This is part two of our interview with 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.

Join us to share their passion for this incredible sport and how it fosters inclusivity and sportsmanship. Discover how wheelchair tennis is not only redefining competition but also enriching the lives of athletes and communities alike, offering a model for similar programs nationwide.

If you missed part one of Helen and Kelly’s story, you can find it here.

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

Speaker 1: 0:07
Hi, this is Carolyn, with Erin here, and this is part two of our episode with Kelly and Helen, who are the co-founders of We’ll Serve NC, which is a 501c3 nonprofit whose purpose is to grow and support wheelchair tennis in North Carolina. If you want to learn more about their incredible story, please go back and listen to part one, but here is part two.

Speaker 2: 0:30
Okay, I have a funny question for you because I know Carolyn wants to ask it. But how are the line calls? Do you fight over line calls just like everybody does?

Speaker 3: 0:39
All right, I’m just going to say I’ve played on a lot of ladies teams over the years, a lot, and the line calls for wheelchair tennis athletes are the best that I’ve ever experienced. In fact, I think every ladies league player should have to go to a wheel serve clinic to get some perspective. You know, at the end of the day, you know, maybe there’s one or two exceptions of players in North Carolina who are outstanding wheelchair players we actually, you know we have a couple who have made it to really elite levels, but at the end of the day we’re all just average tennis players and none of us have a shoe deal or, you know, a Nike contract yet. But these athletes will give you a perspective that you never knew was possible. And I think we lose that in able-bodied tennis a lot, particularly with women’s tennis.

Speaker 3: 1:34
You know life’s too short. You know, if I don’t want to have to drive home from my match and worry about, oh, if I lost, is my partner going to be upset with me or is someone going to, you know, think that that wasn’t. You know the score that we should have had. I mean again, it’s just a game. We love the game.

Speaker 3: 1:53
We’re so fortunate, all of us to be able to play this sport and so for some reason well, I know the reason I feel that the wheelchair athletes have a second lease on life and their perspective is so different.

Speaker 3: 2:08
And that’s one of the reasons I love how we integrate our able-bodied community into wheelchair tennis, because it truly enlightens people, and one of my favorite things about events that we do is that you have new able-bodied players who come to participate or to watch and they have no idea what they’re getting into.

Speaker 3: 2:26
They’re a little apprehensive and by the end of the day they can’t say enough good things about the experience they had, and I think that just kind of sums up you know the perspective of our players, and it’s because of these wheelchair athletes that people leave with that impression and I hope that when they leave that the next time they go back on the court with their ladies team, that maybe that’s in the front of their mind about how fortunate we all are to be able to play together and just to be positive and enjoy it for what it is. You know, when you start winning Grand Slams, then you can talk to me about. You know how you’re upset over this or that. But until we get to that point. I think you just enjoy it for the sport that it is and for what it’s given all of us.

Speaker 2: 3:11
So I know we’re in North Carolina, we’ll serve NC. Right, we’ll serve NC. I asked this before we started recording, but I’m wondering. So we have a lot of listeners across the country and I’m wondering if there are. It seems to be that the there are more and more programs available for wheelchair athletes, so are you seeing an uptick? Maybe you know, are people getting in touch with you from other parts of the country you know to maybe tell them about the program and sort of use you as a footprint to get programs going for them.

Speaker 3: 3:46
Yeah, that’s a great question. I think traditionally, when you thought about wheelchair tennis, you thought about the elite athlete who was going to go to the Grand Slams or play in the Paralympics, and we all love those stories. But as we’ve evolved, we’ve realized that we’re trying to make this very comparable to the average player in a USTA league who plays able-bodied tennis. We have worked with some of the people in South Carolina to help them start a grassroots sort of a recreational level program, and that’s what we are is. We’re a recreational program. If we happen to have a player who wants to take it further than that, we will support them, but for the most part we’re just recreational players them, but for the most part we’re just recreational players. We would love for our model to be able to be shared and used, because I do think that the growth of wheelchair tennis is going to happen at this level and not so much at the elite level.

