, because there’s no reason that they can’t do that. So Kelly and I did play in a tournament and I think afterwards she thought I’m going to get a better partner next time. But we played in a ladies 6-0 division and we more than held our own in that. But you can describe the experience of how you were received.Kelly: 14:53

Yeah, they had apprehension just as much as I did. Walking up to the net. I think they were like, oh my goodness, how do we do? Do I hit down to you Like, should I not play as hard? Or, and I’m like, no, you should, because I registered for this event and if I’m in this division you play your game, because I’m going to play my game. But I had the same fear because I’m like, do I fit in on this court? And so, but quickly, with the ebb and flow of the game, it became just normal.Kelly: 15:22

You know tennis, and there was not such a stigma of, oh my goodness, she’s in a wheelchair, she’s just a tennis player. I think that’s what’s important is, whether it’s in a program or a league or anything, it’s that we want to be seen as a tennis player, not a, you know, only a program for people with a physical disability. That’s why the volunteers integrate into us, just friends. We come that day to forget the rest of our week, just as any able-bodied player does. They come on that court to drop their work schedule, to drop the family chaos, and we come to forget all of the struggles that we have the other six days of the week.Carolyn: 16:04

Thanks to Kelly and Helen for coming on the podcast. If you’d like to donate or volunteer, we’ve included a link to their website in our show notes. We have one more episode where we discuss if there are bad line calls, the craziest situation that they’ve had to deal with that luckily had a happy ending and their most memorable moments. Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the court soon.