How tennis helps keep dementia sufferers on the ball
Coach Jane shows how exercise in social setting can offer a net benefit on health
Despite losing council funding last year, volunteer Jane has managed to keep the class going.
She says: “I’d love to train other coaches and make dementiafriendly tennis part of the social care network around the country. It’s a wonderfully adaptable game.
“Dementia doesn’t stop the thrill of hitting a good shot – and it puts a smile on their face to know they’ve still got it.”
Here, other participants at the dementia-friendly tennis club, at the Community and Wellbeing Centre in Epsom, Surrey, share how the sessions have changed their lives for the better. For Brigitte Coombe and husband Ray, 70, the sessions are an escape from the stresses of living with his challenging frontal lobe dementia.
Brigitte, 63, says: “His condition affects his behaviour and inhibitions – he thinks he is 17 again. It can be quite stressful in public.
“I feel self-conscious, even at some dementia-friendly activities.
“He’s ex-parachute regiment and physically strong, so he needs sport as an outlet.”
Brigitte had to retire from her finance manager job two years ago to care full- time for her husband of 42 years. The mum-oftwo of Wallington, Sutton, adds: “We’re still fairly young and tennis is something we can enjoy together. Ray gets quite tired but stops for breaks when he wants.
“Sometimes it’s hard to accept what’s happening to him, but I feel so happy after we’ve been to tennis. No one is judgemental.” Isobel Johnson says she gets as much out of the tennis as her husband Mike, 73, explaining: “It sounds selfish, but I think the carers person
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