Speaker 3: 4:41
I think it’s hard to go out and be looking for that one athlete who’s going to take it all the way to Wimbledon. I mean, those people exist and that’s great. But as far as growth in the sport, I think we have found a model that really works. It’s sustainable. We have to meet, you know you have to meet every week because we’re a community, so no one wants to play wheelchair tennis four times a year. You know, if you love the sport, you’re looking for more opportunities. So we have not gone beyond our state boundaries. Kelly and I are running this with the help of a lot of really good volunteers around the state. We’re all volunteer run, but I do think that our model of programming is one that should be shared and we look forward to hopefully being able to help people replicate that.

Speaker 4: 5:36
So one thing you know when we first started in 2019 is when we created Wheel Servancy and we had these grand expectations of creating four programs in one year. I know that was our initial goal and that sounded really doable. And then we got in the weeds with it and we’re like, wow, this is harder to do and you have to have all the right pieces to build a program. You have to have, obviously, the wheelchair player component, so you have to recruit for players. You have to have really great volunteers. You have to have that tennis community, and then you have to player recruit for players. You have to have really great volunteers. You have to have that tennis community, and then you have to have access to people like partners in the community, so CTAs, nonprofits, universities, parks and rec, and so, and then you have to have one person that wants to take leadership of all of that and and so and again, this is all volunteer-based, and so our programs have been purposely chosen. The sites have been chosen where all of those factors combine and it makes magic. And I think what’s great is we have six programs strategically located, and we started with. Charlotte was always the original, and then it grew to Cary, but then, very slowly but confidently, we went into other markets and I think you know our numbers have grown with that.

Speaker 4: 6:57
As Helen mentioned, we started with, you know, a handful of players and then now we’re over 70 players, six programs owning, you know, 15, 16 sport chairs. A sport chair is over $4,000. That is a huge barrier for us and the thing that we spend the most money on as a nonprofit is outsourcing programs with chairs. So you know, to start a program you need at least four chairs, and so so those are some of our, our thinking as we go into where can the next program be? And you know it’s also as a population, people with disabilities, especially people with spinal cord injury or MS. We’re in the community, working, we’re living, we’re married. You know we’re not shut in, you know, but it’s hard to coax us out and I think you know there’s a misconception that you’re going to have, you know, 30 people show up on day one and that’s not going to happen.

Speaker 4: 7:57
So a victory is if you have three players or four players, because a life has changed, no matter how many people are on the court, and I think I, you know, think for everybody, whether you’re able-bodied or not. I mean, it’s all about redefining your life and redefining success and redefining happiness. And that’s what these programs do. They give people purpose, they give them accountability. If you have that weekly or bimonthly clinic date, that gives you something to put on the calendar. And, believe me, I started very small. I had a friend come once a week for lunch and that was my entry back into community. Um, so, just having that one date of that tennis date, I’m telling you it will be life-saving, not life-changing life-saving. And so that’s what these programs do. And so we’re thrilled to see North Carolina lead the way, and at least USTA Southern for wheelchair tennis, and we’re so grateful to USTA North Carolina and the North Carolina Tennis Foundation for their constant support and belief in us.

Speaker 2: 9:00
So, since you’re out on the court at least once a week, if not more, I’m sure you have a good crazy story for us, Everybody. Our listeners love either a good or crazy story. So what you got?

Speaker 3: 9:11
So I have a crazy story with a good ending. But I was visiting our We’ll Serve Wilmington program, which plays every Friday in Wilmington, and we have a great program coordinator down there, candy Pegram, who many of your listeners I’m sure know. Candy, but she has a ball on the court with these players and she just is fantastic. We’re just so fortunate, you know, to have her leading that program down there. But I happened to be there one day as a volunteer and we were having a lot of fun on the court. We were doing some fun games. She has a game that she calls Candyland. That kind of brings everybody on the court together, regardless if it’s their first day or they’ve been playing for 10 years.

