Island Life June July 2015 June July 2015 | Page 31

INTERVIEW

M

ost people
are amazed,
amused - or
simply don’t believe
it, when husband and
wife Neil and Dawn
Fradgley mention their
recent sporting success:
winning a team trophy
in a national tennis
tournament.
Because the Ryde couple are both
visually impaired, and until a year ago
the idea of playing tennis had never
crossed their minds either. Both
are unable to drive or read print,
and Dawn needs a white stick when
walking.
“Most people think it’s hilarious and to be honest, not so long ago,
I would probably have thought it
ridiculous too!” says Dawn, who is
totally blind. She lost her sight as the
result of a degenerative eye condition
that was diagnosed when she was 10
years old.
She and Neil, who has partial sight,
heard about visually impaired tennis
from friends, and decided it was a
sporting challenge they wanted to
aim for.
Not that it was easy – apart from
anything else there are no suitable
facilities on the Island, which means
having to travel to Portsmouth’s
indoor tennis and gymnastics centre
for self-funded training sessions with
coach Ashley Neaves.
But the Fradgleys – who first met on a
skiing holiday and then again on a sailing
holiday – have always been determined
to push the boundaries of their disability.
“We’ve always tried to turn things
around and look at what we can do,
rather than focusing on what we can’t,”
says Dawn.
They have completed several Great
South Runs together, and Neil played
football for the England Partially Sighted
football team.
Having now discovered visually
impaired tennis – which uses a shorter,
indoor court and audible sponge balls
containing ball bearings – the pair are

determined to take it to the top.
They’ve been spurred on by their recent
success at their first national tournament
in Newcastle, in which Dawn was
runner-up in her section, whilst Neil was
runner-up in the singles and a winner in
the doubles of his section.
As the only competitors from the Isle
of Wight, they were judged as a team,
and for their extraordinary double effort,
were awarded the Team trophy for the
tournament.
The next morning their daughters
Elizabeth, 14 and Georgina, 12, came
downstairs to find the shiny trophy sitting
on their kitchen table.
“I think they were amazed – and pretty
impressed!” laughs Dawn.

Now the aim is to bring home some
more silverware from the National
Championships at Roehampton in
October.
“I guess I am quite competitive,” says
Dawn, a senior physiotherapist working
part-time at St Mary’s Hospital.
But she and statistician Neil, who
also works at St Mary’s as Head of
Performance and Information, are
also keen to encourage other visually
impaired people to get involved in the
sport on the Island.
“It’s definitely a growing sport all over
the world,” she says, “so it would be great
to raise awareness here, perhaps get
some sponsorship, and get a club going
on the Island if we can”.
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