Welcome to the photo gallery of the Special POPS Tennis program.
The Special Populations Tennis
Program, Inc. (Special Pops) is a non-profit organization that offers
year round tennis training and competition to children and adults with
intellectual disabilities (athletes).
This program serves athletes in the
greater Atlanta area. Click on their logo to visit their web site.
This web site contains links to view the picture gallery for the Special Pops Tennis program.
If you came here by accident,
If you want the high resolution version of any of these pictures (2048x1536) simply send me an email: rrausch@bobrausch.com with the number of the pictures and I can email them to you, however, they are 1.5 to 4.5 MB per picture so be sure you have a large mail-box. Note the DSC number of the picture - which is below the thumbnail. Please use the phrase "Special Olympics Pictures" in the subject line of your email or your request will be trapped by the SPAM filter.
I have also uploaded these to Walgreens where you can arrange to have prints made at your local Walgreens Pharmacy for ~19 cents per 4x6 print. You can also crop and edit the pictures there before printing. If you want to link to the Walgreens pictures - simply send me an email with the word Walgreens in the subject and I will invite you to share the pictures.
We took 8 athletes to this tennis tournament in Boston. Click on the following links to see the tennis tournament, our dinner at SkipJacks on Friday night, and the awards banquet on Saturday Night at the Marriot Boston - Newton.
Note that the pictures have all been uploaded to Walgreens and you may look through them there - simply send me an email asking me to share them.
Note that the pictures have all been uploaded to Walgreens and you may look through them there - simply send me an email asking me to share them.
Handi-Racket
Tennis Tournament 2009
A group of athletes from Atlanta Special Pops Tennis flew to Boston Massachusetts to join other athletes from Massachusetts in a two day Special Olympics tennis tournament in Wayland Mass. The competition was intense as many of the matches and games went to tie-breakers. We all had a great time; the competition ended with a fantastic banquet at the Newton Marriott with awards, dinner, and dancing. The competition included singles, doubles, and unified doubles and fun was had by all. This was 2 days of spirited competition with friends we have competed with before along with some new friends. One of the fun things we all enjoyed was the "litter the court" where each athlete has to hit a prize to win and as usual, there was a wide variety of prizes!.
Friday night, the Atlanta group went to a seafood restaurant (after all we were in Boston) and had a great time sampling all sorts of seafood. The pictures are divided into separate groups - but you will see that everyone is included somewhere!
We arrived in Boston around 1 PM and spent the afternoon on a tour of the freedom trail - it was great fun, although it was chilly! Click here to see pictures
Thursday deveining we had a pizza party and divisioning and fun. Click here to see pictures
Friday we started the competition. Click here to see pictures
Friday evening the crew from Atlanta all went to a seafood restaurant. Click here to see pictures
Saturday competition was intense as we all played each other again! Click here to see pictures
The Saturday evening banquet at the Marriott was fantastic - great food, fun, and dancing! Click here to see pictures
Click Here to see the pictures from Saturday January 10 final practice
The Special Pops tennis team left Atlanta on January 14, 2009 on a Delta 12:55 flight to Charlottesville, VA. This was a tournament for high level Special Olympics tennis players and included participants form 10 states: Massachusetts, Florida, California, Georgia, Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Delaware, and New York - 34 athletes in all. This was the second year for this competition and it presented an opportunity for challenging competition for all. The event is three days - day 1 is divisioning when the judges rate the players and evaluate their ability. Then they are grouped into divisions with similar skills, mixing male and female athletes of like skills - which made for some very challenging competition. Georgia brought 5 athletes and 2 coaches, and were accompanied by 2 sets of parents. On Thursday evening, the athletes attended an opening banquet, and opening ceremonies followed by an opportunity to play unified doubles with members of the Boars Head Doubles tennis players. On Friday, all divisions had round robin competition - each athlete played 3 matches - to establish the position of play for the championship round. Friday evening, we all enjoyed a Pizza party at the Boars Head sports complex, followed by a tennis clinic with the UVA tennis team. On Saturday, everyone played 2 matches for the medal round - to determine 1st through 4th place. The award ceremonies were held on Saturday afternoon, followed by a tour and dinner at the John Paul Jones Arena. After Dinner, the athletes toured the McCormick Observatory and returned back to the hotel. Our flight departed Charlottesville at 6:45 AM and we were all back in Atlanta and heading for home by 9:00 AM - it was a fantastic weekend filled with some of the best tennis competition ever seen in Special Olympics. This is a great opportunity for the more advanced players to meet competitors from around the country! The following links are to pictures for the events of each day.
Click Here to see the pictures from Wednesday
Click Here to see the pictures from Thursday's divisioning
Click Here to see the pictures from Friday's competition play
Click Here to see the pictures from Friday's evening event
Click Here to see the pictures from Saturday's medal rounds
Click Here to see the pictures from Saturday's awards presentation
Click Here to see the pictures from Saturday evening's events
Click Here to see the pictures from Saturday November 1, 2008 Fall Classic
Click Here to see the pictures from Saturday November 1, 2008 Fall Classic
Special pops tennis held a fall round robin set of tennis matches; there were 4 teams - Red, Orange, Blue, and Gold.
