Walking into Muncie's Northwest YMCA on Saturday, a tennis tournament takes place. It wasn't a typical tennis tournament, though, but the third McCann Memorial Wheelchair Open.
And for tournament organizer Joy Wegener, it is a tournament for the benefit of players with physical disabilities.
She said the tournament began when she saw someone in a wheelchair watching tennis players at the YMCA. She thought it would good to set something up so people with disabilities could play.
Since she began the tournament three years ago, it's grown from two players in the beginning to 23 this year.
Senior psychology major James Barham said his wheelchair tennis career began last fall when he was sitting in his front lawn.
Wegener came to him and asked if he would go to the YMCA and take lessons.
"I was reluctant to do it because I never did it before," he said.
Although he declined the offer, he found himself at the YMCA the next day taking those lessons.
And Barham's tennis game took him Saturday to his first tournament at the McCann Open.
He lost his first match 6-4, 6-4, but he said he put forth a good effort and was proud of his score, saying it could have been 6-0, 6-0.
Without tennis, Barham said he would be bored and wouldn't have anything to do. He also said the atmosphere Wegener created made a difference for him.
"You're actually in an environment where people care," Barham said.
Speech pathology graduate student Chrissy Parker said she saw Wegener at a Marsh store and was invited to play.
Parker never played tennis, even before a car accident disabled her eight years ago.
Wegener introduced her to tennis one year ago. Since then, Parker has kept playing and won a match at the tournament.
"It's nice to win for once," she said.
Wegener said the tournament was a great way to get players with disabilities involved and have a place where they could have fun.
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