Lucy Shuker, Paralympian Tennis Player, Speaks to Sports Students

Sports students at Level 2 & 3 were treated to a meeting with Paralympian tennis ace Lucy Shuker and, following this, a wheelchair tennis masterclass in the gym at the Bournemouth Campus on Thursday, 27th February. 

Lucy spoke of her tennis success following a motorbike accident and having to recraft her career as a Paralympian – where she went to the Paralympics in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012, Rio in 2016, Tokyo in 2020 (for 2021) and Paris in 2024 to represent her country.  Lucy spoke of the challenges of tennis and grasping for higher awards – she is currently a paralympic silver and bronze medallist and GB ranked No 1 with a career-high world ranking of #5 and has over 100 ITF tennis titles to her name. Students were excited to see and handle her medals as well as listen to her stories of match-level fitness. Lucy explained how she uses her upper body strength to compensate for the weakness caused by her T4 (Thoracic 4) spinal injury. 

The real fun began as students learned to manipulate the ball and navigate whilst throwing serves back and forth with Lucy and another lecturer. Two students at a time played in wheelchairs alongside Lucy who played with Sport Lecturer & LTA tennis coach James Lilley on the other team of two.

Students were seemingly surprised by how hard it was to spin the chair right round to take on the next serve, and to keep moving was key for momentum – that is – to keep the chair moving. Lecturer James Lilley, who met Lucy when he was delivering an LTA coaching course and who organised the visit said: “What an excellent way for our students to see a first-rate Paralympian at work. I’m impressed with how well they handled it and how they really tried their best. There was some real camaraderie amongst students as they got their heads around the added challenges of being in a wheelchair – and some choice serves from Lucy! We’d love to extend our thanks to Lucy for the visit and thank her for her valuable input.”