The following web pages provide pictures from these games - and follow the blue team for its 3 weeks of competition.
Friday Night Opening Ceremonies; click here to see the pictures
Saturday Morning included Short Court and Skills; click here to see the pictures
Saturday Morning included awards; click here to see those pictures;
Saturday Afternoon competition included unified doubles; click here to see those pictures
Saturday Afternoon concluded with Awards; click here to see those pictures
Sunday Morning we included singles competition click here to see those pictures
Sunday Morning concluded with awards for those matches on Sunday - click here to see those pictures.
This event was sponsored by USTA, PTR, and Special Olympics and was held at the Van Der Meer Tennis center on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. March 10-12, 2008.
The pictures for this event are linked below. Remember, if you want copies of these pictures in high resolution form, simply send me an email as noted above and I will send them to you. You can also download them from Walgreens - but, you need me to invite you to share my pictures first - and you will have to crop these pictures yourself because I have formatted them for the web albums linked below.
Just as last year, students from Jacksonville State were on hand to help and to participate with the Special Olympians as unified partners; I think the JSU students found it to be more challenging than expected!
Monday was divisioning; click here to see the pictures from that part of the competition;
Monday evening we had a cookout and opening ceremonies -click here to see those pictures;
Tuesday morning the competition started with singles matches followed by the first round of unified doubles - click here to see those pictures
Tuesday evening we all participated in a dinner and dance party at the Holiday Inn -click here to see those pictures
Wednesday morning we resumed competition with the final rounds for both singles and unified doubles - click here to see those pictures
Finally, there were awards - click here to see the pictures from the award ceremonies.
Everyone had a great time; the weather was great this year - sunny and warm for all three days (although it rained during the dinner dance).
Virginia Invitational for Advanced Special Olympics Match Play - 2008
More than 30 of the most highly skilled tennis players from Special Olympics programs throughout the United States came to the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville for the inaugural "Special Olympics Experience" invitational tennis tournament Jan. 17-19 hosted by Special Olympics Virginia. Six athletes from the Special Pops Tennis program in Atlanta joined athletes from Delaware, Virginia, California, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. Despite bad weather, 30 athletes managed to make their way to the Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville for two days of intensive tennis competition. The event was presented by the Boyd C. Tinsley Foundation and the Bama Works Fund and was launched with the Opening Ceremony at 7 PM. Friday featured tournament play from 8 a.m. through 4 p.m., and the evening featured a UVA men’s tennis clinic and social. Tournament play resumed on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., followed by a special awards ceremony. The Experience came to a close on Saturday night when all the athletes were recognized during the UVA vs. Boston College basketball game at the John Paul Jones Arena.
The links below will take you to pictures which captured the event for everyone.
If you want the high resolution version of any of these pictures (2048x1536) simply send me an email: rrausch@bobrausch.com with the number of the picture(s) and I can email them to you, however, they are 1.5MB per picture so be sure you have a large mail-box. Note the DSC number of the picture - which is below the thumbnail. Please use the phrase "Special Olympics Pictures" in the subject line of your email. I have also uploaded these pictures to Walgreens where you can arrange to have prints made at your local Walgreens Pharmacy for 15 to 19 cents per 4x6 print (depending on sales). If you want to access the Walgreens pictures - simply send me an email and I will invite you to share the pictures.
Friday 1/18/2008 includes match play of all athletes.
Saturday 1/19/2008 includes match play of all athletes.
Awards features the awards ceremony for all athletes
UVA Game features pictures taken at the John Paul Jones Arena
Sunday features pictures taken of the return to Georgia by the Atlanta athletes.
The tournament was fun for everyone and we look forward to next year's tournament for advanced tennis players.
Fall Tennis Classic
This was the second year for the major Fall Classic Special Pops tennis tournament. The competition was held at the Racket Club of the South (RCS) in Peachtree Corners. Special needs athletes from Georgia, Alabama, Massachusetts, Colorado, North Carolina and South Carolina competed over the two day event. The format included ladies’ singles, men’s singles, mixed doubles, and unified doubles (special athlete and traditional athlete are partnered).
The pictures from this event can be seen by clicking on the links below::
Handi-Racket Tennis Tournament 2007
A group of 7 athletes from Atlanta flew to Waylland Massachusetts to join athletes from Handi-Racket and Houston Texas in a two day adaptive tennis tournament. The competition was intense as many of the matches and games went to tie-breakers. We all had a great time; the competition ended with a great banquet at the Newton Marriott with awards, dinner, and dancing.
The pictures from this event are attached in separate files. Thursday we had a cook-out and divisioning; Friday there were singles competition, but because the matches lasted so long (average 90 minutes!) we had to complete the singles matches on Saturday. ON saturday Handi-Racket had arranged mixed double teams that were fun for all.
The facility was great - even though it rained on Saturday, all of the courts were in-doors - so there was no problem. Friday morning, the athletes played a game called "litter the court" where each athlete has to hit a prize to win. In Atlanta, we call this target tennis!
