Chuck Gottus was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at about age 10. At first the degenerative eye disease compromised only what he saw at night, but by his 40s he had almost no peripheral vision. He’d given up on sports until about two years ago, when his wife got him to try a version of tennis designed for the blind and visually impaired (BVI).
“It’s changed my life,” said Gottus, of Upper St. Clair. “It’s given me back my confidence. It’s given me back my love for sports and being an athlete.”
Opportunities for BVI athletes like Gottus grew locally when four Allegheny County parks, working with the Pittsburgh-based U.S. Blind Tennis Association, opened what are believed to be the nation’s first permanent courts for BVI play.
BVI tennis is played with a large foam sphere fitted with a ping-pong ball containing some ball bearings so players can track it by ear (though most BVI players have some sight). The ball is also permitted to bounce up to three times before being struck, depending on the players’ level of visual impairment.
“I use whatever vision I have left along with the sound of the ball,” said Gottus.
BVI courts are also marked for smaller dimensions. Elsewhere, BVI players adapt to the courts by marking them with painters’ tape. Now, at North, South, Boyce Park and Settlers Cabin, they can just walk up and play.
“It might just be lines to everybody else, but they mean a lot to the blind community, and they mean a lot to this BVI tennis community. It’s just incredible.”
The court in South Park formally opened Monday with an event featuring BVI players and coaches, USBTA reps and County Executive Sara Inamorato.
It was Innamorato whom USBTA vice president Jennifer K. Roth first approached with the idea earlier this year. Roth briefly spoke with the county executive at an event at Carlow University, where she is a psychology professor. Roth is sighted, but studies how BVI athletes track sounds. She said the project came together quickly with the support of Allegheny County Parks director Andy Baechle.
“Now our athletes can feel completely included,” said Roth. “We no longer feel like the other who has to come in and retrofit a court. We get to come in to these gorgeous permanently lined tennis courts here in the county, step right onto the court, feel welcome, and feel just as valid of tennis players as any sighted tennis players.”
BVI tennis was pioneered in Japan about 40 years ago, according to the USBTA, but it has come to the U.S. slowly. Programs for BVI players in other cities rely on “borrowed” courts temporarily retrofitted with the smaller dimensions.
In Pittsburgh, Dana Costa pioneered BVI tennis programs in Highland Park several years ago to give her visually impaired young daughter more athletic opportunities. She later co-founded the USBTA and serves as its president.
Other cities with BVI tennis programs include New York, Cincinnati, and McAallen Texas.
Costa said Pittsburgh is currently home to 16 active BVI players.
