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Miyoshi Takei (1968`2011j
The inventor of BLIND TENNIS
Mr Takei Miyoshi was a great man, a pioneer in a new sport and a role model and great and unique representative to the visually impaired. He will be best remembered as the inventor of blind tennis in Japan. He was born in 1968 and lost his eye-sight at the age of one and a half. When he was 16, as a junior high school student, he dreamt of playing tennis with the able-bodied and created tennis for the blind. He worked tirelessly at developing a tennis ball specifically tailored for the blind. His devotion to the sport drew many supporters who joined in his work and, finally in 1990, the first ever tennis tournament was held for the visually impaired.
Over the past 21
years, he has been national champion on 16 occasions.
His long term dream and legacy was that blind tennis continue to grow and
be played all over the world by as many people as possible. His ultimate
goal was for blind tennis to be included in the Paralympics in 2020.
He passed away in a tragic train accident on 16th of January in 2011, at
the age of 42. His open-mindedness made him loved by all. We miss him, but we will honour
him by sharing and working towards his dream.
Message for juniors
Takei's Lecture(PDF)
VIDEO(You-Tube) a transcript in English
Blind Tennis Coaching Manual
Leaflet
Tennis for All.
Tennis for People with Sight
Challenges.
My name is Ayako Matsui.
I am teaching children with disabilities in Saitama ,near Tokyo.
Blind tennis was created in Japan and the first tournament was held in
1990.
But tennis for the blind was thought to be impossible in other countries.
I started to teach visually impaireed children in 2003 and organized tennis clinics sponsored by NEC.
I met Mr. Takei in 2006, and we worked together to promote blind tennis
both in Japan and abroad.
I visited the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and Tennis Foundation
in England in 2006 to introduce blind tennis to the rest of the world.
Mr. Takei and I went to England with other blind teninis players for the
inaugural promotion in January, 2007,
followed by Korea in the same year, ,Taiwan in 2008, China in 2009 and
in 2010.
Our aim is to
promote this wonderful sport all over the world.
Tennis is a good sport for everyone, both able-bodied and those with disabilities.
It is played at the Grand Slams at a very high level by thletes in wheelchairs.
Maybe one day we will achieve the same status for visually impaired players.
I would like to spread the wonderful sport all over the world to share
the dream of Mr. Takei.
video click
here
The video shows two blind tennis players, Miyoshi Takei and Masaru
Sumimoto.
They are both totally blind.
video click here
(2010 B1 men's singles final Takei VS Ono)
JAPAN BLIND
TENNIS OPEN 2010 RECORDED VIDEOS
JAPAN BLIND TENNIS OPEN 2011 RECORDED VIDEOS
If you are interested in finding out more about
Blind Tennis,
please contact me by e-mail.
bij@2012C `@l(Mrs.)
proof-reader@ Philippe@Azar
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