Friday night, the Atlanta group went to Legal Seafood and had a great time sampling all sorts of seafood.
Click here to see pictures from our Thursday arrival and divisioning
Click here to see pictures from the Friday Competition
Click here to see pictures from our night at Legal Seafood
Click here to see pictures from the Saturday Competition
Click here to see pictures from the banquet and awards.
We also took some short clips from the dancing which can be seen by clicking on the link below. WARNING - these are 5 MB files and the playback is likely to be jerky while the files are loading; after the complete file is loaded, click on the play button again to see the video without the interruptions.
Southeastern Regional Competition 2007
This event was sponsored by USTA, PTR, and Special Olympics and was held at the Van Der Meer Tennis center on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. March 12-14, 2007.
Click here to go to the Monday Divisioning and Opening Ceremonies
Click here to go to the Competition and Dinner Dance Tuesday
Click here to go to the Competition Wednesday and awards
In addition to the pictures shown above, you may want to click on the following clips taken from some of the events including the opening ceremonies and the victory dance. WARNING - these are large files (5+MB each) and should not be viewed if you have dial-up access to the internet.
Pictures Coach Matt's Charity Invitational - Saturday 11/11/2006 Click Here
Fall Tennis Classic - 2006
This event was held at the Racket Club of the South in Norcross. The competition was for 2 days and featured singles, unified doubles, and mixed doubles competition.
The gallery of pictures - for Saturday Click here for Sunday Click Here
This event was sponsored by USTA, PTR, and Special Olympics and was held at the Van Der Meer Tennis center on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. March 13-15, 2006.
Click here to go to the Monday Divisioning and Opening Ceremonies
Click here to go to the Competition and Dinner Dance Tuesday
Click here to go to the Competition Wednesday and awards
Click here to go to the Friday Opening Ceremonies
Click here to go to the Competition Saturday morning
Click here to go to the Competition Saturday afternoon
Click here to go to the Competition Sunday Morning
Remember, if you want the high resolution version of these pictures, note the DSC number below the thumbnail, and send me an email: rrausch@bobrausch.com Each picture is roughly 1.5 MB in original size and was cropped and edited for the web page.
Click here to go to the South Eastern Tennis Competition Pictures for 2005 - Divisioning
Click here to go to the South Eastern Tennis Competition Pictures for 2005 - Competition day 1a
Click here to go to the South Eastern Tennis Competition Pictures for 2005 - Competition day 1b
Click here to go to the South Eastern Tennis Competition Pictures for 2005 - Banquet
Click here to go to the South Eastern Tennis Competition Pictures for 2005 - Competition day 2
Click here to go to the South Eastern Tennis Competition Pictures for 2005 - Awards
Movie Clips from the Dance Tuesday night: CLIP1 CLIP2 CLIP3 Note that these clips are about 5 MB each and will not download over a dial-up connection. Each of the above has about 100 pictures - so it will take some time to view, but they should work over a dial-up line since they are low resolution pictures.
If you want the high resolution version of any of these pictures (2040x1536) simply send me an email: rrausch@bobrausch.com with the subject pictures and I can email them to you, however, they are 1.5MB per picture so be sure you have a large mail-box. Note the DSC number of the picture - which is below the thumbnail.
Click here to go to the Pictures from the October 2 Tennis Practice
Click here to go to the South Eastern Tennis Competition Pictures for 2004
Click here to go to the Tennis State Games Competition for 2004
Click here to go to the 3 Nations Tennis Send-off Party
Thank you to the sponsors and a sendoff Pizza Party
Click here to go to the First day of the 3 Nations Tennis Tournament in Vercelli, Italy
The flight to Milan, divisioning, and the opening ceremonies
Click here for short video clips of the parade and the opening ceremonies:
Parade, Opening ceremonies - USA Anthem, Folk Dance 1, Folk Dance 2
Click here to go to the Second day of the 3 Nations Tennis Tournament in Vercelli, Italy
The competition and the banquet and party (karaoke)
Click here to go to the Third day of the 3 Nations Tennis Tournament in Vercelli, Italy
The competition and pizza party in Vercelli
Click here to go to the Fourth day of the 3 Nations Tennis Tournament in Vercelli, Italy
Final Competition, awards, the train trip to Milan, and the evening in Milan
Click here to go to the Fifth day of the 3 Nations Tennis Tournament in Vercelli, Italy -
The Return home
Click here to go to the 3 Nations Tennis Tournament ALTA Trophy Award
Presentation of the team Trophy to The ALTA Foundation
Click here to see the thank-you letter from Kristen. Note that this is a very large file (>14MB and should not be accessed if you are using a dial-up connection).
Contact the web master if you want high resolution versions of any of the pictures on this site. Note the picture number (example: DSC07570.JPG) which is shown below the thumbnail of the picture. Pictures were shot with 2048x1536 resolution and have been cropped and adjusted for the best view. Each non-retouched picture is approximately 1.5 MB. Send email to: rrausch@bobrausch.com