Speaker 3: 9:49
So we were having a ball and there was a ladies’ match going on three courts over, three courts over not next to us, but three courts over and all of a sudden this woman walks over there were two empty courts in between us and she has her hands on her hips and she said you all are being entirely too loud on this court. You’ve got to stop. We’re playing a match and you all are being entirely too loud on this court. You’ve got to stop. We’re playing a match and we just were shocked and really weren’t being that loud. It was at a park, we were on one court and I kind of chuckled to myself because I looked over and I’m pretty sure it was a 2-5 match. I mean, again, there were no big trophies that were going to be given out at the end of this match, but evidently it was very serious. So she came over and just kind of read us the riot act and then she marched back to her court and Candy and I both looked at each other and said that was really weird. I don’t know what made her do that. So we’re still playing.

Speaker 3: 10:50
And about a half an hour later the ladies finished their match and one of the women walked over to us and she had been the partner of the woman who came over and told us we were being entirely too loud.

Speaker 3: 10:59
Mind you, there’s a court of about six wheelchair players and maybe four volunteers and this woman walks towards us and we didn’t know, you know, is she going to give us some business too? But we look over and she’s got tears in her eyes and everybody from her court had gone home, they had gotten in their cars and driven away and she said I just want to tell you I am mortified. I don’t know what possessed her to do that. I don’t know if she’s having a really bad day. We told her not to do that, but she came over anyway and I just wanted you to know that. That was not what the rest of us felt on that court, and I’m very sorry. So she starts chatting with the wheelchair players and they were asking her questions about her match and they were very interested in her and thanked her for coming over, and then one of the wheelchair players invited her to come next week to play wheelchair tennis.

Speaker 2: 11:50
And Helen, do you have one that?

Speaker 3: 11:51
was about three years ago and she’s one of our best volunteers there. She comes every Friday. She’s a tremendous supporter on and off the court and you know. So out of those situations good things happen. And you know, I think it’s it just kind of goes to show again, you know, back to the ladies tennis issue. It just kind of goes to show again back to the ladies’ tennis issue. People bring different things on the court with them, but when you’re on the court with the wheelchair athletes, it’s just a whole new day, it’s a whole new perspective, and I’m just so glad that we have an integrated program where we play able-bodied and wheelchair athletes and, like Kelly said, there’s really no difference between the two.

Speaker 1: 12:35
Can you also tell us your most memorable moments on the court? Helen, will you start?

Speaker 3: 12:40
I would say it would be hard for me to come up with one defining memorable moment, but I feel like my experience over the last 14, 15 years in, you know, playing tennis with wheelchair athletes just has made up so many memorable moments that have really given my life purpose and perspective and gratitude really for these friendships and understanding. Friendships and understanding and just being able to share, you know, things we have in common and share the love of the game. I think that’s for me, you know, the biggest takeaway is it’s I didn’t ever consider myself, you know, not having a good attitude on the court, but through my work with Wheel Serve and getting to meet all these athletes, I think it’s just changed my perspective entirely for the better and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to come out and gain a little bit of a new perspective and share their love of the game.

Speaker 1: 13:48
And Kelly. Can you tell us your most memorable moment?

Speaker 4: 13:51
Of all my years, my still the most memorable moment for me was that first day, because I came just so hesitant and afraid and I left so hopeful.

Speaker 4: 14:01
And so it was that day that those players came up to me, the volunteers came up to me and I just saw a whole new community and a way to live and a purpose to life. And you know, I now drive, I work, I live a very productive and full life, but it’s because of those players. They were my mentors. They showed me what hand controls looked like. They showed me how you could still go to work and be in relationships, and so, being on that court and seeing myself what I thought was so disabled, and then seeing my body move in a way that I did not know was possible, even though that racket was taped to my hand, I am still an athlete and I thought I had lost that and I thought that was gone for me, and so I don’t think there can be a moment that will be more precious to me than that moment, that first moment on court, because it has changed the direction of my life and given me my friends and my purpose.

Speaker 1: 15:06
We really appreciate Kelly and Helen coming on the podcast. If you’d like to donate or volunteer with We’ll Serve NC. We’ve included a link to their website in our show notes. Also, erin and I recently went to Western Wake Tennis Association’s Polar Doubles Up-Down Tournament and watching these athletes in action was incredible. We hope you check out our website, which is SecondServePodcastcom. Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the court soon.