Rollin' with Arlo! Join the A team!

Hi my name is Arlo.

I am raising funds to help support my dream of participating in the International tennis federation junior wheelchair tennis tournaments around Australia. This fundraising campaign will help cover a part of the cost of attending the NSW and Canberra Tennis Open.

When I was 4 years old I was diagnosed with a bone disease names Perthes disease (also known as Legg-Calve-Perthes). Perthes disease is a rare childhood condition that affects the hip joint. It occurs when the blood supply to the rounded head of the femur is temporarily disrupted. Without an adequate blood supply, the bone cells die. The body then breaks down the dead bone and then eventually starts to regrow the bone. unfortunately for me, I had the most extreme version of Perthes which resulted in a full collapse of my hip joint and damage to the neck of my femur, years in a wheelchair and eventually a very risky and invasive pelvis and femur reconstruction. Despite my body's best effort, my bone did not grow back sufficiently and at 12 years old I am left with a fragile and misshaped joint which limits me from playing able-bodied sports. While I have returned to being able to walk around and no longer require mobility aids, I am unable to run, jump and be involved in any contact sports or activities that involve a fall risk as my joint is fragile.

Luckily for me during my time with Perthes and using a wheelchair I was introduced to and fell in love with wheelchair tennis! I have been training and playing weekly in a local mixed adult tennis social group ever since. I have also been part of the Victorian junior tennis squad in Melbournes for the last 6 years and enjoy training in Melbourne with experienced wheelchair coaches.

I have also just been offered a position in a specialist sports academy for wheelchair tennis next year at high school! This will allow me to do strength and conditioning training a few times a week, develop my tennis skills as well as learn about sports psychology and nutrition. I am very excited!

Going from being a super active and sporty child to being restricted to a wheelchair was extremely hard for me. Wheelchair tennis has been such a great opportunity to look after my mental and physical health over the last 5 years and I hope that it continues well into my future!

Earlier this year I played my first International tennis tournament in Melbourne! It was an exciting learning experience and challenging playing such good players but I learned so much from it and had a ball participating! I had a successful first-round win but unfortunately lost in the second round to Australia's number 1 junior player. My favourite part is being able to play competitively against other kids that are a similar age (which is not an opportunity I have locally) and making friends with other players that 'get' what it's like to not be able to participate in every day sport at school or join sports teams with their friends etc. We always have such a great time when we get together and it often involved many games of wheelchair tag!

The next exciting adventure!!!

I have qualified to compete in the Sydney wheelchair tennis Open and the Canberra Open in September! I am super excited about the opportunity to compete in these amazing ITF tournaments against some of the best junior wheelchair players and hope to improve my skills and maybe even my world ranking score (currently ranked #34)!

Unfortunately, because there aren't opportunities to compete in these types of tournaments locally, the expense of travel and tournaments adds up. So with the encouragement of a few family and friends, I am starting a fundraising platform for those that might like to support my dream and adventures in my ITF wheelchair tennis journey! This will help with the cost of airfares, accommodation, travel and tournament costs.

For these two tournaments, the costs are around $3000 ($1000 for flights and $1500 for accommodation and $500 in tournament and travel costs).

As a perk of being one of my supporters, You will have the option to:

1: Be added to my private supporter group that will include photos, videos and written updates during Arlo's training and sporting adventures!

2: Receive a personal thank you letter from Arlo for your support!

3: Go in the draw each tournament to have my game dedicated to you, with a personal photo or video sent to you!

5: All supporters who donate before August 30th will go in the draw to win one of 3 team T-shirts!